(2271,78,'2011-11-15 12:37:40','2011-11-15 20:37:40','<blockquote>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</p>\r\n</blockquote>\r\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existance of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised the problem of evil has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\r\n\r\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\r\n“God” will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\r\n“Moral evil” is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\r\n“Natural evil” is or suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\r\n\r\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\r\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\r\n\r\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\r\n\r\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\r\n\r\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\r\n\r\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\r\n\r\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\r\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></blockquote>\r\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\r\n\r\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\r\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\r\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\r\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup></strong>','','','inherit','open','open','','2269-revision-2','','','2011-11-15 12:37:40','2011-11-15 20:37:40','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2269-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(2272,78,'2011-11-15 12:39:13','2011-11-15 20:39:13','\r\n<strong><p style=\"text-align: center\">If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</p></strong>\r\n\r\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existance of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised the problem of evil has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\r\n\r\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\r\n“God” will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\r\n“Moral evil” is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\r\n“Natural evil” is or suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\r\n\r\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\r\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\r\n\r\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\r\n\r\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\r\n\r\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\r\n\r\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\r\n\r\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\r\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></blockquote>\r\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\r\n\r\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\r\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\r\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\r\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup></strong>','','','inherit','open','open','','2269-revision-3','','','2011-11-15 12:39:13','2011-11-15 20:39:13','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2269-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(2273,78,'2011-11-15 12:40:43','2011-11-15 20:40:43','<p style=\"text-align: center\">If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</p>\r\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existance of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised the problem of evil has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\r\n\r\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\r\n<strong>“God”</strong> will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\r\n<strong>“Moral evil”</strong> is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\r\n<strong>“Natural evil”</strong> is or suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\r\n\r\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\r\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\r\n\r\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\r\n\r\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\r\n\r\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\r\n\r\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\r\n\r\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\r\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3  </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\r\n\r\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\r\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\r\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\r\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup>','','','inherit','open','open','','2269-revision-4','','','2011-11-15 12:40:43','2011-11-15 20:40:43','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2269-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(2277,78,'2011-11-15 12:41:09','2011-11-15 20:41:09','<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</strong></p>\r\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existance of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised the problem of evil has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\r\n\r\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\r\n<strong>“God”</strong> will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\r\n<strong>“Moral evil”</strong> is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\r\n<strong>“Natural evil”</strong> is or suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\r\n\r\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\r\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\r\n\r\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\r\n\r\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\r\n\r\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\r\n\r\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\r\n\r\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\r\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3  </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\r\n\r\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\r\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\r\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\r\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup>','','','inherit','open','open','','2269-revision-5','','','2011-11-15 12:41:09','2011-11-15 20:41:09','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2269-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(2276,78,'2011-11-15 13:12:09','2011-11-15 21:12:09','','why_god','','inherit','open','open','','why_god','','','2011-11-15 13:12:09','2011-11-15 21:12:09','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_god.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2278,78,'2011-11-15 13:13:08','2011-11-15 21:13:08','<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</strong></p>\r\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existance of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised the problem of evil has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\r\n\r\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\r\n<strong>“God”</strong> will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\r\n<strong>“Moral evil”</strong> is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\r\n<strong>“Natural evil”</strong> is or suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\r\n\r\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\r\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\r\n\r\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\r\n\r\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\r\n\r\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\r\n\r\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\r\n\r\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\r\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3  </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\r\n\r\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\r\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\r\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\r\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup>','','','inherit','open','open','','2269-revision-6','','','2011-11-15 13:13:08','2011-11-15 21:13:08','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2269-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(2279,78,'2011-11-15 13:21:38','2011-11-15 21:21:38','<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</strong></p>\r\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existence of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised the problem of evil has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\r\n\r\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\r\n<strong>“God”</strong> will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\r\n<strong>“Moral evil”</strong> is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\r\n<strong>“Natural evil”</strong> is or suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\r\n\r\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\r\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\r\n\r\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\r\n\r\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\r\n\r\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\r\n\r\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\r\n\r\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\r\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3  </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\r\n\r\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\r\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\r\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\r\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo Credit: <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/diloz/5038789369/\">Azlan Dupree</a></em>','','','inherit','open','open','','2269-revision-7','','','2011-11-15 13:21:38','2011-11-15 21:21:38','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2269-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(2280,78,'2011-11-15 13:27:52','2011-11-15 21:27:52','<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</strong></p>\r\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existence of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised what is known as the Problem of Evil, has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\r\n\r\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\r\n<strong>“God”</strong> will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\r\n<strong>“Moral evil”</strong> is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\r\n<strong>“Natural evil”</strong> is suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\r\n\r\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\r\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\r\n\r\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\r\n\r\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\r\n\r\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\r\n\r\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\r\n\r\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\r\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3  </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\r\n\r\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\r\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\r\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\r\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo Credit: <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/diloz/5038789369/\">Azlan Dupree</a></em>','The (non)Problem of Evil: a philisophical defense of God','','inherit','open','open','','2269-revision-8','','','2011-11-15 13:27:52','2011-11-15 21:27:52','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2269-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(2316,1,'2011-11-16 08:50:13','2011-11-16 16:50:13','<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</strong></p>\r\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existence of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised what is known as the Problem of Evil, has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\r\n\r\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\r\n<strong>“God”</strong> will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\r\n<strong>“Moral evil”</strong> is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\r\n<strong>“Natural evil”</strong> is suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\r\n\r\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\r\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\r\n\r\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\r\n\r\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\r\n\r\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\r\n\r\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\r\n\r\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\r\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><sup>3  </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\r\n\r\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\r\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\r\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\r\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo Credit: <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/diloz/5038789369/\">Azlan Dupree</a></em>','The (Non)Problem Of Evil','','inherit','open','open','','2269-revision-11','','','2011-11-16 08:50:13','2011-11-16 16:50:13','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2269-revision-11/',0,'revision','',0),(2281,1,'2011-11-16 08:53:46','2011-11-16 16:53:46','<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</strong></p>\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existence of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised what is known as the Problem of Evil, has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\n\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\n<strong>“God”</strong> will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\n<strong>“Moral evil”</strong> is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\n<strong>“Natural evil”</strong> is suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\n\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\n\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\n\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\n\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\n\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\n\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\n\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span></blockquote>\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><sup>3  </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\n\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\n\n<hr />\n\n<sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup>\n\n<em>Photo Credit: <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/diloz/5038789369/\">Azlan Dupree</a></em>','The (Non)Problem Of Evil','','inherit','open','open','','2269-autosave','','','2011-11-16 08:53:46','2011-11-16 16:53:46','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2269-autosave/',0,'revision','',0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` VALUES (2283,82,'2011-11-15 18:23:04','2011-11-16 02:23:04','','Football by Nikki Johnson','Football by Nikki Johnson','inherit','open','open','','football','','','2011-11-15 18:23:04','2011-11-16 02:23:04','',2282,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/football.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2284,82,'2011-11-15 18:23:42','2011-11-16 02:23:42','[caption id=\"attachment_2283\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2283\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/football-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" />[/caption]\n\nAs most of American society knows, the upheaval at Penn State has brought to the surface many deep emotions - all of which are justifiable. What isn\'t exactly justifiable, however, are the choices some are opting to make based on those emotions.\n\nMany words have been flying around Facebook, Twitter, blogs and overall mass media about the dissent many hold for Joe Paterno...and even supporters of him. Many of these words have disheartened me due to the fact many of them have come from the fingertips of Christians.\n\nAs Christians, we\'re called to hold fast to a higher standard (His); not a conceited standard.\n\nIn engrossing myself this term in school in the Book of Genesis, some amazing insights have been revealed - ones I never even realized before. Such as in <a title=\"Gen 4:8-16 (ESV)\" href=\"http://bible.us/Gen4.8-16.ESV\" target=\"_blank\">Gen 4:8-16</a> where Cain experiences God\'s grace upon Him...despite the fact that he murdered his own brother in cold, premeditated blood.\n\nThough the consequences Cain had to endure we\'re rough, God still let Cain live - plus he protected Him! This unto itself is a grace that is absolutely baffling to the logical mind of us humans. It’s something that’s quite difficult for us to even fathom, for sincerely...isn\'t giving grace simply \"letting people off the hook?\"\n\nAbsolutely not.\n\nIt\'s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for grace, <em>hen</em>, translates out to be \"favor\"...just as the Greek word for grace, <em>charis</em>, translates out to be the exact same word.\n\nGrace is simply being in God\'s favor...to be chosen for a purpose that is His to be fulfilled through the ones He chooses. Therefore, grace, like forgiveness, doesn\'t reveal weakness...it reveals a strength unlike any other.\n\nIt takes strength to not react to the person who caused harm to you, or someone you know.\n\nIt takes strength, in turn, to love those who have harmed you, or someone you know...and turn the other cheek.\n\nGod could have taken Cain\'s life from him as “payment” for his actions toward his brother, but God took a higher road. He took the very one He created. The very one, as Christians, we truly need to be always seeking to emulate.\n\nCertainly, what Joe Paterno did was wrong. He should have said something right when these incidents occurred. Due to his lie of omission, his punishment is justified...his being fired as head coach of the football team. However, what isn\'t justified is the onslaught of judgment calls being made on him, and/or his supporters, by those who embrace Christ.\n\nChrist doesn\'t condemn.\n\nChrist doesn\'t cast judgment.\n\nChrist doesn\'t hate anyone.\n\nHe loves. He accepts. He forgives. He extends grace.\n\nSo now let\'s discuss.\n\n<em><strong>As Christians, how can we extend the same love, acceptance, forgiveness and grace He calls us to have toward others that do heinous things, or even let them happen without saying anything, without watering down our own passions…or averting the law? Is it even possible to do such?</strong></em>','Learning from Paterno','','inherit','open','open','','2282-revision-v1','','','2011-11-15 18:23:42','2011-11-16 02:23:42','',2282,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2282-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2285,82,'2011-11-15 18:23:43','2011-11-16 02:23:43','[caption id=\"attachment_2283\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2283\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/football-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs most of American society knows, the upheaval at Penn State has brought to the surface many deep emotions - all of which are justifiable. What isn\'t exactly justifiable, however, are the choices some are opting to make based on those emotions.\r\n\r\nMany words have been flying around Facebook, Twitter, blogs and overall mass media about the dissent many hold for Joe Paterno...and even supporters of him. Many of these words have disheartened me due to the fact many of them have come from the fingertips of Christians.\r\n\r\nAs Christians, we\'re called to hold fast to a higher standard (His); not a conceited standard.\r\n\r\nIn engrossing myself this term in school in the Book of Genesis, some amazing insights have been revealed - ones I never even realized before. Such as in <a title=\"Gen 4:8-16 (ESV)\" href=\"http://bible.us/Gen4.8-16.ESV\" target=\"_blank\">Gen 4:8-16</a> where Cain experiences God\'s grace upon Him...despite the fact that he murdered his own brother in cold, premeditated blood.\r\n\r\nThough the consequences Cain had to endure we\'re rough, God still let Cain live - plus he protected Him! This unto itself is a grace that is absolutely baffling to the logical mind of us humans. It’s something that’s quite difficult for us to even fathom, for sincerely...isn\'t giving grace simply \"letting people off the hook?\"\r\n\r\nAbsolutely not.\r\n\r\nIt\'s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for grace, <em>hen</em>, translates out to be \"favor\"...just as the Greek word for grace, <em>charis</em>, translates out to be the exact same word.\r\n\r\nGrace is simply being in God\'s favor...to be chosen for a purpose that is His to be fulfilled through the ones He chooses. Therefore, grace, like forgiveness, doesn\'t reveal weakness...it reveals a strength unlike any other.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength to not react to the person who caused harm to you, or someone you know.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength, in turn, to love those who have harmed you, or someone you know...and turn the other cheek.\r\n\r\nGod could have taken Cain\'s life from him as “payment” for his actions toward his brother, but God took a higher road. He took the very one He created. The very one, as Christians, we truly need to be always seeking to emulate.\r\n\r\nCertainly, what Joe Paterno did was wrong. He should have said something right when these incidents occurred. Due to his lie of omission, his punishment is justified...his being fired as head coach of the football team. However, what isn\'t justified is the onslaught of judgment calls being made on him, and/or his supporters, by those who embrace Christ.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t condemn.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t cast judgment.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t hate anyone.\r\n\r\nHe loves. He accepts. He forgives. He extends grace.\r\n\r\nSo now let\'s discuss.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>As Christians, how can we extend the same love, acceptance, forgiveness and grace He calls us to have toward others that do heinous things, or even let them happen without saying anything, without watering down our own passions…or averting the law? Is it even possible to do such?</strong></em>','Learning from Paterno','','inherit','open','open','','2282-revision-v1','','','2011-11-15 18:23:43','2011-11-16 02:23:43','',2282,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2282-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(2286,82,'2011-11-15 18:25:59','2011-11-16 02:25:59','[caption id=\"attachment_2283\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\"]<a href=\"http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/s/su/supercolor/655092_football_5.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2283 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/football-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs most of American society knows, the upheaval at Penn State has brought to the surface many deep emotions - all of which are justifiable. What isn\'t exactly justifiable, however, are the choices some are opting to make based on those emotions.\r\n\r\nMany words have been flying around Facebook, Twitter, blogs and overall mass media about the dissent many hold for Joe Paterno...and even supporters of him. Many of these words have disheartened me due to the fact many of them have come from the fingertips of Christians.\r\n\r\nAs Christians, we\'re called to hold fast to a higher standard (His); not a conceited standard.\r\n\r\nIn engrossing myself this term in school in the Book of Genesis, some amazing insights have been revealed - ones I never even realized before. Such as in <a title=\"Gen 4:8-16 (ESV)\" href=\"http://bible.us/Gen4.8-16.ESV\" target=\"_blank\">Gen 4:8-16</a> where Cain experiences God\'s grace upon Him...despite the fact that he murdered his own brother in cold, premeditated blood.\r\n\r\nThough the consequences Cain had to endure we\'re rough, God still let Cain live - plus he protected Him! This unto itself is a grace that is absolutely baffling to the logical mind of us humans. It’s something that’s quite difficult for us to even fathom, for sincerely...isn\'t giving grace simply \"letting people off the hook?\"\r\n\r\nAbsolutely not.\r\n\r\nIt\'s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for grace, <em>hen</em>, translates out to be \"favor\"...just as the Greek word for grace, <em>charis</em>, translates out to be the exact same word.\r\n\r\nGrace is simply being in God\'s favor...to be chosen for a purpose that is His to be fulfilled through the ones He chooses. Therefore, grace, like forgiveness, doesn\'t reveal weakness...it reveals a strength unlike any other.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength to not react to the person who caused harm to you, or someone you know.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength, in turn, to love those who have harmed you, or someone you know...and turn the other cheek.\r\n\r\nGod could have taken Cain\'s life from him as “payment” for his actions toward his brother, but God took a higher road. He took the very one He created. The very one, as Christians, we truly need to be always seeking to emulate.\r\n\r\nCertainly, what Joe Paterno did was wrong. He should have said something right when these incidents occurred. Due to his lie of omission, his punishment is justified...his being fired as head coach of the football team. However, what isn\'t justified is the onslaught of judgment calls being made on him, and/or his supporters, by those who embrace Christ.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t condemn.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t cast judgment.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t hate anyone.\r\n\r\nHe loves. He accepts. He forgives. He extends grace.\r\n\r\nSo, now let\'s discuss.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>As Christians, how can we extend the same love, acceptance, forgiveness and grace He calls us to have toward others that do heinous things, or even let them happen without saying anything, without watering down our own passions…or averting the law? Is it even possible to do such?</strong></em>','Learning from Paterno','','inherit','open','open','','2282-revision-v1','','','2011-11-15 18:25:59','2011-11-16 02:25:59','',2282,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2282-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(2287,82,'2011-11-15 18:54:34','2011-11-16 02:54:34','[caption id=\"attachment_2283\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\"]<a href=\"http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/s/su/supercolor/655092_football_5.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2283 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/football-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs most of American society knows, the upheaval at Penn State has brought to the surface many deep emotions - all of which are justifiable. What isn\'t exactly justifiable, however, are the choices some are opting to make based on those emotions.\r\n\r\nMany words have been flying around Facebook, Twitter, blogs and overall mass media about the dissent many hold for Joe Paterno...and even supporters of him. Many of these words have disheartened me due to the fact many of them have come from the fingertips of Christians.\r\n\r\nAs Christians, we\'re called to hold fast to a higher standard (His); not a conceited standard.\r\n\r\nIn engrossing myself this term in school in the Book of Genesis, some amazing insights have been revealed - ones I never even realized before. Such as in <a title=\"Gen 4:8-16 (ESV)\" href=\"http://bible.us/Gen4.8-16.ESV\" target=\"_blank\">Gen 4:8-16</a> where Cain experiences God\'s grace upon Him...despite the fact that he murdered his own brother in cold, premeditated blood.\r\n\r\nThough the consequences Cain had to endure we\'re rough, God still let Cain live - plus he protected Him! This unto itself is a grace that is absolutely baffling to the logical mind of us humans. It’s something that’s quite difficult for us to even fathom, for sincerely...isn\'t giving grace simply \"letting people off the hook?\"\r\n\r\nAbsolutely not.\r\n\r\nIt\'s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for grace, <em>hen</em>, translates out to be \"favor\"...just as the Greek word for grace, <em>charis</em>, translates out to be the exact same word.\r\n\r\nGrace is simply being in God\'s favor...to be chosen for a purpose that is His to be fulfilled through the ones He chooses. Therefore, grace, like forgiveness, doesn\'t reveal weakness...it reveals a strength unlike any other.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength to not react to the person who caused harm to you, or someone you know.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength, in turn, to love those who have harmed you, or someone you know...and turn the other cheek.\r\n\r\nGod could have taken Cain\'s life from him as “payment” for his actions toward his brother, but God took a higher road. He took the very one He created. The very one, as Christians, we truly need to be always seeking to emulate.\r\n\r\nCertainly, what Joe Paterno did was wrong. He should have said something right when these incidents occurred. Due to his lie of omission, his punishment is justified...his being fired as head coach of the football team. However, what isn\'t justified is the onslaught of judgment calls being made on him, and/or his supporters, by those who embrace Christ.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t condemn.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t cast judgment.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t hate anyone.\r\n\r\nHe loves. He accepts. He forgives. He extends grace.\r\n\r\nSo, now let\'s discuss.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>As Christians, how can we extend the same love, acceptance, forgiveness and grace He calls us to have toward others that do heinous things, or even let them happen without saying anything, without watering down our own passions…or averting the law? Is it even possible to do such?</strong></em>','Learning from Paterno','','inherit','open','open','','2282-revision-v1','','','2011-11-15 18:54:34','2011-11-16 02:54:34','',2282,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2282-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(2368,0,'2011-11-17 20:16:02','2011-11-18 04:16:02','Spirituality, culture, sustainability.\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Mike Morrell\nAUTHOR EMAIL: zoecarnate@gmail.com\nAUTHOR URL: http://mikemorrell.org\nSUBJECT: Provoketive Magazine Writing For Provoketive\nIP: 75.177.182.45\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Mike Morrell\n    [Email] =&gt; zoecarnate@gmail.com\n    [Existing Blog or Website] =&gt; http://mikemorrell.org\n    [List the topic you are interested writing about] =&gt; Spirituality, culture, sustainability. \n    [Current or New WordPress Login Name (We\'ll send you a password.)] =&gt; zoecarnate\n)\n','Mike Morrell - 2011-11-17 20:16:02','','publish','open','open','','0875539a00ce62ed16ea6222177a4118','','','2011-11-17 20:16:02','2011-11-18 04:16:02','',358,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2368',0,'feedback','',0),(2288,78,'2011-11-15 13:28:41','2011-11-15 21:28:41','<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</strong></p>\r\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existence of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised what is known as the Problem of Evil, has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\r\n\r\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\r\n<strong>“God”</strong> will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\r\n<strong>“Moral evil”</strong> is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\r\n<strong>“Natural evil”</strong> is suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\r\n\r\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\r\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\r\n\r\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\r\n\r\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\r\n\r\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\r\n\r\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\r\n\r\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\r\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3  </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\r\n\r\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\r\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\r\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\r\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo Credit: <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/diloz/5038789369/\">Azlan Dupree</a></em>','The (non)Problem of Evil: a philisophical defense of God','','inherit','open','open','','2269-revision-9','','','2011-11-15 13:28:41','2011-11-15 21:28:41','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2269-revision-9/',0,'revision','',0),(2525,24,'2011-11-23 10:17:57','2011-11-23 18:17:57','','An I for an i.','','inherit','open','open','','2524-revision','','','2011-11-23 10:17:57','2011-11-23 18:17:57','',2524,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/23/2524-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2290,0,'2011-11-16 05:30:11','2011-11-16 13:30:11','life, religion\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Loretta Shelton\nAUTHOR EMAIL: lorettashelton10@gmail.com\nAUTHOR URL: http://lorettashelton.wordpress.com\nSUBJECT: Provoketive Magazine Writing For Provoketive\nIP: 50.55.33.39\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Loretta Shelton\n    [Email] =&gt; lorettashelton10@gmail.com\n    [Existing Blog or Website] =&gt; lorettashelton.wordpress.com\n    [List the topic you are interested writing about] =&gt; life, religion\n    [Current or New WordPress Login Name (We\'ll send you a password.)] =&gt; lorettashelton\n)\n','Loretta Shelton - 2011-11-16 05:30:11','','publish','open','open','','7cb3925510283b355c8f06886440bcf4','','','2011-11-16 05:30:11','2011-11-16 13:30:11','',358,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2290',0,'feedback','',0),(2291,1,'2011-11-14 08:34:45','2011-11-14 16:34:45','There inevitably comes a time (or in my case, multiple times) in one\'s life when one asks oneself, \"What\'s the point?\" With the ins and outs of life, the monotony of daily routine, pain and trials, etc., it is easy to wonder if our lives are really all that meaningful. Even armed with a faith in God and knowledge that we have an eternal life after this fleeting, temporal one, sometimes it is a struggle to find true purpose and  meaning in the humdrum of our day-to-day lives, whether you are a stay-at-home mom picking up toys for the thirtieth time today, a CEO at a Fortune 500 company wondering whether your legacy will be more than the hours you put in at work, or a pastor at a church questioning the effectiveness of your ministry. This struggle to find meaning in a <em>sometimes</em> seemingly meaningless life, while buffeted by despair, angst, boredom, and other distractions, is the focus of Existentialism, a philosophical school of thought that credits its beginnings with such 19th and 20th century philosophers as Søren Kierkegaard, Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Nietzsche. However, perhaps the first documented existential struggle is from around the 3rd century BCE: the Book of Ecclesiastes. Reading through Ecclesiastes, Solomon\'s struggle could almost be repackaged and sold as a practical how-to handbook on working through existential despair.\r\n\r\nIn the opening lines of Ecclesiastes, we find Solomon bemoaning the vanity of it all, as he declares,\"“Meaningless! Meaningless!...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). As a king and a ruler, it is no surprise that he is offended at the realization that a man will diligently develop his life\'s work but for no profit, as he will pass away and another will take his place. To add insult to injury, no one will remember his name: <strong>\"</strong> No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.\" (1:11). And why should they?Neither he nor his contributions to the world are unique: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (1: 9). Ironically, Solomon, who is arguably most well-known for seeking wisdom from God, later goes on to say that wisdom, while it may make your life on earth easier, really has no eternal value.  Furthermore, he declares that pleasure, riches and treasures, skills and work, popularity, youth, and all that the world values and chases after are utterly meaningless.\r\n\r\nBut wait, it gets better. Not only is everything meaningless, but it also doesn\'t matter if you try to do the right thing, because, \"All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 11px;\"> </span>the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good,  so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them\" (9:2). Solomon\'s complaint that he can find no reason or meaning behind those who suffer and those who do not, those who prosper and do not, and those who are righteous or not is similar to the Existential concept of the Absurd, the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life, coupled with the human inability to find any meaning. This is in direct contrast to the commonly held karmic belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. But as Solomon has found, there is no rhyme or reason to it, for: \"the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all\" (9:11). If you have struggled with the question of why good things happen to bad people (and vice versa), you are not alone. Even Solomon wondered at it and struggled with how our righteousness (or lack there of) can be of value or meaning when it doesn\'t appear to affect what happens to us here on earth.\r\n\r\nPerhaps it seems counter-intuitive, but I find comfort in Solomon\'s struggles and observations throughout Ecclesiastes, for three reasons:\r\n\r\nFirst of all, Solomon was a man who knew God and was given incredible wisdom from Him, yet he still struggled with the meaning and purpose of life.  It could be that it is wisdom itself to struggle with the meaning of your life, or it could simply mean that gaining God\'s wisdom will not make you immune to a very normal, human struggle.  Regardless, if you are struggling with doubts about the meaningfulness of your life and purpose, take heart that one of the greatest kings who sincerely sought after the mind of God and His wisdom also struggled through this very same issue.\r\n\r\nSecondly, Ecclesiastes illustrates an important life lesson best learned early: whenever you seek for meaning in transient or changeable things, you will inevitably end up disappointed, discouraged, or worse: in complete despair. If you seek for meaning in possessions or money, or even pleasure and adventure,  you will eventually realize that they do not guarantee true happiness nor do they have any eternal significance. If, like many others, you seek to find meaning in life from your job or vocation,  you may despair if you believe your job is not significant or prestigious. Or, like Solomon, you may decry the fact that years from now, no one will remember you or your work. To take it a step further, what would happen if you completely defined your life and its meaningfulness by your work or vocation? Say you are a dancer who loses a leg in an accident or a pianist whose cripples their hands, suddenly and permanently unable to do the one thing which defined you? What then? It is easier to realize that true meaning in life is not found in earthly things or possessions, but perhaps we need to consider that it can\'t be found in our calling or vocation either. It is a very freeing moment indeed when we  first truly grasp that what we <em>do</em> is not who we <em>are.</em>\r\n\r\n<em></em>Thirdly, I find comfort in Solomon\'s observation that bad things may happen to good people and good things may happen to bad people. Yes, I admit, part of me finds this incredibly unfair. \"Good\" people who work hard, treat others fairly, and do the right thing may get sick, lose their job, or suffer innumerable trials and pain. Meanwhile, \"evil\" people who oppress others and cheat for their own gain may prosper, be filthy rich, and coast through life without a worry. The fact is, good and evil befall us all, and trying to find meaning in the whos or whys of it all is a waste of time. Yes, God can use all things for the good of those who love Him-- but that does not mean we have to define who we are or what our lives mean by what \"happens\" to us, be it good or bad.\r\n\r\nAt the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon concludes that, regardless of how things may appear in our earthly life, we should: \"Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man\'s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.\" (12:13-14). Looking beyond Ecclesiastes into the rest of the Bible, I do not think this is the sole meaning we should find in life; however, Solomon\'s conclusion does rest on something unchangeable and incorporeal: God. While our time here on earth is transient, and we may struggle with whether anything we do here has any real meaning, in the end, there is a God in heaven who created us and has a purpose for us.\r\n\r\nWe are immortal souls housed in mortal flesh working our way through a world riddled with sin, and we have an innate need to seek for meaning in this absurd mess. But the full, complete meaning of life cannot be found here in the temporal world, but rather it must be found in the context of God and eternity. It  is a difficult task to seek out our own meaning in the Everlasting when we are continually faced with temporal and earthly pains-- and even pleasures.  But, God is big enough to handle our struggles and doubts with life and it\'s apparent meaningless at times. He won\'t shrink back at our questions. Really, I think this very struggle is a necessary part of coming to an understanding of our relationship with God, as well as the purpose of our lives, on earth and eternally.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Adventures in Ecclesiastes: Finding the Meaning in it All','','inherit','open','open','','2036-revision-38','','','2011-11-14 08:34:45','2011-11-14 16:34:45','',2036,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/14/2036-revision-38/',0,'revision','',0),(2292,1,'2011-11-16 08:02:56','2011-11-16 16:02:56','There inevitably comes a time (or in my case, multiple times) in one\'s life when one asks oneself, \"What\'s the point?\" With the ins and outs of life, the monotony of daily routine, pain and trials, etc., it is easy to wonder if our lives are really all that meaningful. Even armed with a faith in God and knowledge that we have an eternal life after this fleeting, temporal one, sometimes it is a struggle to find true purpose and  meaning in the humdrum of our day-to-day lives, whether you are a stay-at-home mom picking up toys for the thirtieth time today, a CEO at a Fortune 500 company wondering whether your legacy will be more than the hours you put in at work, or a pastor at a church questioning the effectiveness of your ministry. This struggle to find meaning in a <em>sometimes</em> seemingly meaningless life, while buffeted by despair, angst, boredom, and other distractions, is the focus of Existentialism, a philosophical school of thought that credits its beginnings with such 19th and 20th century philosophers as Søren Kierkegaard, Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Nietzsche. However, perhaps the first documented existential struggle is from around the 3rd century BCE: the Book of Ecclesiastes. Reading through Ecclesiastes, Solomon\'s struggle could almost be repackaged and sold as a practical how-to handbook on working through existential despair.\r\n\r\nIn the opening lines of Ecclesiastes, we find Solomon bemoaning the vanity of it all, as he declares,\"“Meaningless! Meaningless!...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). As a king and a ruler, it is no surprise that he is offended at the realization that a man will diligently develop his life\'s work but for no profit, as he will pass away and another will take his place. To add insult to injury, no one will remember his name: <strong>\"</strong> No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.\" (1:11). And why should they?Neither he nor his contributions to the world are unique: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (1: 9). Ironically, Solomon, who is arguably most well-known for seeking wisdom from God, later goes on to say that wisdom, while it may make your life on earth easier, really has no eternal value.  Furthermore, he declares that pleasure, riches and treasures, skills and work, popularity, youth, and all that the world values and chases after are utterly meaningless.\r\n\r\nBut wait, it gets better. Not only is everything meaningless, but it also doesn\'t matter if you try to do the right thing, because, \"All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 11px;\"> </span>the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good,  so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them\" (9:2). Solomon\'s complaint that he can find no reason or meaning behind those who suffer and those who do not, those who prosper and do not, and those who are righteous or not is similar to the Existential concept of the Absurd, the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life, coupled with the human inability to find any meaning. This is in direct contrast to the commonly held karmic belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. But as Solomon has found, there is no rhyme or reason to it, for: \"the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all\" (9:11). If you have struggled with the question of why good things happen to bad people (and vice versa), you are not alone. Even Solomon wondered at it and struggled with how our righteousness (or lack there of) can be of value or meaning when it doesn\'t appear to affect what happens to us here on earth.\r\n\r\nPerhaps it seems counter-intuitive, but I find comfort in Solomon\'s struggles and observations throughout Ecclesiastes, for three reasons:\r\n\r\nFirst of all, Solomon was a man who knew God and was given incredible wisdom from Him, yet he still struggled with the meaning and purpose of life.  It could be that it is wisdom itself to struggle with the meaning of your life, or it could simply mean that gaining God\'s wisdom will not make you immune to a very normal, human struggle.  Regardless, if you are struggling with doubts about the meaningfulness of your life and purpose, take heart that one of the greatest kings who sincerely sought after the mind of God and His wisdom also struggled through this very same issue.\r\n\r\nSecondly, Ecclesiastes illustrates an important life lesson best learned early: whenever you seek for meaning in transient or changeable things, you will inevitably end up disappointed, discouraged, or worse: in complete despair. If you seek for meaning in possessions or money, or even pleasure and adventure,  you will eventually realize that they do not guarantee true happiness nor do they have any eternal significance. If, like many others, you seek to find meaning in life from your job or vocation,  you may despair if you believe your job is not significant or prestigious. Or, like Solomon, you may decry the fact that years from now, no one will remember you or your work. To take it a step further, what would happen if you completely defined your life and its meaningfulness by your work or vocation? Say you are a dancer who loses a leg in an accident or a pianist whose cripples their hands, suddenly and permanently unable to do the one thing which defined you? What then? It is easier to realize that true meaning in life is not found in earthly things or possessions, but perhaps we need to consider that it can\'t be found in our calling or vocation either. It is a very freeing moment indeed when we  first truly grasp that what we <em>do</em> is not who we <em>are.</em>\r\n\r\n<em></em>Thirdly, I find comfort in Solomon\'s observation that bad things may happen to good people and good things may happen to bad people. Yes, I admit, part of me finds this incredibly unfair. \"Good\" people who work hard, treat others fairly, and do the right thing may get sick, lose their job, or suffer innumerable trials and pain. Meanwhile, \"evil\" people who oppress others and cheat for their own gain may prosper, be filthy rich, and coast through life without a worry. The fact is, good and evil befall us all, and trying to find meaning in the whos or whys of it all is a waste of time. Yes, God can use all things for the good of those who love Him-- but that does not mean we have to define who we are or what our lives mean by what \"happens\" to us, be it good or bad.\r\n\r\nAt the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon concludes that, regardless of how things may appear in our earthly life, we should: \"Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man\'s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.\" (12:13-14). Looking beyond Ecclesiastes into the rest of the Bible, I do not think this is the sole meaning we should find in life; however, Solomon\'s conclusion does rest on something unchangeable and incorporeal: God. While our time here on earth is transient, and we may struggle with whether anything we do here has any real meaning, in the end, there is a God in heaven who created us and has a purpose for us.\r\n\r\nWe are immortal souls housed in mortal flesh working our way through a world riddled with sin, and we have an innate need to seek for meaning in this absurd mess. But the full, complete meaning of life cannot be found here in the temporal world, but rather it must be found in the context of God and eternity. It  is a difficult task to seek out our own meaning in the Everlasting when we are continually faced with temporal and earthly pains-- and even pleasures.  But, God is big enough to handle our struggles and doubts with life and it\'s apparent meaningless at times. He won\'t shrink back at our questions. Really, I think this very struggle is a necessary part of coming to an understanding of our relationship with God, as well as the purpose of our lives, on earth and eternally.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Adventures In Ecclesiastes: Finding The Meaning In It All','','inherit','open','open','','2036-revision-39','','','2011-11-16 08:02:56','2011-11-16 16:02:56','',2036,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2036-revision-39/',0,'revision','',0),(2293,1,'2011-11-16 08:03:16','2011-11-16 16:03:16','There inevitably comes a time (or in my case, multiple times) in one\'s life when one asks oneself, \"What\'s the point?\" With the ins and outs of life, the monotony of daily routine, pain and trials, etc., it is easy to wonder if our lives are really all that meaningful. Even armed with a faith in God and knowledge that we have an eternal life after this fleeting, temporal one, sometimes it is a struggle to find true purpose and  meaning in the humdrum of our day-to-day lives, whether you are a stay-at-home mom picking up toys for the thirtieth time today, a CEO at a Fortune 500 company wondering whether your legacy will be more than the hours you put in at work, or a pastor at a church questioning the effectiveness of your ministry. This struggle to find meaning in a <em>sometimes</em> seemingly meaningless life, while buffeted by despair, angst, boredom, and other distractions, is the focus of Existentialism, a philosophical school of thought that credits its beginnings with such 19th and 20th century philosophers as Søren Kierkegaard, Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Nietzsche. However, perhaps the first documented existential struggle is from around the 3rd century BCE: the Book of Ecclesiastes. Reading through Ecclesiastes, Solomon\'s struggle could almost be repackaged and sold as a practical how-to handbook on working through existential despair.\r\n\r\nIn the opening lines of Ecclesiastes, we find Solomon bemoaning the vanity of it all, as he declares,\"“Meaningless! Meaningless!...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). As a king and a ruler, it is no surprise that he is offended at the realization that a man will diligently develop his life\'s work but for no profit, as he will pass away and another will take his place. To add insult to injury, no one will remember his name: <strong>\"</strong> No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.\" (1:11). And why should they?Neither he nor his contributions to the world are unique: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (1: 9). Ironically, Solomon, who is arguably most well-known for seeking wisdom from God, later goes on to say that wisdom, while it may make your life on earth easier, really has no eternal value.  Furthermore, he declares that pleasure, riches and treasures, skills and work, popularity, youth, and all that the world values and chases after are utterly meaningless.\r\n\r\nBut wait, it gets better. Not only is everything meaningless, but it also doesn\'t matter if you try to do the right thing, because, \"All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 11px;\"> </span>the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good,  so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them\" (9:2). Solomon\'s complaint that he can find no reason or meaning behind those who suffer and those who do not, those who prosper and do not, and those who are righteous or not is similar to the Existential concept of the Absurd, the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life, coupled with the human inability to find any meaning. This is in direct contrast to the commonly held karmic belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. But as Solomon has found, there is no rhyme or reason to it, for: \"the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all\" (9:11). If you have struggled with the question of why good things happen to bad people (and vice versa), you are not alone. Even Solomon wondered at it and struggled with how our righteousness (or lack there of) can be of value or meaning when it doesn\'t appear to affect what happens to us here on earth.\r\n\r\nPerhaps it seems counter-intuitive, but I find comfort in Solomon\'s struggles and observations throughout Ecclesiastes, for three reasons:\r\n\r\nFirst of all, Solomon was a man who knew God and was given incredible wisdom from Him, yet he still struggled with the meaning and purpose of life.  It could be that it is wisdom itself to struggle with the meaning of your life, or it could simply mean that gaining God\'s wisdom will not make you immune to a very normal, human struggle.  Regardless, if you are struggling with doubts about the meaningfulness of your life and purpose, take heart that one of the greatest kings who sincerely sought after the mind of God and His wisdom also struggled through this very same issue.\r\n\r\nSecondly, Ecclesiastes illustrates an important life lesson best learned early: whenever you seek for meaning in transient or changeable things, you will inevitably end up disappointed, discouraged, or worse: in complete despair. If you seek for meaning in possessions or money, or even pleasure and adventure,  you will eventually realize that they do not guarantee true happiness nor do they have any eternal significance. If, like many others, you seek to find meaning in life from your job or vocation,  you may despair if you believe your job is not significant or prestigious. Or, like Solomon, you may decry the fact that years from now, no one will remember you or your work. To take it a step further, what would happen if you completely defined your life and its meaningfulness by your work or vocation? Say you are a dancer who loses a leg in an accident or a pianist whose cripples their hands, suddenly and permanently unable to do the one thing which defined you? What then? It is easier to realize that true meaning in life is not found in earthly things or possessions, but perhaps we need to consider that it can\'t be found in our calling or vocation either. It is a very freeing moment indeed when we  first truly grasp that what we <em>do</em> is not who we <em>are.</em>\r\n\r\n<em></em>Thirdly, I find comfort in Solomon\'s observation that bad things may happen to good people and good things may happen to bad people. Yes, I admit, part of me finds this incredibly unfair. \"Good\" people who work hard, treat others fairly, and do the right thing may get sick, lose their job, or suffer innumerable trials and pain. Meanwhile, \"evil\" people who oppress others and cheat for their own gain may prosper, be filthy rich, and coast through life without a worry. The fact is, good and evil befall us all, and trying to find meaning in the whos or whys of it all is a waste of time. Yes, God can use all things for the good of those who love Him-- but that does not mean we have to define who we are or what our lives mean by what \"happens\" to us, be it good or bad.\r\n\r\nAt the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon concludes that, regardless of how things may appear in our earthly life, we should: \"Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man\'s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.\" (12:13-14). Looking beyond Ecclesiastes into the rest of the Bible, I do not think this is the sole meaning we should find in life; however, Solomon\'s conclusion does rest on something unchangeable and incorporeal: God. While our time here on earth is transient, and we may struggle with whether anything we do here has any real meaning, in the end, there is a God in heaven who created us and has a purpose for us.\r\n\r\nWe are immortal souls housed in mortal flesh working our way through a world riddled with sin, and we have an innate need to seek for meaning in this absurd mess. But the full, complete meaning of life cannot be found here in the temporal world, but rather it must be found in the context of God and eternity. It  is a difficult task to seek out our own meaning in the Everlasting when we are continually faced with temporal and earthly pains-- and even pleasures.  But, God is big enough to handle our struggles and doubts with life and it\'s apparent meaningless at times. He won\'t shrink back at our questions. Really, I think this very struggle is a necessary part of coming to an understanding of our relationship with God, as well as the purpose of our lives, on earth and eternally.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Finding The Meaning In It All','','inherit','open','open','','2036-revision-40','','','2011-11-16 08:03:16','2011-11-16 16:03:16','',2036,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2036-revision-40/',0,'revision','',0),(2295,1,'2011-11-16 08:03:33','2011-11-16 16:03:33','There inevitably comes a time (or in my case, multiple times) in one\'s life when one asks oneself, \"What\'s the point?\" With the ins and outs of life, the monotony of daily routine, pain and trials, etc., it is easy to wonder if our lives are really all that meaningful. Even armed with a faith in God and knowledge that we have an eternal life after this fleeting, temporal one, sometimes it is a struggle to find true purpose and  meaning in the humdrum of our day-to-day lives, whether you are a stay-at-home mom picking up toys for the thirtieth time today, a CEO at a Fortune 500 company wondering whether your legacy will be more than the hours you put in at work, or a pastor at a church questioning the effectiveness of your ministry. This struggle to find meaning in a <em>sometimes</em> seemingly meaningless life, while buffeted by despair, angst, boredom, and other distractions, is the focus of Existentialism, a philosophical school of thought that credits its beginnings with such 19th and 20th century philosophers as Søren Kierkegaard, Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Nietzsche. However, perhaps the first documented existential struggle is from around the 3rd century BCE: the Book of Ecclesiastes. Reading through Ecclesiastes, Solomon\'s struggle could almost be repackaged and sold as a practical how-to handbook on working through existential despair.\r\n\r\nIn the opening lines of Ecclesiastes, we find Solomon bemoaning the vanity of it all, as he declares,\"“Meaningless! Meaningless!...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). As a king and a ruler, it is no surprise that he is offended at the realization that a man will diligently develop his life\'s work but for no profit, as he will pass away and another will take his place. To add insult to injury, no one will remember his name: <strong>\"</strong> No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.\" (1:11). And why should they?Neither he nor his contributions to the world are unique: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (1: 9). Ironically, Solomon, who is arguably most well-known for seeking wisdom from God, later goes on to say that wisdom, while it may make your life on earth easier, really has no eternal value.  Furthermore, he declares that pleasure, riches and treasures, skills and work, popularity, youth, and all that the world values and chases after are utterly meaningless.\r\n\r\nBut wait, it gets better. Not only is everything meaningless, but it also doesn\'t matter if you try to do the right thing, because, \"All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 11px;\"> </span>the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good,  so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them\" (9:2). Solomon\'s complaint that he can find no reason or meaning behind those who suffer and those who do not, those who prosper and do not, and those who are righteous or not is similar to the Existential concept of the Absurd, the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life, coupled with the human inability to find any meaning. This is in direct contrast to the commonly held karmic belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. But as Solomon has found, there is no rhyme or reason to it, for: \"the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all\" (9:11). If you have struggled with the question of why good things happen to bad people (and vice versa), you are not alone. Even Solomon wondered at it and struggled with how our righteousness (or lack there of) can be of value or meaning when it doesn\'t appear to affect what happens to us here on earth.\r\n\r\nPerhaps it seems counter-intuitive, but I find comfort in Solomon\'s struggles and observations throughout Ecclesiastes, for three reasons:\r\n\r\nFirst of all, Solomon was a man who knew God and was given incredible wisdom from Him, yet he still struggled with the meaning and purpose of life.  It could be that it is wisdom itself to struggle with the meaning of your life, or it could simply mean that gaining God\'s wisdom will not make you immune to a very normal, human struggle.  Regardless, if you are struggling with doubts about the meaningfulness of your life and purpose, take heart that one of the greatest kings who sincerely sought after the mind of God and His wisdom also struggled through this very same issue.\r\n\r\nSecondly, Ecclesiastes illustrates an important life lesson best learned early: whenever you seek for meaning in transient or changeable things, you will inevitably end up disappointed, discouraged, or worse: in complete despair. If you seek for meaning in possessions or money, or even pleasure and adventure,  you will eventually realize that they do not guarantee true happiness nor do they have any eternal significance. If, like many others, you seek to find meaning in life from your job or vocation,  you may despair if you believe your job is not significant or prestigious. Or, like Solomon, you may decry the fact that years from now, no one will remember you or your work. To take it a step further, what would happen if you completely defined your life and its meaningfulness by your work or vocation? Say you are a dancer who loses a leg in an accident or a pianist whose cripples their hands, suddenly and permanently unable to do the one thing which defined you? What then? It is easier to realize that true meaning in life is not found in earthly things or possessions, but perhaps we need to consider that it can\'t be found in our calling or vocation either. It is a very freeing moment indeed when we  first truly grasp that what we <em>do</em> is not who we <em>are.</em>\r\n\r\n<em></em>Thirdly, I find comfort in Solomon\'s observation that bad things may happen to good people and good things may happen to bad people. Yes, I admit, part of me finds this incredibly unfair. \"Good\" people who work hard, treat others fairly, and do the right thing may get sick, lose their job, or suffer innumerable trials and pain. Meanwhile, \"evil\" people who oppress others and cheat for their own gain may prosper, be filthy rich, and coast through life without a worry. The fact is, good and evil befall us all, and trying to find meaning in the whos or whys of it all is a waste of time. Yes, God can use all things for the good of those who love Him-- but that does not mean we have to define who we are or what our lives mean by what \"happens\" to us, be it good or bad.\r\n\r\nAt the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon concludes that, regardless of how things may appear in our earthly life, we should: \"Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man\'s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.\" (12:13-14). Looking beyond Ecclesiastes into the rest of the Bible, I do not think this is the sole meaning we should find in life; however, Solomon\'s conclusion does rest on something unchangeable and incorporeal: God. While our time here on earth is transient, and we may struggle with whether anything we do here has any real meaning, in the end, there is a God in heaven who created us and has a purpose for us.\r\n\r\nWe are immortal souls housed in mortal flesh working our way through a world riddled with sin, and we have an innate need to seek for meaning in this absurd mess. But the full, complete meaning of life cannot be found here in the temporal world, but rather it must be found in the context of God and eternity. It  is a difficult task to seek out our own meaning in the Everlasting when we are continually faced with temporal and earthly pains-- and even pleasures.  But, God is big enough to handle our struggles and doubts with life and it\'s apparent meaningless at times. He won\'t shrink back at our questions. Really, I think this very struggle is a necessary part of coming to an understanding of our relationship with God, as well as the purpose of our lives, on earth and eternally.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Finding The Meaning In It All','','inherit','open','open','','2036-revision-41','','','2011-11-16 08:03:33','2011-11-16 16:03:33','',2036,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2036-revision-41/',0,'revision','',0),(2296,1,'2011-11-16 08:08:50','2011-11-16 16:08:50','There inevitably comes a time (or in my case, multiple times) in one\'s life when one asks oneself, \"What\'s the point?\" With the ins and outs of life, the monotony of daily routine, pain and trials, etc., it is easy to wonder if our lives are really all that meaningful. Even armed with a faith in God and knowledge that we have an eternal life after this fleeting, temporal one, sometimes it is a struggle to find true purpose and  meaning in the humdrum of our day-to-day lives, whether you are a stay-at-home mom picking up toys for the thirtieth time today, a CEO at a Fortune 500 company wondering whether your legacy will be more than the hours you put in at work, or a pastor at a church questioning the effectiveness of your ministry. This struggle to find meaning in a <em>sometimes</em> seemingly meaningless life, while buffeted by despair, angst, boredom, and other distractions, is the focus of Existentialism, a philosophical school of thought that credits its beginnings with such 19th and 20th century philosophers as Søren Kierkegaard, Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Nietzsche. However, perhaps the first documented existential struggle is from around the 3rd century BCE: the Book of Ecclesiastes. Reading through Ecclesiastes, Solomon\'s struggle could almost be repackaged and sold as a practical how-to handbook on working through existential despair.\r\n\r\nIn the opening lines of Ecclesiastes, we find Solomon bemoaning the vanity of it all, as he declares,\"“Meaningless! Meaningless!...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). As a king and a ruler, it is no surprise that he is offended at the realization that a man will diligently develop his life\'s work but for no profit, as he will pass away and another will take his place. To add insult to injury, no one will remember his name: <strong>\"</strong> No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.\" (1:11). And why should they?Neither he nor his contributions to the world are unique: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (1: 9). Ironically, Solomon, who is arguably most well-known for seeking wisdom from God, later goes on to say that wisdom, while it may make your life on earth easier, really has no eternal value.  Furthermore, he declares that pleasure, riches and treasures, skills and work, popularity, youth, and all that the world values and chases after are utterly meaningless.\r\n\r\nBut wait, it gets better. Not only is everything meaningless, but it also doesn\'t matter if you try to do the right thing, because, \"All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 11px;\"> </span>the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good,  so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them\" (9:2). Solomon\'s complaint that he can find no reason or meaning behind those who suffer and those who do not, those who prosper and do not, and those who are righteous or not is similar to the Existential concept of the Absurd, the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life, coupled with the human inability to find any meaning. This is in direct contrast to the commonly held karmic belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. But as Solomon has found, there is no rhyme or reason to it, for: \"the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all\" (9:11). If you have struggled with the question of why good things happen to bad people (and vice versa), you are not alone. Even Solomon wondered at it and struggled with how our righteousness (or lack there of) can be of value or meaning when it doesn\'t appear to affect what happens to us here on earth.\r\n\r\nPerhaps it seems counter-intuitive, but I find comfort in Solomon\'s struggles and observations throughout Ecclesiastes, for three reasons:\r\n\r\nFirst of all, Solomon was a man who knew God and was given incredible wisdom from Him, yet he still struggled with the meaning and purpose of life.  It could be that it is wisdom itself to struggle with the meaning of your life, or it could simply mean that gaining God\'s wisdom will not make you immune to a very normal, human struggle.  Regardless, if you are struggling with doubts about the meaningfulness of your life and purpose, take heart that one of the greatest kings who sincerely sought after the mind of God and His wisdom also struggled through this very same issue.\r\n\r\nSecondly, Ecclesiastes illustrates an important life lesson best learned early: whenever you seek for meaning in transient or changeable things, you will inevitably end up disappointed, discouraged, or worse: in complete despair. If you seek for meaning in possessions or money, or even pleasure and adventure,  you will eventually realize that they do not guarantee true happiness nor do they have any eternal significance. If, like many others, you seek to find meaning in life from your job or vocation,  you may despair if you believe your job is not significant or prestigious. Or, like Solomon, you may decry the fact that years from now, no one will remember you or your work. To take it a step further, what would happen if you completely defined your life and its meaningfulness by your work or vocation? Say you are a dancer who loses a leg in an accident or a pianist whose cripples their hands, suddenly and permanently unable to do the one thing which defined you? What then? It is easier to realize that true meaning in life is not found in earthly things or possessions, but perhaps we need to consider that it can\'t be found in our calling or vocation either. It is a very freeing moment indeed when we  first truly grasp that what we <em>do</em> is not who we <em>are.</em>\r\n\r\n<em></em>Thirdly, I find comfort in Solomon\'s observation that bad things may happen to good people and good things may happen to bad people. Yes, I admit, part of me finds this incredibly unfair. \"Good\" people who work hard, treat others fairly, and do the right thing may get sick, lose their job, or suffer innumerable trials and pain. Meanwhile, \"evil\" people who oppress others and cheat for their own gain may prosper, be filthy rich, and coast through life without a worry. The fact is, good and evil befall us all, and trying to find meaning in the whos or whys of it all is a waste of time. Yes, God can use all things for the good of those who love Him-- but that does not mean we have to define who we are or what our lives mean by what \"happens\" to us, be it good or bad.\r\n\r\nAt the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon concludes that, regardless of how things may appear in our earthly life, we should: \"Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man\'s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.\" (12:13-14). Looking beyond Ecclesiastes into the rest of the Bible, I do not think this is the sole meaning we should find in life; however, Solomon\'s conclusion does rest on something unchangeable and incorporeal: God. While our time here on earth is transient, and we may struggle with whether anything we do here has any real meaning, in the end, there is a God in heaven who created us and has a purpose for us.\r\n\r\nWe are immortal souls housed in mortal flesh working our way through a world riddled with sin, and we have an innate need to seek for meaning in this absurd mess. But the full, complete meaning of life cannot be found here in the temporal world, but rather it must be found in the context of God and eternity. It  is a difficult task to seek out our own meaning in the Everlasting when we are continually faced with temporal and earthly pains-- and even pleasures.  But, God is big enough to handle our struggles and doubts with life and it\'s apparent meaningless at times. He won\'t shrink back at our questions. Really, I think this very struggle is a necessary part of coming to an understanding of our relationship with God, as well as the purpose of our lives, on earth and eternally.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Finding The Meaning In It All','','inherit','open','open','','2036-revision-42','','','2011-11-16 08:08:50','2011-11-16 16:08:50','',2036,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2036-revision-42/',0,'revision','',0),(2298,1,'2011-11-14 16:11:43','2011-11-15 00:11:43','<strong>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling with God Workshop</strong> will be offered online January 9 - February 10, 2012.  This course is about the spiritual practice of discussing everything with God, risking honesty to gain intimacy through loving, trusting conversations.  It\'s wrestling through anger, faith, pain, hope about every aspect of our lives.  No topic, language, or feeling is unholy.  It will cover how to know you\'re hearing from God and explores a variety of ways to pray.  This course is an opportunity to discover for yourself the redemptive freedom that comes from being totally honest with yourself and the One who loves you best.  As you practice stepping out of your comfort zone, you will begin to experience confidence in speaking freely with God in ways that are uniquely yours.\r\n\r\nThe instructor, Joy Wilson, is the author of <em>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God.  </em>Prior to starting the workshop, participants need to order the text from Amazon.com.\r\n\r\nThe cost of the course is $69.  For additional information, go to the following link:  <a href=\"http://beadisciple.com/workshops.html#UncensoredPrayer\">http://beadisciple.com/workshops.html#UncensoredPrayer</a>.   Class size is limited, so register early.','Uncensored Prayer Online Workshop','','inherit','open','open','','2235-revision-5','','','2011-11-14 16:11:43','2011-11-15 00:11:43','',2235,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/14/2235-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(2299,1,'2011-11-16 08:15:36','2011-11-16 16:15:36','<strong>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling with God Workshop</strong> will be offered online January 9 - February 10, 2012.  This course is about the spiritual practice of discussing everything with God, risking honesty to gain intimacy through loving, trusting conversations.  It\'s wrestling through anger, faith, pain, hope about every aspect of our lives.  No topic, language, or feeling is unholy.  It will cover how to know you\'re hearing from God and explores a variety of ways to pray.  This course is an opportunity to discover for yourself the redemptive freedom that comes from being totally honest with yourself and the One who loves you best.  As you practice stepping out of your comfort zone, you will begin to experience confidence in speaking freely with God in ways that are uniquely yours.\r\n\r\nThe instructor, Joy Wilson, is the author of <em>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God.  </em>Prior to starting the workshop, participants need to order the text from Amazon.com.\r\n\r\nThe cost of the course is $69.  For additional information, go to the following link:  <a href=\"http://beadisciple.com/workshops.html#UncensoredPrayer\">http://beadisciple.com/workshops.html#UncensoredPrayer</a>.   Class size is limited, so register early.','Uncensored Prayer Online Workshop','','inherit','open','open','','2235-revision-6','','','2011-11-16 08:15:36','2011-11-16 16:15:36','',2235,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2235-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(2300,35,'2012-02-07 10:27:41','2012-02-07 18:27:41','<strong><a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Midwest-Outlaw-Preachers-Retreat.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2256\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Midwest-Outlaw-Preachers-Retreat.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"143\" height=\"268\" /></a>Dates</strong>: Friday, February 3 through Sunday, February 5, 2012\n\n<strong>Location</strong>: The Cove of Lake Geneva,  Wisconsin\n\n<strong>The theme this year will be “Uncensored Christianity”.   </strong>Ever struggled with feeling like your prayers have to be perfect, because if you don’t say the right kind of things God will tune you out? Are there things you’ve always wanted to ask or say to God, but haven’t because you’re afraid God will reject you?   The truth is God wants to have totally honest conversations with you, and you can say anything you want.  No topic, language, or feeling is inappropriate.Come with us as we spend the weekend in Lake Geneva finding a way to get past all of the “shoulds” of religion so we can enter into a truly, scandalously honest relationship with God. We want to learn to relish the high times, low times, questions, answers, and all the other dynamics of what we call Christianity.Our keynote speaker is <a title=\"Facilitators &amp; Speakers\" href=\"http://midwestoutlawretreat.wordpress.com/facilitators-speakers/\">Joy Wilson</a>, the author of <a href=\"http://store.civitaspress.com/books/193\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God</em></a><em>,</em> who will show us through her poetry how being open and honest in her conversations with God has transformed her understanding of Him/Her, and immensely expanded her understanding of what it means to have faith.  Also, there will be a session with the homeless advocate and artist, Revolución MacInnes.\n\nWho are Outlaw Preachers?  An eclectic group of Jesus followers whose interests and ministries often aren’t traditional. You are an Outlaw is you say you are, preacher or not. Registration is only $25, which includes a Chicago style pizza dinner on Friday night and a Breakfast together on Sunday morning.\n\nSee the website for information about lodging and to register today!\n\n<a href=\"http://midwestoutlawretreat.wordpress.com/\" target=\"_blank\">http://midwestoutlawretreat.wordpress.com/</a>','Midwest Outlaw Preacher Winter Retreat 2012','','inherit','open','open','','2255-autosave','','','2012-02-07 10:27:41','2012-02-07 18:27:41','',2255,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2255-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(4994,35,'2012-02-07 10:39:41','2012-02-07 18:39:41','','Uncensored Cover','','inherit','open','open','','uncensored-cover-3','','','2012-02-07 10:39:41','2012-02-07 18:39:41','',4988,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Uncensored-Cover2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2302,1,'2011-11-16 08:25:21','2011-11-16 16:25:21','','outlaw_preachers_logo','','inherit','open','open','','outlaw_preachers_logo','','','2011-11-16 08:25:21','2011-11-16 16:25:21','',2255,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/outlaw_preachers_logo.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(2303,1,'2011-11-16 08:18:48','2011-11-16 16:18:48','<strong><a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Midwest-Outlaw-Preachers-Retreat.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2256\" title=\"Midwest Outlaw Preacher\'s Retreat\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Midwest-Outlaw-Preachers-Retreat.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"143\" height=\"268\" /></a>Dates</strong>: Friday, February 3 through Sunday, February 5, 2012\r\n\r\n<strong>Location</strong>: The Cove of Lake Geneva,  Wisconsin\r\n\r\n<strong>The theme this year will be “Uncensored Christianity”.   </strong>Ever struggled with feeling like your prayers have to be perfect, because if you don’t say the right kind of things God will tune you out? Are there things you’ve always wanted to ask or say to God, but haven’t because you’re afraid God will reject you?   The truth is God wants to have totally honest conversations with you, and you can say anything you want.  No topic, language, or feeling is inappropriate.Come with us as we spend the weekend in Lake Geneva finding a way to get past all of the “shoulds” of religion so we can enter into a truly, scandalously honest relationship with God. We want to learn to relish the high times, low times, questions, answers, and all the other dynamics of what we call Christianity.Our keynote speaker is <a title=\"Facilitators &amp; Speakers\" href=\"http://midwestoutlawretreat.wordpress.com/facilitators-speakers/\">Joy Wilson</a>, the author of <a href=\"http://store.civitaspress.com/books/193\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God</em></a><em>,</em> who will show us through her poetry how being open and honest in her conversations with God has transformed her understanding of Him/Her, and immensely expanded her understanding of what it means to have faith.  Also, there will be a session with the homeless advocate and artist, Revolución MacInnes.\r\n\r\nWho are Outlaw Preachers?  An eclectic group of Jesus followers whose interests and ministries often aren’t traditional. You are an Outlaw is you say you are, preacher or not. Registration is only $25, which includes a Chicago style pizza dinner on Friday night and a Breakfast together on Sunday morning.\r\n\r\nSee the website for information about lodging and to register today!\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://midwestoutlawretreat.wordpress.com/\" target=\"_blank\">http://midwestoutlawretreat.wordpress.com/</a>','Midwest Outlaw Preacher winter Retreat 2012','','inherit','open','open','','2255-revision-4','','','2011-11-16 08:18:48','2011-11-16 16:18:48','',2255,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2255-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(2301,1,'2011-11-15 08:38:09','2011-11-15 16:38:09','<table width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Dates:</strong></td>\r\n<td><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Friday, February 3 through Sunday, February 5, 2012</span></span></td>\r\n</tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td colspan=\"2\">\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n\r\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"1\" width=\"100%\" />\r\n\r\n</div></td>\r\n</tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>\r\n<p align=\"center\"><strong>Location:</strong></p>\r\n</td>\r\n<td><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: small\">The Cove of Lake Geneva,  Wisconsin</span></span></td>\r\n</tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td colspan=\"2\">\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n\r\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"1\" width=\"100%\" />\r\n\r\n</div></td>\r\n</tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td></td>\r\n<td></td>\r\n</tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td colspan=\"2\">\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n\r\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"1\" width=\"100%\" />\r\n\r\n</div></td>\r\n</tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td></td>\r\n<td><strong>The theme this year will be “Uncensored Christianity”.   </strong>Ever struggled with feeling like your prayers have to be perfect, because if you don’t say the right kind of things God will tune you out? Are there things you’ve always wanted to ask or say to God, but haven’t because you’re afraid God will reject you?   The truth is God wants to have totally honest conversations with you, and you can say anything you want.  No topic, language, or feeling is inappropriate.Come with us as we spend the weekend in Lake Geneva finding a way to get past all of the “shoulds” of religion so we can enter into a truly, scandalously honest relationship with God. We want to learn to relish the high times, low times, questions, answers, and all the other dynamics of what we call Christianity.\r\n\r\nOur keynote speaker is <a title=\"Facilitators &amp; Speakers\" href=\"http://midwestoutlawretreat.wordpress.com/facilitators-speakers/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff\">Joy Wilson</span></a>, the author of <a href=\"http://store.civitaspress.com/books/193\" target=\"_blank\"><em><span style=\"color: #0000ff\">Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God</span></em></a><em>,</em> who will show us through her poetry how being open and honest in her conversations with God has transformed her understanding of Him/Her, and immensely expanded her understanding of what it means to have faith.  Also, there will be a session with the homeless advocate and artist, Revolución MacInnes.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;font-size: small\">Who are</span> Outlaw Preachers<span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman\">?  </span></span>An eclectic group of Jesus followers whose interests and ministries often aren’t traditional. You are an Outlaw is you say you are, preacher or not. Registration is only $25, which includes a Chicago style pizza dinner on Friday night and a Breakfast together on Sunday morning.\r\n\r\nSee the website for information about lodging and to register today!\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://midwestoutlawretreat.wordpress.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff\">http://midwestoutlawretreat.wordpress.com/</span></a></td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>','Midwest Outlaw Preacher winter Retreat 2012','','inherit','open','open','','2255-revision-3','','','2011-11-15 08:38:09','2011-11-15 16:38:09','',2255,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2255-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(3207,110,'2011-12-17 08:38:50','2011-12-17 16:38:50','In this \'de-harmonising\' series, we\'ve been attempting to see the different threads and emphases that each of the four tellings of the gospel of Jesus in the New Testament. We\'re aiming to see each one as a unique and beautiful work of art, seeing in 4-D rather than the one-dimensional picture that we can sometimes get from nativity plays.\n\nLuke is the last of the gospels in this series (have a look at <a title=\"De-harmonizing Christmas – Part 1: Mark\" href=\"http://provoketive.com/2011/11/29/de-harmonizing-christmas-part-1-mark/\">Mark</a>, <a title=\"De-harmonizing Christmas – Part 2: John\" href=\"http://provoketive.com/2011/12/05/de-harmonizing-christmas-part-2-john/\">John</a> and <a title=\"De-harmonizing Christmas – Part 3: Matthew\" href=\"http://provoketive.com/2011/12/16/de-harmonizing-christmas-part-3-matthew/\">Matthew</a>), the one that we\'re most familiar with, the one that contributes the most to the story of Christmas that we hear retold each year. Like Matthew, <a title=\"Luke 1-2 NIV - Biblegateway.com\" href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%201-2&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\">Luke tells the story of Jesus\' birth</a> in only two chapters, less even, it will take you about 13 minutes to read.\n\nThe story that\'s told here is very different to Matthew - beginning with Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, the angel\'s visit to Mary rather than Joseph, the shepherds and the worship of Simeon and Anna in the Temple. Rather than interpolating the the events that Matthew describes, let\'s take Luke at face value and see what he\'s trying to tell us about Jesus and the story he is going on to tell in the remaining 22 chapters.\n\nFirstly, we notice that all the characters introduced in these chapters are \'cameo parts\' for Luke. Zechariah, Elizabeth, Joseph, the Shepherds, Simeon, Anna - none of these appear again in Luke. Mary comes up once or twice in Luke\'s gospel again; John the Baptist appears a few more times, but these are not the key players in the story of Jesus. They\'re also people who would have been considered marginalised in their context.\n\nZechariah was a priest, but he must have been quite low down the ranking to be part of the rotation. He and his wife were old, and \'righteous before God\', but childless. This was a huge stigma in ancient society, seen as a curse, no matter how good someone appeared. Shepherds are well know to have been outcasts in first century Palestine - they did a dirty, manual job and were mistrusted in a similar way to Travellers or Gypsies here in the UK. Simeon and Anna, though age was respected, had chosen a lifestyle that was unusual, even weird.\n\nLuke tells us nothing of Joseph, except that he was a descendant of David. This royal lineage gives him no benefits, however, as he has to follow the command of the Emperor and travel miles to Bethlehem for the census. Mary is a young, unmarried woman - a nobody until she is \'exhalted\'. They travel to Joseph\'s \'hometown\', somewhere he should have had family, never mind a place in the inn. But an unmarried couple that were quite obviously about to have a baby was a toxic scandal that no one would touch, not even a hotellier. They camp out by the road - no mention of a stable here. Mangers were stone feeding troughs that a livestock herder would fill with enough hay or straw for his herd or flock, then leave empty when they continued on with their journey to market. It\'s an image of complete emptiness - not a cosy little shed with straw and animals looking on, nothing at all to witness or support this traumatic night. The shattered mother wraps the newborn baby in cloths to cushion him against the hard, cold stone.\n\nSurely the angelic host should have been supporting and warming Mary and Jesus, not off telling shepherds (shepherds of all people!) about the birth! But this tale sets the tone for Luke. Jesus is here for a mission, one that takes in every outcast, rejected and overlooked person everywhere. He begins as one of us - one of \'them\', the despised, yet we don\'t get the sense that we should be pitying anyone or patronising with gifts. Jesus is the gift to everyone - especially those who don\'t deserve or expect him. The most religious and rightous man in the story is struck dumb for nine months by a single angel, while filthy theiving shepherds go round telling everyone the miracle they were told about by a huge choir of angels.\n\nFor Luke, everything is about mission. The songs of Mary and Zechariah praise the mercy of God in helping Israel, keeping his promises by sending Jesus. The way this plays out is in the shepherds coming to see what they were told about, then telling everyone who would listen. While Simeon blesses Jesus, praising God for his gift, Anna goes further in telling the story of Jesus throughout Jerusalem. The tone of the story we tell at Christmas should not be the dull monotone of reading familiar lines of scripture but the excited bubbling over of people who have seen and experienced the incredible gift of God, the longed for fulfilment of promises so good we can hardly believe them. It isn\'t nice, neat or civilised. It\'s raw, difficult, messy and includes people who have never understood how they are supposed to act. Yet it\'s those people who have the energy and enthusiasm to really do justice to the incredible story.','De-harmonizing Christmas - Part 4: Luke','','inherit','open','open','','3179-revision-2','','','2011-12-17 08:38:50','2011-12-17 16:38:50','',3179,'http://provoketive.com/2011/12/17/3179-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(3208,112,'2011-12-16 14:29:26','2011-12-16 22:29:26','“Slowing Down And Immersing Ourselves in the Biblical Story”\r\n\r\nA Review of <em>Lectio Divina, The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer</em>\r\nChristine Valters Paintner.\r\nPaperback: Skylight Paths, 2011.\r\n\r\nReview by Chris Smith.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">[ Read <a href=\"http://erb.kingdomnow.org/excerpt-lectio-divina-the-sacred-art-christine-valters-paintner-vol-4-24/\" target=\"_blank\">an excerpt from this book</a>... ]</p>\r\n<em><a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Paintner-Lectio.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3203\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Paintner-Lectio.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"308\" /></a></em>How do we read the Bible in this age when – as Christian Smith has persuasively argued in his recent book <em>The Bible Made Impossible</em> – some traditional approaches to scriptures are on the verge of dying off?  Is it possible for us to engage and immerse ourselves in scripture in ways other than taking it as cold, static textbook?  The ancient practice of <em>lectio divina</em> (holy reading) is surprisingly relevant for our times, and Christine Valters Paintner’s new book <em>Lectio Divina, The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer</em> is an elegant and useful introduction to this approach to reading the Bible (or other texts) in today’s world. Over the last five centuries, the modernity of the Western world has served to streamline life, eliminating or minimizing practices that seem to be labor-intensive or extraneous.  The result is today’s globalized, fast-food world that is rapidly losing the capacity for attentiveness as it continually accelerates into the future.  And indeed our practices of Bible reading have followed suit with the larger culture.  Scripture is no longer a grand drama about God reconciling all creation by gathering a faithful people, but rather it has been reduced – in the most egregious cases – to a sort of self-help guide that unequivocally shows me how to be saved and make a good life for myself.  What we need in our times is a decidedly slow way of reading scripture, a way of immersing ourselves and abiding in God’s story that fits the incarnational and attentive way of Jesus.  <em>Lectio divina</em>, as Paintner describes it in this new book, offers us exactly the sort of slow and careful approach to scripture that we desperately need amidst the velocity of our times.\r\n\r\n<em>Lectio Divina, The Sacred Art</em> begins with a historical introduction to the practice, which emphasizes that it was rooted in the Judaic tradition of Haggadah, an “interactive interpretation of the Scriptures by means of the free use of the text to explore its inner meaning.” Paintner also notes the monastic origins of <em>lectio divina</em>; many centuries before the invention of the printing press, when scripture was nowhere near as accessible as it is today, monks would memorize and ruminate on scripture, praying over it throughout the day and continually submitting themselves to the words of the text.  It was out of this context that the four-fold practice of <em>lectio divina</em> would be formalized among the Benedictines in the twelfth century.\r\n\r\nThe heart of Paintner’s book, the middle of its three parts, focuses on exploring each of the four steps of <em>lectio divina</em>:\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong><em>Lectio</em>: Settling and Shimmering</strong>\r\nLet go of distractions, assume a posture of prayer, and do an initial reading of the text paying attention for a particular phrase that stands out – i.e., that shimmers, “beckons you, addresses you, unnerves you, disturbs you, stirs you, or seems especially ripe with meaning” (10).</p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong><em>Meditatio</em>: Savoring and Stirring</strong>\r\nSlowly read through the text again, using the phrase that stands out as a lens to guide your reading and stir your imagination</p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"> <strong><em>Oratio</em>: Summoning and Serving</strong>\r\nAllow the text to speak into your own life (and the life of your church community).  What light does it shine on the present situation? What are we being compelled to do?  How is the text drawing us deeper into the life and way of Jesus?</p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong><em>Contemplatio</em>: Slowing and Stilling</strong>\r\nIt is striking that following the <em>Oratio</em> stage, we do not jump up immediately and go follow the Spirit’s leading through the text, but rather, “[this] movement is about slowing yourself down and resting into the still presence of God. The idea is to simply <em>be</em>, rather than trying to <em>do </em>anything. This is a time for offering gratitude for God’s presence in this time of prayer and stilling yourself in silence” (11).</p>\r\nIn the third and final part of the book, Paintner strives to broaden our imaginations about how <em>lectio divina</em> can be a practice that pervades our lives.  She introduces the lesser known practices of <em>visio divina</em> and <em>audio divina</em> – in which we reflect on images and sounds respectively, opening our hearts and minds and being attentive to what God might be saying to us.  She also offers the idea of nature as sacred text that can be read through its own sort of <em>lectio</em>.  This chapter on nature was one of my favorites, and it resonates with a number of nature-study books that I have reviewed here over the last few years (If this chapter also resonates with you, I would recommend in particular <strong><a href=\"http://erb.kingdomnow.org/featured-seeing-trees-ross-llewellyn-vol-4-22/\" target=\"_blank\">Kathy Ross Hugo’s <em>Seeing Trees</em></a>,</strong> which, although it does not use the language of <em>lectio</em>, does utilize trees to immerse us in a <em>lectio</em>-like conversation with all God’s creation that surrounds us wherever we are.)  The final chapter focuses on using other facets of our lives as the opportunity for <em>lectio</em>-like reflection, including dreams, our bodies and the newspaper.\r\n\r\nWhat distinguishes Paintner’s work from a host of other recent books on <em>lectio divina</em> is its focus on beauty.  Paintner is an artist and has reflected at length on the role of the arts in spiritual formation (for instance in her book <strong><em>Awakening the Creative Spirit</em></strong>, co-written with Betsey Beckman, which was <a href=\"http://erb.kingdomnow.org/featured-awakening-the-creative-spirit-by-painter-and-beckman-vol-3-26/\" target=\"_blank\">reviewed in The Englewood Review of Books here</a>).  Part of what is lost in the ever-increasing pace of Western culture, is the joy of the beautiful, and Paintner, deeply aware of this loss, presents <em>lectio divina</em> in a way that draws the reader in and compels her to immerse herself in the beauty of engaging slowly, intentionally and personally with the biblical text. <em>Lectio divina</em> is presented here in language that clearly explains what it is and how it could be practiced in a variety of contexts, but so in a way that is full of life and joy.\r\n\r\nIn the past, I have often recommended <strong>Tony Jones</strong>’s book on <em>lectio divina</em>, <strong><em>Divine Intervention</em></strong>, which also is a simple and thoughtful introduction to the practice.  Paintner’s treatment here, however, although it covers roughly similar ground, does so more eloquently, and takes a broader view that spurs our imaginations to consider <em>lectio divina</em> as a way of being, a practice that helps us slow our lives in a world that is speeding out of control.  Tony’s book was written for younger readers, and probably is preferable for younger audiences, and his work does better at imagining the place of <em>lectio</em> as a social practice within the church community, Paintner’s reticence on the place of <em>lectio</em> in the faith community is one of the few shortcomings of her book.  To be fair, she makes the general statement early in the book that “many people can read the same scriptures and each person will have a unique experience that rises up out of his or her own life context in that moment” (9), but she never develops this superb thought in the direction of what it might mean as we practice <em>lectio </em>together in the church community.\r\n\r\nI have been excited in recent years to see a rising tide of interest in slower, more attentive expressions of Christian faith.  Christine Paintner’s <em>Lectio Divina, The Sacred Art</em> is a lovely apologetic for recovering an historical practice of reading scripture that is not only a way of appreciating and engaging scripture that befits our times, but also a practical way of orienting our lives toward becoming a slower people, a contrast community that proclaims in our life together the good news of a caring and more meaning-full life!','Book Review: Lectio Divina: The Sacred Art','','inherit','open','open','','3196-revision-6','','','2011-12-16 14:29:26','2011-12-16 22:29:26','',3196,'http://provoketive.com/2011/12/16/3196-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(2307,1,'2011-11-15 11:54:14','2011-11-15 19:54:14','The joke is that no one goes into ministry for the money, a truism for many ministry leaders and volunteers today. But there is another kind of currency to thank and support those who have made it their occupation to serve the Lord, Dr. Paul White says, and that is through appreciation.\r\n\r\nDr. Paul White is a psychologist and business consultant with over 20 years of experience in \"making work relationships work,\" and now, teamed up with coauthor Dr. Gary Chapman, they have released <em><a href=\"http://www.appreciationatwork.com/\" target=\"_blank\">The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace</a>. </em>Below, Dr. White answers a few questions about how appreciation can breathe new life into church leadership.\r\n\r\n<strong>1)      </strong><strong>In <em>The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, </em>you mention that pastors and ministry leaders have a unique relationship to their vocation because income is a practical factor in ministry careers, but the driving motivation is “a sense of spiritual calling and a desire to serve others.” Do you see appreciation affecting pastors differently than those in other vocations?</strong>\r\n\r\nMy answer is an emphatic “yes” and “no.”  I see appreciation playing a similar role in pastoral positions and other helping positions (social workers, counselors, missionaries, teachers, doctors) because all of these share the perception that they serve because they were called to serve; they are not doing it for praise or recognition from others.  But pastors are unique in their position of spiritual authority, and the common belief that they should receive their encouragement from God.  While this is partially true, the pastor as well as every member of the congregation are part of the Body of Christ and are clearly instructed to encourage and support one another.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)      </strong><strong>Burnout is common among ministry workers and volunteers. How do you think appreciation can help prevent this?</strong>\r\n\r\nBurnout is essentially the result in a person’s life when the demands of others outweigh the resources he or she has to meet those demands, especially when this tension stretches over a long period of time.\r\n\r\nThere are internal ways to increase our resources (rest, exercise, recreation, spiritual disciplines) and there are external ways to become rejuvenated (encouragement, gifts, companionship).  Acts of encouragement and appreciation which are meaningful to the recipient and repeated over time can certainly stem the tide of encroaching burnout – but one big act of encouragement when a minister is already “fried” isn’t enough.\r\n\r\n<strong>3)      </strong><strong>What are some simple, practical ways a congregation can appreciate their pastor(s)?</strong>\r\n\r\nFirst and foremost, a congregation needs to <em>find out what makes their pastor feel appreciated.</em>\r\n\r\nSo many well-meaning people put the cart before the horse—“We need to do this for Pastor Johnson…” or “I heard about a church that …We should do that, too.”  But copying other ideas without understanding the individual and what is important to him or her leave you missing the target repeatedly. For example, I am not a pastor, but my church once gave me a Starbucks gift card as a thank-you for a seminar I had recently taught. Unfortunately, I don’t drink coffee. The gift was a generous gesture; however, it missed the mark.\r\n\r\nTake the time and initiative to ask them what would make them feel appreciated and valued – or have them take the <em><a href=\"http://mbainventory.com/\">Motivating By Appreciation Inventory</a> </em>so you can find out both their preferred language of appreciation and the actions that are meaningful to them.  Often it is hard to come up with ideas that will be effective on the spur of the moment.\r\n\r\n<strong>4)      </strong><strong>Is it ever possible for attempts to communicate appreciation to backfire? </strong>\r\n\r\nIf people didn’t have negative experiences in this area, we would never be asked this question—and we frequently are!  Attempting to encourage or show appreciation to someone most often backfires when there is an unresolved relational issue.  When we ignore a conflict and proceed to put on a superficial show of appreciation, resentment follows closely behind.  Inauthentic appreciation, or appreciation perceived as inauthentic, rarely has positive results.\r\n\r\n<strong>5)      </strong><strong>If a church leadership team actively and effectively communicated appreciation to each other, what might this look like? What changes might take place in the church as a whole?</strong>\r\n\r\nI recently asked a group of pastors these questions: Do you think you would become better or worse as a pastor if you felt genuinely appreciated by your staff and congregation? What positive effects would you expect to see in your church if your staff and volunteers felt truly valued for what they do?\r\n\r\nImmediately, the room started to buzz.  Pastors were smiling, nodding their heads, and talking to each other.  They started to see the potential impact of effectively communicated encouragement and appreciation on their church’s relationships.  When people feel valued for who they are and what they contribute, trust me, good things happen!\r\n\r\n<strong>About the Book: </strong><em><a href=\"http://www.appreciationatwork.com\" target=\"_blank\">The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace </a></em>applies the “love language” concept of New York Times bestseller, <em>The 5 Love Languages, </em>to the workplace.<em> </em>This book helps supervisors and managers effectively communicate appreciation and encouragement to their employees, resulting in higher levels of job satisfaction, healthier relationships between managers and employees, and decreased cases of burnout. Ideal for both the profit and non-profit sectors, the principles presented in this book have a proven history of success in businesses, schools, medical offices, churches, and industry. Each book contains an access code for the reader to take a comprehensive <a href=\"http://mbainventory.com/\">online MBA Inventory (Motivating By Appreciation)</a> - a $20 value.','Why Pastor Appreciation is Vital to Church Health','','inherit','open','open','','2264-revision-3','','','2011-11-15 11:54:14','2011-11-15 19:54:14','',2264,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2264-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(2308,1,'2011-11-16 08:41:41','2011-11-16 16:41:41','','5-LANGUAGES-OF-APPRECIATION','','inherit','open','open','','5-languages-of-appreciation','','','2011-11-16 08:41:41','2011-11-16 16:41:41','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/5-LANGUAGES-OF-APPRECIATION.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2309,1,'2011-11-16 08:39:24','2011-11-16 16:39:24','The joke is that no one goes into ministry for the money, a truism for many ministry leaders and volunteers today. But there is another kind of currency to thank and support those who have made it their occupation to serve the Lord, Dr. Paul White says, and that is through appreciation.\r\n\r\nDr. Paul White is a psychologist and business consultant with over 20 years of experience in \"making work relationships work,\" and now, teamed up with coauthor Dr. Gary Chapman, they have released <em><a href=\"http://www.appreciationatwork.com/\" target=\"_blank\">The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace</a>. </em>Below, Dr. White answers a few questions about how appreciation can breathe new life into church leadership.\r\n\r\n<strong>1)      </strong><strong>In <em>The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, </em>you mention that pastors and ministry leaders have a unique relationship to their vocation because income is a practical factor in ministry careers, but the driving motivation is “a sense of spiritual calling and a desire to serve others.” Do you see appreciation affecting pastors differently than those in other vocations?</strong>\r\n\r\nMy answer is an emphatic “yes” and “no.”  I see appreciation playing a similar role in pastoral positions and other helping positions (social workers, counselors, missionaries, teachers, doctors) because all of these share the perception that they serve because they were called to serve; they are not doing it for praise or recognition from others.  But pastors are unique in their position of spiritual authority, and the common belief that they should receive their encouragement from God.  While this is partially true, the pastor as well as every member of the congregation are part of the Body of Christ and are clearly instructed to encourage and support one another.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)      </strong><strong>Burnout is common among ministry workers and volunteers. How do you think appreciation can help prevent this?</strong>\r\n\r\nBurnout is essentially the result in a person’s life when the demands of others outweigh the resources he or she has to meet those demands, especially when this tension stretches over a long period of time.\r\n\r\nThere are internal ways to increase our resources (rest, exercise, recreation, spiritual disciplines) and there are external ways to become rejuvenated (encouragement, gifts, companionship).  Acts of encouragement and appreciation which are meaningful to the recipient and repeated over time can certainly stem the tide of encroaching burnout – but one big act of encouragement when a minister is already “fried” isn’t enough.\r\n\r\n<strong>3)      </strong><strong>What are some simple, practical ways a congregation can appreciate their pastor(s)?</strong>\r\n\r\nFirst and foremost, a congregation needs to <em>find out what makes their pastor feel appreciated.</em>\r\n\r\nSo many well-meaning people put the cart before the horse—“We need to do this for Pastor Johnson…” or “I heard about a church that …We should do that, too.”  But copying other ideas without understanding the individual and what is important to him or her leave you missing the target repeatedly. For example, I am not a pastor, but my church once gave me a Starbucks gift card as a thank-you for a seminar I had recently taught. Unfortunately, I don’t drink coffee. The gift was a generous gesture; however, it missed the mark.\r\n\r\nTake the time and initiative to ask them what would make them feel appreciated and valued – or have them take the <em><a href=\"http://mbainventory.com/\">Motivating By Appreciation Inventory</a> </em>so you can find out both their preferred language of appreciation and the actions that are meaningful to them.  Often it is hard to come up with ideas that will be effective on the spur of the moment.\r\n\r\n<strong>4)      </strong><strong>Is it ever possible for attempts to communicate appreciation to backfire? </strong>\r\n\r\nIf people didn’t have negative experiences in this area, we would never be asked this question—and we frequently are!  Attempting to encourage or show appreciation to someone most often backfires when there is an unresolved relational issue.  When we ignore a conflict and proceed to put on a superficial show of appreciation, resentment follows closely behind.  Inauthentic appreciation, or appreciation perceived as inauthentic, rarely has positive results.\r\n\r\n<strong>5)      </strong><strong>If a church leadership team actively and effectively communicated appreciation to each other, what might this look like? What changes might take place in the church as a whole?</strong>\r\n\r\nI recently asked a group of pastors these questions: Do you think you would become better or worse as a pastor if you felt genuinely appreciated by your staff and congregation? What positive effects would you expect to see in your church if your staff and volunteers felt truly valued for what they do?\r\n\r\nImmediately, the room started to buzz.  Pastors were smiling, nodding their heads, and talking to each other.  They started to see the potential impact of effectively communicated encouragement and appreciation on their church’s relationships.  When people feel valued for who they are and what they contribute, trust me, good things happen!\r\n\r\n<strong>About the Book: </strong><em><a href=\"http://www.appreciationatwork.com\" target=\"_blank\">The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace</a> </em>applies the “love language” concept of New York Times bestseller, <em>The 5 Love Languages, </em>to the workplace.<em> </em>This book helps supervisors and managers effectively communicate appreciation and encouragement to their employees, resulting in higher levels of job satisfaction, healthier relationships between managers and employees, and decreased cases of burnout. Ideal for both the profit and non-profit sectors, the principles presented in this book have a proven history of success in businesses, schools, medical offices, churches, and industry. Each book contains an access code for the reader to take a comprehensive <a href=\"http://mbainventory.com/\">online MBA Inventory (Motivating By Appreciation)</a> - a $20 value.','Why Pastor Appreciation Is Vital To Church Health','','inherit','open','open','','2264-revision-4','','','2011-11-16 08:39:24','2011-11-16 16:39:24','',2264,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2264-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(3206,110,'2011-12-17 08:28:58','2011-12-17 16:28:58','','St Luke by Guercino','','inherit','open','open','','guercino_-_st_luke','','','2011-12-17 08:28:58','2011-12-17 16:28:58','',3179,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Guercino_-_St_Luke.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2310,1,'2011-11-16 08:43:34','2011-11-16 16:43:34','The joke is that no one goes into ministry for the money, a truism for many ministry leaders and volunteers today. But there is another kind of currency to thank and support those who have made it their occupation to serve the Lord, Dr. Paul White says, and that is through appreciation.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/5-LANGUAGES-OF-APPRECIATION.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"5-LANGUAGES-OF-APPRECIATION\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/5-LANGUAGES-OF-APPRECIATION-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"194\" /></a>Dr. Paul White is a psychologist and business consultant with over 20 years of experience in \"making work relationships work,\" and now, teamed up with coauthor Dr. Gary Chapman, they have released <em><a href=\"http://www.appreciationatwork.com/\" target=\"_blank\">The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace</a>. </em>Below, Dr. White answers a few questions about how appreciation can breathe new life into church leadership.\r\n\r\n[question]In <em>The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, </em>you mention that pastors and ministry leaders have a unique relationship to their vocation because income is a practical factor in ministry careers, but the driving motivation is “a sense of spiritual calling and a desire to serve others.” Do you see appreciation affecting pastors differently than those in other vocations?[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]My answer is an emphatic “yes” and “no.”  I see appreciation playing a similar role in pastoral positions and other helping positions (social workers, counselors, missionaries, teachers, doctors) because all of these share the perception that they serve because they were called to serve; they are not doing it for praise or recognition from others.  But pastors are unique in their position of spiritual authority, and the common belief that they should receive their encouragement from God.  While this is partially true, the pastor as well as every member of the congregation are part of the Body of Christ and are clearly instructed to encourage and support one another.[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]Burnout is common among ministry workers and volunteers. How do you think appreciation can help prevent this?[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]Burnout is essentially the result in a person’s life when the demands of others outweigh the resources he or she has to meet those demands, especially when this tension stretches over a long period of time.\r\n\r\nThere are internal ways to increase our resources (rest, exercise, recreation, spiritual disciplines) and there are external ways to become rejuvenated (encouragement, gifts, companionship).  Acts of encouragement and appreciation which are meaningful to the recipient and repeated over time can certainly stem the tide of encroaching burnout – but one big act of encouragement when a minister is already “fried” isn’t enough.[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]What are some simple, practical ways a congregation can appreciate their pastor(s)?[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]First and foremost, a congregation needs to <em>find out what makes their pastor feel appreciated.</em>\r\n\r\nSo many well-meaning people put the cart before the horse—“We need to do this for Pastor Johnson…” or “I heard about a church that …We should do that, too.”  But copying other ideas without understanding the individual and what is important to him or her leave you missing the target repeatedly. For example, I am not a pastor, but my church once gave me a Starbucks gift card as a thank-you for a seminar I had recently taught. Unfortunately, I don’t drink coffee. The gift was a generous gesture; however, it missed the mark.\r\n\r\nTake the time and initiative to ask them what would make them feel appreciated and valued – or have them take the <em><a href=\"http://mbainventory.com/\">Motivating By Appreciation Inventory</a> </em>so you can find out both their preferred language of appreciation and the actions that are meaningful to them.  Often it is hard to come up with ideas that will be effective on the spur of the moment.[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]<strong></strong>Is it ever possible for attempts to communicate appreciation to backfire? [/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]If people didn’t have negative experiences in this area, we would never be asked this question—and we frequently are!  Attempting to encourage or show appreciation to someone most often backfires when there is an unresolved relational issue.  When we ignore a conflict and proceed to put on a superficial show of appreciation, resentment follows closely behind.  Inauthentic appreciation, or appreciation perceived as inauthentic, rarely has positive results.[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]If a church leadership team actively and effectively communicated appreciation to each other, what might this look like? What changes might take place in the church as a whole?[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]I recently asked a group of pastors these questions: Do you think you would become better or worse as a pastor if you felt genuinely appreciated by your staff and congregation? What positive effects would you expect to see in your church if your staff and volunteers felt truly valued for what they do?\r\n\r\nImmediately, the room started to buzz.  Pastors were smiling, nodding their heads, and talking to each other.  They started to see the potential impact of effectively communicated encouragement and appreciation on their church’s relationships.  When people feel valued for who they are and what they contribute, trust me, good things happen![/answer]\r\n\r\n<strong>About the Book: </strong><em><a href=\"http://www.appreciationatwork.com\" target=\"_blank\">The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace </a></em>applies the “love language” concept of New York Times bestseller, <em>The 5 Love Languages, </em>to the workplace.<em> </em>This book helps supervisors and managers effectively communicate appreciation and encouragement to their employees, resulting in higher levels of job satisfaction, healthier relationships between managers and employees, and decreased cases of burnout. Ideal for both the profit and non-profit sectors, the principles presented in this book have a proven history of success in businesses, schools, medical offices, churches, and industry. Each book contains an access code for the reader to take a comprehensive <a href=\"http://mbainventory.com/\">online MBA Inventory (Motivating By Appreciation)</a> - a $20 value.','Why Pastor Appreciation Is Vital To Church Health','','inherit','open','open','','2264-revision-5','','','2011-11-16 08:43:34','2011-11-16 16:43:34','',2264,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2264-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(2311,1,'2011-11-16 08:49:00','2011-11-16 16:49:00','[caption id=\"attachment_2283\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\"]<a href=\"http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/s/su/supercolor/655092_football_5.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2283 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/football-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs most of American society knows, the upheaval at Penn State has brought to the surface many deep emotions - all of which are justifiable. What isn\'t exactly justifiable, however, are the choices some are opting to make based on those emotions.\r\n\r\nMany words have been flying around Facebook, Twitter, blogs and overall mass media about the dissent many hold for Joe Paterno...and even supporters of him. Many of these words have disheartened me due to the fact many of them have come from the fingertips of Christians.\r\n\r\nAs Christians, we\'re called to hold fast to a higher standard (His); not a conceited standard.\r\n\r\nIn engrossing myself this term in school in the Book of Genesis, some amazing insights have been revealed - ones I never even realized before. Such as in <a title=\"Gen 4:8-16 (ESV)\" href=\"http://bible.us/Gen4.8-16.ESV\" target=\"_blank\">Gen 4:8-16</a> where Cain experiences God\'s grace upon Him...despite the fact that he murdered his own brother in cold, premeditated blood.\r\n\r\nThough the consequences Cain had to endure we\'re rough, God still let Cain live - plus he protected Him! This unto itself is a grace that is absolutely baffling to the logical mind of us humans. It’s something that’s quite difficult for us to even fathom, for sincerely...isn\'t giving grace simply \"letting people off the hook?\"\r\n\r\nAbsolutely not.\r\n\r\nIt\'s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for grace, <em>hen</em>, translates out to be \"favor\"...just as the Greek word for grace, <em>charis</em>, translates out to be the exact same word.\r\n\r\nGrace is simply being in God\'s favor...to be chosen for a purpose that is His to be fulfilled through the ones He chooses. Therefore, grace, like forgiveness, doesn\'t reveal weakness...it reveals a strength unlike any other.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength to not react to the person who caused harm to you, or someone you know.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength, in turn, to love those who have harmed you, or someone you know...and turn the other cheek.\r\n\r\nGod could have taken Cain\'s life from him as “payment” for his actions toward his brother, but God took a higher road. He took the very one He created. The very one, as Christians, we truly need to be always seeking to emulate.\r\n\r\nCertainly, what Joe Paterno did was wrong. He should have said something right when these incidents occurred. Due to his lie of omission, his punishment is justified...his being fired as head coach of the football team. However, what isn\'t justified is the onslaught of judgment calls being made on him, and/or his supporters, by those who embrace Christ.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t condemn.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t cast judgment.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t hate anyone.\r\n\r\nHe loves. He accepts. He forgives. He extends grace.\r\n\r\nSo, now let\'s discuss.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>As Christians, how can we extend the same love, acceptance, forgiveness and grace He calls us to have toward others that do heinous things, or even let them happen without saying anything, without watering down our own passions…or averting the law? Is it even possible to do such?</strong></em>','Learning from Paterno','','inherit','open','open','','2282-autosave-v1','','','2011-11-16 08:49:00','2011-11-16 16:49:00','',2282,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2282-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(2312,1,'2011-11-16 08:48:15','2011-11-16 16:48:15','','Joe_Paterno','','inherit','open','open','','joe_paterno','','','2011-11-16 08:48:15','2011-11-16 16:48:15','',2282,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Joe_Paterno.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(2313,82,'2011-11-15 18:55:44','2011-11-16 02:55:44','[caption id=\"attachment_2283\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\"]<a href=\"http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/s/su/supercolor/655092_football_5.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2283 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/football-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs most of American society knows, the upheaval at Penn State has brought to the surface many deep emotions - all of which are justifiable. What isn\'t exactly justifiable, however, are the choices some are opting to make based on those emotions.\r\n\r\nMany words have been flying around Facebook, Twitter, blogs and overall mass media about the dissent many hold for Joe Paterno...and even supporters of him. Many of these words have disheartened me due to the fact many of them have come from the fingertips of Christians.\r\n\r\nAs Christians, we\'re called to hold fast to a higher standard (His); not a conceited standard.\r\n\r\nIn engrossing myself this term in school in the Book of Genesis, some amazing insights have been revealed - ones I never even realized before. Such as in <a title=\"Gen 4:8-16 (ESV)\" href=\"http://bible.us/Gen4.8-16.ESV\" target=\"_blank\">Gen 4:8-16</a> where Cain experiences God\'s grace upon Him...despite the fact that he murdered his own brother in cold, premeditated blood.\r\n\r\nThough the consequences Cain had to endure we\'re rough, God still let Cain live - plus he protected Him! This unto itself is a grace that is absolutely baffling to the logical mind of us humans. It’s something that’s quite difficult for us to even fathom, for sincerely...isn\'t giving grace simply \"letting people off the hook?\"\r\n\r\nAbsolutely not.\r\n\r\nIt\'s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for grace, <em>hen</em>, translates out to be \"favor\"...just as the Greek word for grace, <em>charis</em>, translates out to be the exact same word.\r\n\r\nGrace is simply being in God\'s favor...to be chosen for a purpose that is His to be fulfilled through the ones He chooses. Therefore, grace, like forgiveness, doesn\'t reveal weakness...it reveals a strength unlike any other.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength to not react to the person who caused harm to you, or someone you know.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength, in turn, to love those who have harmed you, or someone you know...and turn the other cheek.\r\n\r\nGod could have taken Cain\'s life from him as “payment” for his actions toward his brother, but God took a higher road. He took the very one He created. The very one, as Christians, we truly need to be always seeking to emulate.\r\n\r\nCertainly, what Joe Paterno did was wrong. He should have said something right when these incidents occurred. Due to his lie of omission, his punishment is justified...his being fired as head coach of the football team. However, what isn\'t justified is the onslaught of judgment calls being made on him, and/or his supporters, by those who embrace Christ.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t condemn.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t cast judgment.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t hate anyone.\r\n\r\nHe loves. He accepts. He forgives. He extends grace.\r\n\r\nSo, now let\'s discuss.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>As Christians, how can we extend the same love, acceptance, forgiveness and grace He calls us to have toward others that do heinous things, or even let them happen without saying anything, without watering down our own passions…or averting the law? Is it even possible to do such?</strong></em>','Learning from Paterno','','inherit','open','open','','2282-revision-v1','','','2011-11-15 18:55:44','2011-11-16 02:55:44','',2282,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2282-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(2314,1,'2011-11-16 08:48:52','2011-11-16 16:48:52','[caption id=\"attachment_2283\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\"]<a href=\"http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/s/su/supercolor/655092_football_5.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2283 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/football-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Football by Nikki Johnson\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs most of American society knows, the upheaval at Penn State has brought to the surface many deep emotions - all of which are justifiable. What isn\'t exactly justifiable, however, are the choices some are opting to make based on those emotions.\r\n\r\nMany words have been flying around Facebook, Twitter, blogs and overall mass media about the dissent many hold for Joe Paterno...and even supporters of him. Many of these words have disheartened me due to the fact many of them have come from the fingertips of Christians.\r\n\r\nAs Christians, we\'re called to hold fast to a higher standard (His); not a conceited standard.\r\n\r\nIn engrossing myself this term in school in the Book of Genesis, some amazing insights have been revealed - ones I never even realized before. Such as in <a title=\"Gen 4:8-16 (ESV)\" href=\"http://bible.us/Gen4.8-16.ESV\" target=\"_blank\">Gen 4:8-16</a> where Cain experiences God\'s grace upon Him...despite the fact that he murdered his own brother in cold, premeditated blood.\r\n\r\nThough the consequences Cain had to endure we\'re rough, God still let Cain live - plus he protected Him! This unto itself is a grace that is absolutely baffling to the logical mind of us humans. It’s something that’s quite difficult for us to even fathom, for sincerely...isn\'t giving grace simply \"letting people off the hook?\"\r\n\r\nAbsolutely not.\r\n\r\nIt\'s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for grace, <em>hen</em>, translates out to be \"favor\"...just as the Greek word for grace, <em>charis</em>, translates out to be the exact same word.\r\n\r\nGrace is simply being in God\'s favor...to be chosen for a purpose that is His to be fulfilled through the ones He chooses. Therefore, grace, like forgiveness, doesn\'t reveal weakness...it reveals a strength unlike any other.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength to not react to the person who caused harm to you, or someone you know.\r\n\r\nIt takes strength, in turn, to love those who have harmed you, or someone you know...and turn the other cheek.\r\n\r\nGod could have taken Cain\'s life from him as “payment” for his actions toward his brother, but God took a higher road. He took the very one He created. The very one, as Christians, we truly need to be always seeking to emulate.\r\n\r\nCertainly, what Joe Paterno did was wrong. He should have said something right when these incidents occurred. Due to his lie of omission, his punishment is justified...his being fired as head coach of the football team. However, what isn\'t justified is the onslaught of judgment calls being made on him, and/or his supporters, by those who embrace Christ.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t condemn.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t cast judgment.\r\n\r\nChrist doesn\'t hate anyone.\r\n\r\nHe loves. He accepts. He forgives. He extends grace.\r\n\r\nSo, now let\'s discuss.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>As Christians, how can we extend the same love, acceptance, forgiveness and grace He calls us to have toward others that do heinous things, or even let them happen without saying anything, without watering down our own passions…or averting the law? Is it even possible to do such?</strong></em>','Learning from Paterno','','inherit','open','open','','2282-revision-v1','','','2011-11-16 08:48:52','2011-11-16 16:48:52','',2282,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2282-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(2315,1,'2011-11-15 20:51:58','2011-11-16 04:51:58','<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not. Evil exists. Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not.</strong></p>\r\nThis logically valid deductive argument presents a conundrum for theists and is often--understandably--used as an argument by atheists against the existence of God. Epicurus, one of the earliest philosophers known to have raised what is known as the Problem of Evil, has this to say: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>2</sup></span></strong> It is a weighty question, indeed; if god exists, why does he allow evil in the world? He does so because the ability of humans to freely choose between right and wrong trumps the dissolution of moral evil and secondly, becaue natural evil is necessary for the value of free will.\r\n\r\nFor the purposes of clarity, we must offer up the following definitions:\r\n<strong>“God”</strong> will be in reference to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God (i.e. omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent.)\r\n<strong>“Moral evil”</strong> is evil or suffering that results from the immoral choices of free creatures.\r\n<strong>“Natural evil”</strong> is suffering that results from the functions of nature or nature gone wrong (e.g. famine, natural disasters, cancer, etc.)\r\n\r\nIf God is perfectly good, then he would want the greatest good for humankind. The greater good is not the lack of evil in the world, but rather moral free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers this response:\r\n<blockquote>“God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>1</sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nA counter to this defense is that free will could still exist, but without the choice for moral evil. Indeed, humans could be created to only make good moral choices—simply choosing between alternative actions, both of them good. But in such a “toy world”,<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><sup>4</sup></span> free will has no real value. Richard Swineburg, a professor at the University of Oxford, says that “free and responsible choice is free will to make significant choices between good and evil, which make a big difference to the agent, to others, and to the world.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3</sup></strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe only way to remove moral evil is to quantify all acts as being good because any reduction in that good would be a form of moral evil. Humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Free will is the ability of humans to make choices of moral value, not just simply deciding between two alternative actions. If God takes away the value of those choices, then “free will” is rendered valueless.\r\n\r\nHowever, even if a perfectly good God is justified in allowing moral evil to exist, the existence of natural evil remains to be explained. There are two reasons for natural evil.\r\n\r\n1) To make it possible for humans to exercise their free will.\r\n\r\n2) To make available especially worthwhile choices for humans.\r\n\r\nSwineburg suggests that there are two ways in which natural evil operates to give humans these worthwhile choices. The first is that the operation of natural laws producing evils gives humans knowledge of how to bring about such evils themselves. It could be argued that this knowledge could be given to us by God without the need for suffering. Of course this is possible, but if we were directly informed of the consequences of our actions, it would eliminate the need—and the will—for seeking out knowledge ourselves. We would no longer desire to discover the consequences ourselves through research or experimentation. Because of this pre-existing knowledge, our free-will would be limited because we would know the right choice and be inclined to make it. It is only through natural process that humans obtain knowledge to the effects of their actions without inhibiting their freedom.\r\n\r\nThe second way that natural evil operates to give humans choices is to make possible certain kinds of choices; it increases the range of significant choice. As previously stated, humans make choices based on the varying moral values of said choices and if all things are of equal good, then there would be no value. Likewise, if there is more variance in the level of goodness of the choices, so there is more value in the choices made. Swineburg gives the following example of this:\r\n<blockquote>“A particular natural evil, such as pain, gives the sufferer a choice—whether to endure it with patience or to bemoan is his lot. His friend can choose whether to show compassion towards the sufferer, or to be callous. The pain makes possible these choices, which would not otherwise exist.” <span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong></span></blockquote>\r\nBut these opportunities for good choices could become available through the actions of moral evil without the need for suffering caused by natural processes. A soldier who saves his comrade in the midst of battle is no more brave than the man who risks his life to save a child from drowning in river rapids. This is true. However, there is so much suffering of mind and body caused by disease, earthquake and accidents unpreventable by humans, that many people would not be afforded much of a chance to make good moral choices.<span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong><sup>3  </sup></strong></span>They would be unable to manifest much in the way of goodness at all. Humans need these sinister natural processes in order to be given opportunities they would not otherwise have. It is necessary for the value of our free will.\r\n\r\nDespite these explanations for evil in the world, this fact remains: evil is still evil and it is the causal factor of great suffering in the world. However, the existance of evil by no means negates the existance of God. Without this evil, we would be left without free will; we would be no more than mindless robots. Without great evil, there could be no great good.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<sup>1) Beebe, James R. \"Logical Problem of Evil.\" <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. University of Tennessee at Martin. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.\r\n2) Haught, James A. <em>2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt</em>. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1996. Print.\r\n3) Swineburg, Richard. \"Why God Allows Evil.\" <em>Exploring Philosophy: an Introductory Anthology</em>. By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 191-202. Print.\r\n4) \"The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).\" <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</em>. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.</sup>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo Credit: <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/diloz/5038789369/\">Azlan Dupree</a></em>','The (non)Problem of Evil: a philisophical defense of God','','inherit','open','open','','2269-revision-10','','','2011-11-15 20:51:58','2011-11-16 04:51:58','',2269,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/15/2269-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),(2524,24,'2011-11-27 09:00:39','2011-11-27 17:00:39','<div><strong>What is this \"I?\" How is it that \"I\" am aware and know that \"I\" exist?</strong></div>\r\n<div>\r\n<div>This contemplative poem is a musing, if you will, of such a question.</div>\r\n<div>\r\n<div><em>I am the wind, the waves, the sea</em>\r\n<em> The dust blowing all around thee</em>\r\n<em> I am the bird singing, your ear ringing</em>\r\n<em> The leaves that wither, the snakes that slither</em>\r\n<em> I am the bike your ride, the spokes that glide</em>\r\n<em> The bitterness, pain, the darkness, rain</em>\r\n<em> I am the flute’s gentle cry the tear in your eye</em>\r\n<em> Everything, nothing all wrapped in one</em>\r\n<em> Thunder lighting the boom of a shot-gun</em>\r\n<em> I am the weed, the orchid, a pile of trash</em>\r\n<em> The diaper absorbing the cream on the rash</em>\r\n<em> I am mountains, valleys, plains the hills</em>\r\n<em> The black circles under your eyes your lovely pain pills</em>\r\n<em> I am the beating heart the blanket covering your skin</em>\r\n<em> I am noble, the gentle glowing in the old man’s grin</em>\r\n<em> I am furry, the anger all hidden in pain</em>\r\n<em> The kindness of a stranger who looks insane</em>\r\n<em> I am a warm summer kiss, the grief of loss</em>\r\n<em> I am the dentist recommending dental floss</em>\r\n<em> I am what you hold, what you cannot touch</em>\r\n<em> The artist\'s brush, the rush of a new-found crush</em>\r\n<em> What you’ve hidden is never hidden you see</em>\r\n<em> I am the darkest thought you hide from me</em>\r\n<em> I am apples, butter, things full of spice</em>\r\n<em> The mating of animals sounding in the night</em>\r\n<em> I am slippery, sticky, starch, the pie</em>\r\n<em> I am the apple of your daddy’s eye</em>\r\n<em> I am not that, but this, not here, but now</em>\r\n<em> the warm cream flowing fresh from the cow</em>\r\n<em> I am the heat, the cold, the winter, the frost</em>\r\n<em> The cold stare of pain hidden in loss</em>\r\n<em> Nothing to touch and no thing to see</em>\r\n<em> The ability to know what it is to be free</em></div>\r\n<div><em>The i you see from, sees from the I, I Am.</em>\r\n<em> An I for an i is the end of sin.</em></div>\r\n<div>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God\'s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.”\r\n― <a href=\"http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/73092.Meister_Eckhart\">Meister Eckhart</a></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n</div>\r\n</div>','An I For An I','','publish','open','open','','an-i-for-an-i','','','2011-11-23 12:52:15','2011-11-23 20:52:15','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2524',0,'post','',0),(2319,24,'2011-11-16 10:09:18','2011-11-16 18:09:18','','Auto Draft','','inherit','open','open','','2318-revision','','','2011-11-16 10:09:18','2011-11-16 18:09:18','',2318,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2318-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2320,24,'2011-11-16 10:48:09','2011-11-16 18:48:09','Those of you who were raised in any sort of religion were usually told what to believe and why. Many heard that the bible is infallible and the absolute source of God\'s authority. The messages on Sunday were directed at what to believe and the consequences for not doing so.\n\nHow do we know if anything is true? Can our thoughts and perceptions be trusted? I could use a passage of scripture in the bible to rationalize and justify pretty much anything.\n\nLet\'s take a look at perception so we can then reexamine our experience with religion.\n\n<strong>\"Man is intrinsically innocent because he can only choose what he perceives to be good.\" - Socrates</strong>\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YoungOldWoman.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1976\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YoungOldWoman-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" /></a>Is this your wife or mother-in-law?\nWhich perception is real?\nDoes one negate the other?\nDo both exist simultaneously?\n\nI John 2: 9-11 Anyone who claims to live in God\'s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It\'s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God\'s light and doesn\'t block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn\'t know which end is up, blinded by the darkness.\n\nLook around the room you are in. Is it possible to see the light? Or can you only see that with which the light illuminates?\n\nA persons way of speaking, behavior and thought process simply reveals what they are aligned with. Light doe not judge or condemn, its simply reveals what is. God is light and in Him there is no shadow or darkness. So evil is not the opposite or antithesis of God, but simply his absence.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Perception is Deception','','inherit','open','open','','1975-revision-7','','','2011-11-16 10:48:09','2011-11-16 18:48:09','',1975,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/1975-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(2321,24,'2011-11-16 11:12:44','2011-11-16 19:12:44','Those of you who were raised in any sort of religion were usually told what to believe and why. Many heard that the bible is infallible and the absolute source of God\'s authority. The messages on Sunday were directed at what to believe and the consequences for not doing so.\n\nHow do we know if anything is true? Can our thoughts and perceptions be trusted? I could use a passage of scripture in the bible to rationalize and justify pretty much anything.\n\nLet\'s take a look at perception so we can then reexamine our experience with religion.\n\n<strong>\"Man is intrinsically innocent because he can only choose what he perceives to be good.\" - Socrates</strong>\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YoungOldWoman.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1976\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YoungOldWoman-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" /></a>Is this your wife or mother-in-law?\nWhich perception is real?\nDoes one negate the other?\nDo both exist simultaneously?\n\nI John 2: 9-11 Anyone who claims to live in God\'s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It\'s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God\'s light and doesn\'t block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn\'t know which end is up, blinded by the darkness.\n\nLook around the room you are in. Is it possible to see the light? Or can you only see that with which the light illuminates?\n\nA persons way of speaking, behavior and thought process simply reveals what they are aligned with. Light doe not judge or condemn, its simply reveals what is. God is light and in Him there is no shadow or darkness. So evil is not the opposite or antithesis of God, but simply his absence.\n\nOur perceptions are derived from a mind that searches for the meaning of what it perceives or in other words identifies with. If the mind believes something has value it then desires it. Thoughts and feelings arise from desire, and the mind desires what it values.\n\nPerception offers religion the security of labeling that which is valuable and that which is avoidable.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Perception is Deception','','inherit','open','open','','1975-revision-8','','','2011-11-16 11:12:44','2011-11-16 19:12:44','',1975,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/1975-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(2322,24,'2011-11-16 11:15:21','2011-11-16 19:15:21','Those of you who were raised in any sort of religion were usually told what to believe and why. Many heard that the bible is infallible and the absolute source of God\'s authority. The messages on Sunday were directed at what to believe and the consequences for not doing so.\n\nHow do we know if anything is true? Can our thoughts and perceptions be trusted? I could use a passage of scripture in the bible to rationalize and justify pretty much anything.\n\nLet\'s take a look at perception so we can then reexamine our experience with religion.\n\n<strong>\"Man is intrinsically innocent because he can only choose what he perceives to be good.\" - Socrates</strong>\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YoungOldWoman.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1976\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YoungOldWoman-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" /></a>Is this your wife or mother-in-law?\nWhich perception is real?\nDoes one negate the other?\nDo both exist simultaneously?\n\nI John 2: 9-11 Anyone who claims to live in God\'s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It\'s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God\'s light and doesn\'t block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn\'t know which end is up, blinded by the darkness.\n\nLook around the room you are in. Is it possible to see the light? Or can you only see that with which the light illuminates?\n\nA persons way of speaking, behavior and thought process simply reveals what they are aligned with. Light doe not judge or condemn, its simply reveals what is. God is light and in Him there is no shadow or darkness. So evil is not the opposite or antithesis of God, but simply his absence.\n\nOur perceptions are derived from a mind that searches for the meaning of what it perceives or in other words identifies with. If the mind believes something has value it then desires it. Thoughts and feelings arise from desire, and the mind desires what it values.\n\nPerception offers religion the security of labeling and putting people into categories of valuable or avoidable.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Perception is Deception','','inherit','open','open','','1975-revision-9','','','2011-11-16 11:15:21','2011-11-16 19:15:21','',1975,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/1975-revision-9/',0,'revision','',0),(2323,0,'2011-11-16 14:15:00','2011-11-16 22:15:00','The Episcopal Church would welcome you, as a parishoner or as a priest.  Think about it.\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Skip Higgins\nAUTHOR EMAIL: higginskip@aol.com\nAUTHOR URL: \nSUBJECT: [Provoketive Magazine] Parable of the Talents: A Slave Narrative of Injustice and Oppression\nIP: 173.17.35.238\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Skip Higgins\n    [Email] =&gt; higginskip@aol.com\n    [Website] =&gt; \n    [Message] =&gt; The Episcopal Church would welcome you, as a parishoner or as a priest.  Think about it.\n)\n','Skip Higgins - 2011-11-16 14:15:00','','publish','open','open','','12ca7a0cc576dc2e2df93946ff2809ea','','','2011-11-16 14:15:00','2011-11-16 22:15:00','',2207,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2323',0,'feedback','',0),(2326,64,'2011-11-16 15:12:46','2011-11-16 23:12:46','My cup is always half empty.  At least, without Jesus it would be.  Even with the Holy Spirit active and present it is an <em>effort</em> to be positive.  And I’ll try anything to change this about myself. I have even gone so far as to wear a rubber band on my wrist, switching it to the other arm each time I catch myself verbalizing something critical or negative. I could start a self-help group: <em>Hi I’m Melody.  I am a negative, cynical, gloomy, pessimistic person</em>!\n\nThe flip side of that is the clarity with which I see the world.  I think my propensity to see injustice, what’s broken and \"not working\", can be a good thing because it also <em>moves me</em>, causing me to speak out, write, and sometimes even shout about the injustice and pain!  Nevertheless, I am not known for my positivity and I don’t like that about myself.\n\nI consider it great progress that when I am asked the perennial question: “How are you?” I now (mostly) answer with “I can’t complain.”  And then go ahead, do <em>not complain</em>!  This practice began as a difficult task that I was committed to doing and over time it has become a way of life.  I began to choose that way of thinking after experiencing depression.  I learned how much I have to be grateful about.\n\n<strong>I can’t complain, no.  Really I choose not to complain.</strong>\n\nGood and bad, it happens.\n\n… Some might say “shit happens” right?  But are we the type of people to always point that out?  Or are you the type of person that can bring something positive, or life affirming, into a really negative world?\n\n… Some people just exude joy and pleasure with life.  It used to be they <em>really bugged me (</em>still do sometimes) because I couldn’t imagine it being <em>authentic.  </em>But I have found if you can embrace someone in their joy<em>, perhaps just a little will rub off on you.</em>\n\nEven in the midst of the <em><a title=\"Depression\" href=\"https://logicandimagination.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/an-inexplicable-thing-depression/\" target=\"_blank\">hell of depression</a></em> I want to be the sort of person who can be grateful.  God gives us this one life and we are charged to sort it out.   He guides us, truly he does, but <em>much of life is us sorting and sifting the good and the bad</em>.  Life is choices.\n\nGeorge Thomas wrote this beautiful prayer -- may it be ours:\n<blockquote>“Help us, Lord, to get in tune with the rhythm that makes for life.  Slow us down and help us see that we are put in charge of our lives with your help.  We keep moving, even though we know that we are made to center down, as well as to be actively engaged in the business of life.  We compete for things and make those things more important than they ought to be.  We eat what we ought not to eat.  We neglect and misuse our bodies.  We fail to discipline our minds and to be still and know that thou art God and that we are the temple of the Most High<strong><em>. </em></strong><strong><em>Yes, we often complain about our misfortunes and our hard luck, when at times it is we who are guilty of disregard.  </em></strong>Help us to know that we can be broken by life only if we first allow the victory of evil over our spirits.  May our hope and strength and faith be grounded in you.”</blockquote>\nBy recognizing and living our blessings, we are blessed.  By enjoying positive people we just may become one.\n\nChange your focus, yes but God forbid we all become Precious Moments Christ followers.  No, simply commit to being a person who is grateful for each precious moment of their life.\n\n<strong>It really is utterly breathtaking, life’s blessings.  </strong>\n\n<em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">O God, Slow Us Down</span></em> (1983) by George Thomas found in <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060926570/interluaninterne\">Conversations with God, Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans</a>, James Melvin Washington.','I Can\'t Complain','','inherit','open','open','','2324-revision','','','2011-11-16 15:12:46','2011-11-16 23:12:46','',2324,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2324-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2327,64,'2011-11-16 15:48:45','2011-11-16 23:48:45','My cup is always half empty.  At least, without Jesus it would be.  Even with the Holy Spirit active and present it is an <em>effort</em> to be positive.  And I try anything to change this about myself. I have even gone so far as to wear a rubber band on my wrist, switching it to the other arm each time I catch myself verbalizing something critical or negative. I could start a self-help group: <em>Hi I’m Melody.  I am a negative, cynical, gloomy, pessimistic person</em>!\n\nThe flip side of that is the clarity with which I see the world.  I think my propensity to <em>see injustice</em>, what’s broken and \"not working\", can be a good thing because it also <em>moves me</em>, causing me to speak out, write, and sometimes even shout about the injustice and pain people suffer!  Nevertheless, I am not known for my positivity and I don’t like that about myself.\n\nI consider it great progress that when I am asked the perennial question: “How are you?” I now (mostly) answer with “I can’t complain.”  And then go ahead and <em>do not complain</em>!  This practice began as a difficult task that I was committed to doing and over time it has become a way of life.  I began to choose that way of thinking, after experiencing major depression when I learned how much I have to be grateful about.\n\n<strong>I choose not to complain.</strong>\n\nGood and bad, it happens.\n\n… <em>Some might say “shit happens” right?</em>  But are we the type of people to always point that out?  Or are we the type of person that can bring something positive, or life affirming, into a really negative world?\n\n…<em> Some people just exude joy and pleasure with life.</em>  It used to be they <em>really bugged me (</em>still do sometimes) because I couldn’t imagine it being <em>authentic.  </em>But I have found<em> if</em> you can embrace someone in their joy<em>, perhaps just a little will rub off on you.</em>\n\nEven in the midst of the <em><a title=\"Depression\" href=\"https://logicandimagination.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/an-inexplicable-thing-depression/\" target=\"_blank\">hell of depression</a></em> I am grateful.  God gives us this one life and we are charged to sort it out.   He guides us, truly he does, but <em>much of life is us sorting and sifting the good and the bad</em>.\n\nLife is choices.\n\nGeorge Thomas wrote this beautiful prayer -- may it be ours:\n<blockquote>“Help us, Lord, to get in tune with the rhythm that makes for life.  Slow us down and help us see that we are put in charge of our lives with your help.  We keep moving, even though we know that we are made to center down, as well as to be actively engaged in the business of life.  We compete for things and make those things more important than they ought to be.  We eat what we ought not to eat.  We neglect and misuse our bodies.  We fail to discipline our minds and to be still and know that thou art God and that we are the temple of the Most High<strong><em>. </em></strong><strong><em>Yes, we often complain about our misfortunes and our hard luck, when at times it is we who are guilty of disregard.  </em></strong>Help us to know that we can be broken by life only if we first allow the victory of evil over our spirits.  May our hope and strength and faith be grounded in you.”</blockquote>\nBy recognizing and living our blessings, we are blessed.  By enjoying positive people we just may become one.\n\nChange your focus, yes but God forbid we all become Precious Moments Christ followers.  No, simply commit to being a person who is grateful for each precious moment of their life.\n\n<strong>It really is utterly breathtaking, life’s blessings.  </strong>\n\n<em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">O God, Slow Us Down</span></em> (1983) by George Thomas found in <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060926570/interluaninterne\">Conversations with God, Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans</a>, James Melvin Washington.','I Can\'t Complain','','inherit','open','open','','2324-autosave','','','2011-11-16 15:48:45','2011-11-16 23:48:45','',2324,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2324-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(2328,64,'2011-11-16 15:13:41','2011-11-16 23:13:41','My cup is always half empty.  At least, without Jesus it would be.  Even with the Holy Spirit active and present it is an <em>effort</em> to be positive.  And I’ll try anything to change this about myself. I have even gone so far as to wear a rubber band on my wrist, switching it to the other arm each time I catch myself verbalizing something critical or negative. I could start a self-help group: <em>Hi I’m Melody.  I am a negative, cynical, gloomy, pessimistic person</em>!\r\n\r\nThe flip side of that is the clarity with which I see the world.  I think my propensity to see injustice, what’s broken and \"not working\", can be a good thing because it also <em>moves me</em>, causing me to speak out, write, and sometimes even shout about the injustice and pain!  Nevertheless, I am not known for my positivity and I don’t like that about myself.\r\n\r\nI consider it great progress that when I am asked the perennial question: “How are you?” I now (mostly) answer with “I can’t complain.”  And then go ahead, do <em>not complain</em>!  This practice began as a difficult task that I was committed to doing and over time it has become a way of life.  I began to choose that way of thinking after experiencing depression.  I learned how much I have to be grateful about.\r\n\r\n<strong>I can’t complain, no.  Really I choose not to complain.</strong>\r\n\r\nGood and bad, it happens.\r\n\r\n… Some might say “shit happens” right?  But are we the type of people to always point that out?  Or are you the type of person that can bring something positive, or life affirming, into a really negative world?\r\n\r\n… Some people just exude joy and pleasure with life.  It used to be they <em>really bugged me (</em>still do sometimes) because I couldn’t imagine it being <em>authentic.  </em>But I have found if you can embrace someone in their joy<em>, perhaps just a little will rub off on you.</em>\r\n\r\nEven in the midst of the <em><a title=\"Depression\" href=\"https://logicandimagination.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/an-inexplicable-thing-depression/\" target=\"_blank\">hell of depression</a></em> I want to be the sort of person who can be grateful.  God gives us this one life and we are charged to sort it out.   He guides us, truly he does, but <em>much of life is us sorting and sifting the good and the bad</em>.  Life is choices.\r\n\r\nGeorge Thomas wrote this beautiful prayer -- may it be ours:\r\n<blockquote>“Help us, Lord, to get in tune with the rhythm that makes for life.  Slow us down and help us see that we are put in charge of our lives with your help.  We keep moving, even though we know that we are made to center down, as well as to be actively engaged in the business of life.  We compete for things and make those things more important than they ought to be.  We eat what we ought not to eat.  We neglect and misuse our bodies.  We fail to discipline our minds and to be still and know that thou art God and that we are the temple of the Most High<strong><em>. </em></strong><strong><em>Yes, we often complain about our misfortunes and our hard luck, when at times it is we who are guilty of disregard.  </em></strong>Help us to know that we can be broken by life only if we first allow the victory of evil over our spirits.  May our hope and strength and faith be grounded in you.”</blockquote>\r\nBy recognizing and living our blessings, we are blessed.  By enjoying positive people we just may become one.\r\n\r\nChange your focus, yes but God forbid we all become Precious Moments Christ followers.  No, simply commit to being a person who is grateful for each precious moment of their life.\r\n\r\n<strong>It really is utterly breathtaking, life’s blessings.  </strong>\r\n\r\n<em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">O God, Slow Us Down</span></em> (1983) by George Thomas found in <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060926570/interluaninterne\">Conversations with God, Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans</a>, James Melvin Washington.','I Can\'t Complain','','inherit','open','open','','2324-revision-2','','','2011-11-16 15:13:41','2011-11-16 23:13:41','',2324,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2324-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(2330,64,'2011-11-16 15:51:13','2011-11-16 23:51:13','Photograph by Melody Harrison Hanson','gratitude','','inherit','open','open','','sun_slides_lyr_mhh_10-11-104','','','2011-11-16 15:51:13','2011-11-16 23:51:13','',2324,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/SUN_SLIDES_LYR_MHH_10-11-104.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2329,64,'2011-11-16 15:49:14','2011-11-16 23:49:14','My cup is always half empty.  At least, without Jesus it would be.  Even with the Holy Spirit active and present it is an <em>effort</em> to be positive.  And I try anything to change this about myself. I have even gone so far as to wear a rubber band on my wrist, switching it to the other arm each time I catch myself verbalizing something critical or negative. I could start a self-help group: <em>Hi I’m Melody.  I am a negative, cynical, gloomy, pessimistic person</em>!\r\n\r\nThe flip side of that is the clarity with which I see the world.  I think my propensity to <em>see injustice</em>, what’s broken and \"not working\", can be a good thing because it also <em>moves me</em>, causing me to speak out, write, and sometimes even shout about the injustice and pain people suffer!  Nevertheless, I am not known for my positivity and I don’t like that about myself.\r\n\r\nI consider it great progress that when I am asked the perennial question: “How are you?” I now (mostly) answer with “I can’t complain.”  And then go ahead and <em>do not complain</em>!  This practice began as a difficult task that I was committed to doing and over time it has become a way of life.  I began to choose that way of thinking, after experiencing major depression when I learned how much I have to be grateful about.\r\n\r\n<strong>I choose not to complain.</strong>\r\n\r\nGood and bad, it happens.\r\n\r\n… <em>Some might say “shit happens” right?</em>  But are we the type of people to always point that out?  Or are we the type of person that can bring something positive, or life affirming, into a really negative world?\r\n\r\n…<em> Some people just exude joy and pleasure with life.</em>  It used to be they <em>really bugged me (</em>still do sometimes) because I couldn’t imagine it being <em>authentic.  </em>But I have found<em> if</em> you can embrace someone in their joy<em>, perhaps just a little will rub off on you.</em>\r\n\r\nEven in the midst of the <em><a title=\"Depression\" href=\"https://logicandimagination.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/an-inexplicable-thing-depression/\" target=\"_blank\">hell of depression</a></em> I am grateful.  God gives us this one life and we are charged to sort it out.   He guides us, truly he does, but <em>much of life is us sorting and sifting the good and the bad</em>.\r\n\r\nLife is choices.\r\n\r\nGeorge Thomas wrote this beautiful prayer -- may it be ours:\r\n<blockquote>“Help us, Lord, to get in tune with the rhythm that makes for life.  Slow us down and help us see that we are put in charge of our lives with your help.  We keep moving, even though we know that we are made to center down, as well as to be actively engaged in the business of life.  We compete for things and make those things more important than they ought to be.  We eat what we ought not to eat.  We neglect and misuse our bodies.  We fail to discipline our minds and to be still and know that thou art God and that we are the temple of the Most High<strong><em>. </em></strong><strong><em>Yes, we often complain about our misfortunes and our hard luck, when at times it is we who are guilty of disregard.  </em></strong>Help us to know that we can be broken by life only if we first allow the victory of evil over our spirits.  May our hope and strength and faith be grounded in you.”</blockquote>\r\nBy recognizing and living our blessings, we are blessed.  By enjoying positive people we just may become one.\r\n\r\nChange your focus, yes but God forbid we all become Precious Moments Christ followers.  No, simply commit to being a person who is grateful for each precious moment of their life.\r\n\r\n<strong>It really is utterly breathtaking -- life’s blessings.  I can\'t complain.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">O God, Slow Us Down</span></em> (1983) by George Thomas found in <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060926570/interluaninterne\">Conversations with God, Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans</a>, James Melvin Washington.','I Can\'t Complain','','inherit','open','open','','2324-revision-3','','','2011-11-16 15:49:14','2011-11-16 23:49:14','',2324,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2324-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(2331,64,'2011-11-16 15:50:19','2011-11-16 23:50:19','My cup is always half empty.  At least, without Jesus it would be.  Even with the Holy Spirit active and present it is an <em>effort</em> to be positive.  And I try anything to change this about myself. I have even gone so far as to wear a rubber band on my wrist, switching it to the other arm each time I catch myself verbalizing something critical or negative. I could start a self-help group: <em>Hi I’m Melody.  I am a negative, cynical, gloomy, pessimistic person</em>!\r\n\r\nThe flip side of that is the clarity with which I see the world.  I think my propensity to <em>see injustice</em>, what’s broken and \"not working\", can be a good thing because it also <em>moves me</em>, causing me to speak out, write, and sometimes even shout about the injustice and pain people suffer!  Nevertheless, I am not known for my positivity and I don’t like that about myself.\r\n\r\nI consider it great progress that when I am asked the perennial question: “How are you?” I now (mostly) answer with “I can’t complain.”  And then go ahead and <em>do not complain</em>!  This practice began as a difficult task that I was committed to doing and over time it has become a way of life.  I began to choose that way of thinking, after experiencing major depression when I learned how much I have to be grateful about.\r\n\r\n<strong>I choose not to complain.</strong>\r\n\r\nGood and bad, it happens.\r\n\r\n… <em>Some might say “shit happens” right?</em>  But are we the type of people to always point that out?  Or are we the type of person that can bring something positive, or life affirming, into a really negative world?\r\n\r\n…<em> Some people just exude joy and pleasure with life.</em>  It used to be they <em>really bugged me (</em>still do sometimes) because I couldn’t imagine it being <em>authentic.  </em>But I have found<em> if</em> you can embrace someone in their joy<em>, perhaps just a little will rub off on you.</em>\r\n\r\nEven in the midst of the <em><a title=\"Depression\" href=\"https://logicandimagination.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/an-inexplicable-thing-depression/\" target=\"_blank\">hell of depression</a></em> I am grateful.  God gives us this one life and we are charged to sort it out.   He guides us, truly he does, but <em>much of life is us sifting through the good and the bad</em>.\r\n\r\nLife is choices.\r\n\r\nGeorge Thomas wrote this beautiful prayer -- may it be ours:\r\n<blockquote>“Help us, Lord, to get in tune with the rhythm that makes for life.  Slow us down and help us see that we are put in charge of our lives with your help.  We keep moving, even though we know that we are made to center down, as well as to be actively engaged in the business of life.  We compete for things and make those things more important than they ought to be.  We eat what we ought not to eat.  We neglect and misuse our bodies.  We fail to discipline our minds and to be still and know that thou art God and that we are the temple of the Most High<strong><em>. </em></strong><strong><em>Yes, we often complain about our misfortunes and our hard luck, when at times it is we who are guilty of disregard.  </em></strong>Help us to know that we can be broken by life only if we first allow the victory of evil over our spirits.  May our hope and strength and faith be grounded in you.”</blockquote>\r\nBy recognizing and living our blessings, we are blessed.  By enjoying positive people we just may become one.\r\n\r\nChange your focus, yes but God forbid we all become Precious Moments Christ followers.  No, simply commit to being a person who is grateful for each precious moment of their life.\r\n\r\n<strong>It really is utterly breathtaking -- life’s blessings.  I can\'t complain.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">O God, Slow Us Down</span></em> (1983) by George Thomas found in <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060926570/interluaninterne\">Conversations with God, Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans</a>, James Melvin Washington.','I Can\'t Complain','','inherit','open','open','','2324-revision-4','','','2011-11-16 15:50:19','2011-11-16 23:50:19','',2324,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2324-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(2332,64,'2011-11-16 15:52:08','2011-11-16 23:52:08','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/SUN_SLIDES_LYR_MHH_10-11-104.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2330\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/SUN_SLIDES_LYR_MHH_10-11-104.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"781\" height=\"441\" /></a>My cup is always half empty.  At least, without Jesus it would be.  Even with the Holy Spirit active and present it is an <em>effort</em> to be positive.  And I try anything to change this about myself. I have even gone so far as to wear a rubber band on my wrist, switching it to the other arm each time I catch myself verbalizing something critical or negative. I could start a self-help group: <em>Hi I’m Melody.  I am a negative, cynical, gloomy, pessimistic person</em>!\r\n\r\nThe flip side of that is the clarity with which I see the world.  I think my propensity to <em>see injustice</em>, what’s broken and \"not working\", can be a good thing because it also <em>moves me</em>, causing me to speak out, write, and sometimes even shout about the injustice and pain people suffer!  Nevertheless, I am not known for my positivity and I don’t like that about myself.\r\n\r\nI consider it great progress that when I am asked the perennial question: “How are you?” I now (mostly) answer with “I can’t complain.”  And then go ahead and <em>do not complain</em>!  This practice began as a difficult task that I was committed to doing and over time it has become a way of life.  I began to choose that way of thinking, after experiencing major depression when I learned how much I have to be grateful about.\r\n\r\n<strong>I choose not to complain.</strong>\r\n\r\nGood and bad, it happens.\r\n\r\n… <em>Some might say “shit happens” right?</em>  But are we the type of people to always point that out?  Or are we the type of person that can bring something positive, or life affirming, into a really negative world?\r\n\r\n…<em> Some people just exude joy and pleasure with life.</em>  It used to be they <em>really bugged me (</em>still do sometimes) because I couldn’t imagine it being <em>authentic.  </em>But I have found<em> if</em> you can embrace someone in their joy<em>, perhaps just a little will rub off on you.</em>\r\n\r\nEven in the midst of the <em><a title=\"Depression\" href=\"https://logicandimagination.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/an-inexplicable-thing-depression/\" target=\"_blank\">hell of depression</a></em> I am grateful.  God gives us this one life and we are charged to sort it out.   He guides us, truly he does, but <em>much of life is us sifting through the good and the bad</em>.\r\n\r\nLife is choices.\r\n\r\nGeorge Thomas wrote this beautiful prayer -- may it be ours:\r\n<blockquote>“Help us, Lord, to get in tune with the rhythm that makes for life.  Slow us down and help us see that we are put in charge of our lives with your help.  We keep moving, even though we know that we are made to center down, as well as to be actively engaged in the business of life.  We compete for things and make those things more important than they ought to be.  We eat what we ought not to eat.  We neglect and misuse our bodies.  We fail to discipline our minds and to be still and know that thou art God and that we are the temple of the Most High<strong><em>. </em></strong><strong><em>Yes, we often complain about our misfortunes and our hard luck, when at times it is we who are guilty of disregard.  </em></strong>Help us to know that we can be broken by life only if we first allow the victory of evil over our spirits.  May our hope and strength and faith be grounded in you.”</blockquote>\r\nBy recognizing and living our blessings, we are blessed.  By enjoying positive people we just may become one.\r\n\r\nChange your focus, yes but God forbid we all become Precious Moments Christ followers.  No, simply commit to being a person who is grateful for each precious moment of their life.\r\n\r\n<strong>It really is utterly breathtaking -- life’s blessings.  I can\'t complain.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">O God, Slow Us Down</span></em> (1983) by George Thomas found in <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060926570/interluaninterne\">Conversations with God, Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans</a>, James Melvin Washington.','I Can\'t Complain','','inherit','open','open','','2324-revision-5','','','2011-11-16 15:52:08','2011-11-16 23:52:08','',2324,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2324-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(2334,12,'2011-11-16 21:23:19','2011-11-17 05:23:19','','life55','','inherit','open','open','','life55','','','2011-11-16 21:23:19','2011-11-17 05:23:19','',2333,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/life55.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2335,12,'2011-11-16 21:24:00','2011-11-17 05:24:00','Life Magazine published it\'s 20 most regrettable covers online recently. Some of them were simply awful. It was a fun way for them to look back on some of their past mistakes and call themselves out for poor oversight and design. They basically said in an enjoyable manner, \"We messed up and here are our awful mistakes for everyone to see.\"\n\nIt made me reflect for a moment. I have a lot of moments in my life that I dwell on from my past that were not so good. They are moments my mind drifts back to that I cling to selfishly, wishing they would be wiped away. Some of them are regrettable moments that others will remember where I made a terrible error. Other moments are things that have no history besides being written on the pages of my mind.\n\nHere\'s a really stupid one. When I was in college, we had intramural flag football. One game, we were playing against a team that we really didn\'t like. In fact, I couldn\'t stand one of the guys on the offensive line. I\'m not a big guy at all, but during one play, I got overly aggressive and gave him a cheap shot when the play was over. It was unnecessary. What made it really memorable was when the team ran a play to my side the next time and three of them planted me on my butt.\n\nI stewed about it for a week. And it still makes me angry. Angry that I let my emotions get the best of me. Angry that I got knocked down. And it was not one of my proudest moments. But it\'s still there.\n\nIs it that big of a deal? No.\n\nIt\'s one of the covers of my life I\'d publish if I were doing \"regrettable moments\" from my life. There are more. A lot more. Worse moments. We all have them.\n\nMaybe we had a chance to help someone in need. Maybe we turned our back on a friend. Maybe we said something we couldn\'t take back. Maybe we did something we have never told anyone. And we hold onto it forever.\n\nWhile doing interviews for my upcoming book, I was interviewing a fellow fallen pastor. He said one of the most remarkable things I\'ve ever heard. I asked him something along the lines of, \"What do you wish had happened differently?\"\n\nHe didn\'t hesitate. He said, \"The past can be slavery and the future can be idolatry. Don\'t look back, don\'t look too far forward or you\'ll miss what\'s happening right now where the kingdom and spirit are.\"\n\nThat gave me tremendous peace. There\'s a time to put away the horrendous covers of our past failures and least memorable moments. Sure, it\'s hard to forget them when they\'ve been published and put out there for the world to see. But that doesn\'t mean we have to keep rereading the same material over and over again, reminding ourselves of the past.\n\nThere\'s \"Life\" going on now that demands to be cherished and lived.','Viewing the Past in Vivid, Regrettable Color','','inherit','open','open','','2333-revision','','','2011-11-16 21:24:00','2011-11-17 05:24:00','',2333,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2333-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2336,12,'2011-11-16 21:25:35','2011-11-17 05:25:35','Life Magazine published it\'s 20 most regrettable covers online recently. Some of them were simply awful. It was a fun way for them to look back on some of their past mistakes and call themselves out for poor oversight and design. They basically said in an enjoyable manner, \"We messed up and here are our awful mistakes for everyone to see.\"\n\nIt made me reflect for a moment. I have a lot of moments in my life that I dwell on from my past that were not so good. They are moments my mind drifts back to that I cling to selfishly, wishing they would be wiped away. Some of them are regrettable moments that others will remember where I made a terrible error. Other moments are things that have no history besides being written on the pages of my mind.\n\nHere\'s a really stupid one. When I was in college, we had intramural flag football. One game, we were playing against a team that we really didn\'t like. In fact, I couldn\'t stand one of the guys on the offensive line. I\'m not a big guy at all, but during one play, I got overly aggressive and gave him a cheap shot when the play was over. It was unnecessary. What made it really memorable was when the team ran a play to my side the next time and three of them planted me on my butt.\n\nI stewed about it for a week. And it still makes me angry. Angry that I let my emotions get the best of me. Angry that I got knocked down. And it was not one of my proudest moments. But it\'s still there.\n\nIs it that big of a deal? Yes. No.\n\nIt\'s one of the covers of my life I\'d publish if I were doing \"regrettable moments\" from my life. There are more. A lot more. Worse moments. We all have them.\n\nMaybe we had a chance to help someone in need. Maybe we turned our back on a friend. Maybe we said something we couldn\'t take back. Maybe we did something we have never told anyone. And we hold onto it forever.\n\nWhile doing interviews <a href=\"http://store.civitaspress.com/books/284\">for my upcoming book</a>, I was interviewing a fellow fallen pastor. He said one of the most remarkable things I\'ve ever heard. I asked him something along the lines of, \"What do you wish had happened differently?\"\n\nHe didn\'t hesitate. He said, \"The past can be slavery and the future can be idolatry. Don\'t look back, don\'t look too far forward or you\'ll miss what\'s happening right now where the kingdom and spirit are.\"\n\nThat gave me tremendous peace. There\'s a time to put away the horrendous covers of our past failures and least memorable moments. Sure, it\'s hard to forget them when they\'ve been published and put out there for the world to see. But that doesn\'t mean we have to keep rereading the same material over and over again, reminding ourselves of the past.\n\nThere\'s \"Life\" going on now that demands to be cherished and lived.','Viewing the Past in Vivid, Regrettable Color','','inherit','open','open','','2333-revision-2','','','2011-11-16 21:25:35','2011-11-17 05:25:35','',2333,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2333-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(2337,12,'2011-11-16 21:29:46','2011-11-17 05:29:46','<a href=\"http://www.life.com/hdgallery/66721/image/ugc1273001/lifes-20-worst-covers#index/1\">Life Magazine published it\'s 20 most regrettable covers online recently</a>. Some of them were simply awful. It was a fun way for them to look back on some of their past mistakes and call themselves out for poor oversight and design. They basically said in an enjoyable manner, \"We messed up and here are our awful mistakes for everyone to see.\"\r\n\r\nIt made me reflect for a moment. I have a lot of moments in my life that I dwell on from my past that were not so good. They are moments my mind drifts back to that I cling to selfishly, wishing they would be wiped away. Some of them are regrettable moments that others will remember where I made a terrible error. Other moments are things that have no history besides being written on the pages of my mind. But all of them I still remember in vivid color, like the cover of a magazine.\r\n\r\nHere\'s a really stupid one. When I was in college, we had intramural flag football. One game, we were playing against a team that we really didn\'t like. In fact, I couldn\'t stand one of the guys on the offensive line. I\'m not a big guy at all, but during one play, I got overly aggressive and gave him a cheap shot when the play was over. It was unnecessary. What made it really memorable was when the team ran a play to my side the next time and three of them planted me on my butt.\r\n\r\nI stewed about it for a week. Well, more than a week. Fifteen years. It still makes me angry. Angry that I let my emotions get the best of me. Angry that I got knocked down. And it was not one of my proudest moments. But it\'s still there.\r\n\r\nIs it that big of a deal? Yes. No.\r\n\r\nIt\'s one of the covers of my life I\'d publish if I were doing \"regrettable moments\" from my life. There are more. A lot more. Worse moments. We all have them.\r\n\r\nMaybe we had a chance to help someone in need. Maybe we turned our back on a friend. Maybe we said something we couldn\'t take back. Maybe we did something we have never told anyone. And we hold onto it forever.\r\n\r\nWhile doing interviews <a href=\"http://store.civitaspress.com/books/284\">for my upcoming book</a>, I was interviewing a fellow fallen pastor. He said one of the most remarkable things I\'ve ever heard. I asked him something along the lines of, \"What do you wish had happened differently?\"\r\n\r\nHe didn\'t hesitate. He said, \"The past can be slavery and the future can be idolatry. Don\'t look back, don\'t look too far forward or you\'ll miss what\'s happening right now where the kingdom and spirit are.\"\r\n\r\nThat gave me tremendous peace. There\'s a time to put away the horrendous covers of our past failures and least memorable moments. Sure, it\'s hard to forget them when they\'ve been published and put out there for the world to see. But that doesn\'t mean we have to keep rereading the same material over and over again, reminding ourselves of the past.\r\n\r\nThere\'s \"Life\" going on now that demands to be cherished and lived.','Viewing the Past in Vivid, Regrettable Color','','inherit','open','open','','2333-revision-3','','','2011-11-16 21:29:46','2011-11-17 05:29:46','',2333,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2333-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(2338,1,'2011-11-20 09:09:48','2011-11-20 17:09:48','<a href=\"http://www.life.com/hdgallery/66721/image/ugc1273001/lifes-20-worst-covers#index/1\">Life Magazine published it\'s 20 most regrettable covers online recently</a>. Some of them were simply awful. It was a fun way for them to look back on some of their past mistakes and call themselves out for poor oversight and design. They basically said in an enjoyable manner, \"We messed up and here are our awful mistakes for everyone to see.\"\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/life55.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2334\" title=\"life55\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/life55-231x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"172\" height=\"223\" /></a>It made me reflect for a moment. I have a lot of moments in my life that I dwell on from my past that were not so good. They are moments my mind drifts back to that I cling to selfishly, wishing they would be wiped away. Some of them are regrettable moments that others will remember where I made a terrible error. Other moments are things that have no history besides being written on the pages of my mind. But all of them I still remember in vivid color, like the cover of a magazine.\r\n\r\nHere\'s a really stupid one. When I was in college, we had intramural flag football. One game, we were playing against a team that we really didn\'t like. In fact, I couldn\'t stand one of the guys on the offensive line. I\'m not a big guy at all, but during one play, I got overly aggressive and gave him a cheap shot when the play was over. It was unnecessary. What made it really memorable was when the team ran a play to my side the next time and three of them planted me on my butt.\r\n\r\nI stewed about it for a week. Well, more than a week. Fifteen years. It still makes me angry. Angry that I let my emotions get the best of me. Angry that I got knocked down. And it was not one of my proudest moments. But it\'s still there.\r\n\r\nIs it that big of a deal? Yes. No.\r\n\r\nIt\'s one of the covers of my life I\'d publish if I were doing \"regrettable moments\" from my life. There are more. A lot more. Worse moments. We all have them.\r\n\r\nMaybe we had a chance to help someone in need. Maybe we turned our back on a friend. Maybe we said something we couldn\'t take back. Maybe we did something we have never told anyone. And we hold onto it forever.\r\n\r\nWhile doing interviews <a href=\"http://store.civitaspress.com/books/284\">for my upcoming book</a>, I was interviewing a fellow fallen pastor. He said one of the most remarkable things I\'ve ever heard. I asked him something along the lines of, \"What do you wish had happened differently?\"\r\n\r\nHe didn\'t hesitate. He said, <em>\"The past can be slavery and the future can be idolatry. Don\'t look back, don\'t look too far forward or you\'ll miss what\'s happening right now where the kingdom and spirit are.\"</em>\r\n\r\nThat gave me tremendous peace. There\'s a time to put away the horrendous covers of our past failures and least memorable moments. Sure, it\'s hard to forget them when they\'ve been published and put out there for the world to see. But that doesn\'t mean we have to keep rereading the same material over and over again, reminding ourselves of the past.\r\n\r\nThere\'s \"Life\" going on now that demands to be cherished and lived.','Viewing the Past in Vivid, Regrettable Color','','inherit','open','open','','2333-autosave','','','2011-11-20 09:09:48','2011-11-20 17:09:48','',2333,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/16/2333-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(3951,64,'2012-01-19 09:00:20','2012-01-19 17:00:20','<em>The Resignation of Eve</em> is a thoughtful experiment -- one that challenges men and women of the 21<sup>st</sup> century church to shake off their old ideas about where women fit in the Church. In a charming and disarming style, Jim Henderson tells the evangelical Church, its pastors and ministry leaders to start listening to the women in their lives, their daughters, wives, mothers and friends, and those women that work tirelessly by their side every day in the service of the Kingdom. (I was tempted to write \"their kingdom.\") Henderson, a spirited advocate for powerless people, has done the work for you. Through the narratives of fifteen women, he threads together themes that he found while listening. <em>The Resignation of Eve</em> is a daring challenge to the Church to reconsider the issue of women in ministry and issues a gentle threat for what may happen if you choose not to listen.\r\n\r\nWhile I do not doubt the sincerity of the author, the irony that lingered with me as I read the hundreds of pages of narrative is something Henderson alluded to himself that <strong><em>those with power</em></strong> don’t understand the necessity of the conversation.  I believe the very same people this book is challenging, made up their minds long ago (in seminary) and are unlikely to be swayed by the singularly sad stories of women, even women in their own church.  Through research done by the Barna Group the author has dug up another mostly silent, ever resilient group of people serving in the church, <strong><em>the oblivious</em>,</strong> those who “drank the cool aid” long ago and trusted those with authority for their own beliefs.  They feel there is no need for this conversation either. My personal experience has been that the more you challenge someone’s core belief the more rigid they become – asking who has the right to challenge long-held “biblical” truths, certainly not women.\r\n\r\nKnowing the push back, Henderson valiantly reinforces through his stories the idea that <strong><em>those without power</em></strong> are growing weary, doubtful and even suspicious of the Church.  And that women of faith and conscience who do choose to stay in the Church, are balancing on a tightrope every day; feel the tension between living with their convictions and the lingering thought of just not showing up.  Both options many days are simply untenable.  While <em>it seems that the only ones who do want this conversation are a small minority of mostly women whose theological views make them misfits in the evangelical church today I would encourage the reader to ask why?   </em>\r\n\r\n<em>The Resignation of Eve</em> is primarily written as a challenge to (male) pastors.  It is a grave warning with the promise or threat that if pastor’s are unwilling to reconsider these issues, more and more women will simply leave the community of faith. If pastors are unwilling to listen and think, the threat is that more and more women will walk. Ultimately I don’t think your average pastor believes that, nor does he think this issue is important enough. As he reads <em>The Resignation of Eve</em>, he may be compelled by the stories and even feel genuinely bad for the women described in the book, still <em>for the most part your everyday mainline denominational male leader won’t be swayed by a bunch of stories about women. </em>Because this about more than just “Eve.” And that is a lingering, unanswered question in the book.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>We are talking about a culture that defies change. </em></strong>As they defend their point of view, today’s pastor believes they are protecting their church from culture creep. I agree with Tom Wright when he says that the authority of God is embodied in Jesus himself, not in the literal words of the Bible. But most pastors today would hold that the issue of women’s empowerment in the church is a <em>cultural phenomenon stemming from the evil of feminism and therefore must be stopped.</em> By choosing which verses in the Bible are cultural and which are not, they cherry-pick a more patriarchal view that I would contend is culturally inappropriate for the 21<sup>st</sup> century.  Take 1 Timothy for instance. Even if you interpret it <em>literally, </em>these are instructions and restrictions for the behavior of some women in the first century church.  Some churches prohibit women\'s leadership in churches because they use these verses to \"prove\" that God doesn\'t approve.  But they happily ignore the verses right beside them, about how women are adorned and how they should dress, saying that is cultural. When you read it with context, and contrast this text and other texts in the New Testament, I believe it requires the reader to listen to more than one or two voices speaking about the role of women.\r\n\r\nHenderson is quick to point to the other examples: Jesus’ treatment of women, women as apostles and teachers, women financing the ministry, women sitting at Jesus\' feet learning from him with the other disciples, a woman being the first to speak to Jesus after his Resurrection, all examples of empowering of women in the early church, which you can see if you don\'t restrict your reading to a few very restrictive sections.\r\n\r\nWise pastors must begin to recognize and listen to women’s voices in the church. And women must with discernment do their own homework!  The early church does not need to be prescriptive for how we run churches today, but this idea challenges the essence of how most pastors view scriptures.\r\n\r\n<em>The Resignation of Eve</em> acknowledges with compassion the tensions women face but the premise is unfair. We are dared to bolt from our churches and force the church’s hand, in order for them to somehow see how important we are. <em>But you must</em> <em>appreciate the tragic fact that this will be held against us.</em> The very nature of our character will be called into question, women who have faithfully worked, loved, served the Church for generations. This would be a heartbreaking ending to the story.\r\n\r\nWomen in the church today are being pulled between being perceived as unfaithful, driven by need for power and by living by our God-given convictions within the faith community.  Reading <em>The Resignation of Eve</em> I found myself utterly exhausted by the trouble the women must exert to be faithful in the church today. The intentions of this book are so good! But I was left with questions hanging.  The same question that I live with every day. Are men and women ready to have a serious conversation about the role of women in the church? Or will it, as I fear, fall on deaf ears because the Church, her pastors and ministry leaders have already made up their minds?\r\n\r\nIn the introduction Lynne Hybel’s message was liberating, as she flirts with women challenging us to \"<strong><em>take ourselves seriously.\"</em></strong>  I wanted to say “There are so many of us that do, Lynne, if only it were the same for men.” I do recommend this book to you because it does that most enigmatic and beautiful thing, it listens to women.  Whether you choose to eavesdrop on these stories in <em>The Resignation of Eve</em> or sit down for a cup of tea with an actual breathing woman in your life, I challenge you to please, start listening.','The Resignation of Eve: A Review','','publish','open','open','','the-resignation-of-eve-a-review','','','2012-01-20 07:53:26','2012-01-20 15:53:26','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=3951',0,'post','',3),(3972,0,'2012-01-11 20:08:21','2012-01-12 04:08:21','Hope (for synchroblog).\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Adam Gonnerman\nAUTHOR EMAIL: gonnerman@burntmail.com\nAUTHOR URL: http://missionaljourneyman.com\nSUBJECT: Provoketive Magazine Writing For Provoketive\nIP: 68.39.10.145\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Adam Gonnerman\n    [Email] =&gt; gonnerman@burntmail.com\n    [Existing Blog or Website] =&gt; http://missionaljourneyman.com\n    [List the topic you are interested writing about] =&gt; Hope (for synchroblog).\n    [Current or New WordPress Login Name (We\'ll send you a password.)] =&gt; awgonnerman\n)\n','Adam Gonnerman - 2012-01-11 20:08:21','','publish','open','open','','c29701e32469765bb1b09f079aea2711','','','2012-01-11 20:08:21','2012-01-12 04:08:21','',358,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=3972',0,'feedback','',0),(3949,43,'2012-01-11 12:45:17','2012-01-11 20:45:17','The title of this article is a quote from the film <a href=\"http://www.tuckermax.com/movie\"><em>I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell</em></a>, a crude movie about the escapades of Tucker Max.  I should note here that I haven\'t seen the film; I found the quote on a blog about rape culture (which, in case there was any question, is not dead—even this many years later).  I stumbled upon this in my search to understand why some conservative churches continue to push the message that women are responsible for the sexual harassment and violence committed against them.\r\n\r\nSadly, though it may be phrased more politely, far too many women echo the sentiment of the quote about our own gender.  We are prepared to blame ourselves for our men folk\'s lack of sexual self-control.  One young man recently told me, \"What girls don\'t get is that if they dress a certain way, guys are going to <em>treat</em> them a certain way.\"  This was something he had heard not from his father or a male leader at church, but from a woman.\r\n\r\nOver the last couple of weeks, I\'ve received multiple emails from well-meaning friends.  Every single one is about the call to feminine modesty, in one way or another.  It\'s as though we, as women, have absorbed the sentiments of rape culture and taken it on ourselves to resolve the issue.  This is particularly distressing because it\'s cleverly disguised as \"Christian sex education.\"  While I applaud the efforts to encourage modest dress, I don\'t believe this should be done in the context of telling young women we\'re responsible for keeping men from hurting us.\r\n\r\nIn fact, I don\'t believe this is the way most men and boys actually think.  The vast majority of men (and young men) that I know treat their wives, girlfriends, and friends with far more dignity than that.  The way that \"real life,\" so to speak, plays out is not merely a drama of trashy women being preyed upon by leering men.  I\'m not denying the reality of violence and sexual assault against women.  But it\'s unfair to characterize an entire gender based on the actions of some people.  Count me refreshed, then, having seen this photo on a friend\'s Facebook page:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Men-Can-Stop-Rape.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3568\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Men-Can-Stop-Rape-206x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"206\" height=\"300\" /></a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nYes, men and boys, you <em>do </em>have the power to treat women and girls right, no matter the circumstances.  I want to see much more of this kind of thing taught to our sons <em>and our daughters</em>.  We need to teach our young people that both women and men have responsibilities.  I want to see women empowered to stand up for themselves, but with the understanding that they don\'t have to fight alone.  Everyone has the right to be treated respectfully in relationships.','“Your gender is hardwired for whoredom.”','','inherit','open','open','','3562-revision-13','','','2012-01-11 12:45:17','2012-01-11 20:45:17','',3562,'http://provoketive.com/2012/01/11/3562-revision-13/',0,'revision','',0),(2343,1,'2011-11-17 08:25:27','2011-11-17 16:25:27','','occupy_video','','inherit','open','open','','occupy_video','','','2011-11-17 08:25:27','2011-11-17 16:25:27','',2341,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/occupy_video.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(2344,1,'2011-11-17 08:24:38','2011-11-17 16:24:38','<iframe src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/xq3BYw4xjxE\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"500\" height=\"254\"></iframe>\n\nby Makana\n<div>Ye come here, gather \'round the stage\nThe time has come for us to voice our rage\nAgainst the ones who\'ve trapped us in a cage\nTo steal from us the value of our wage\n\nFrom underneath the vestiture of law\nThe lobbyists at Washington do gnaw\nAt liberty, the bureaucrats guffaw\nAnd until they are purged, we won\'t withdraw\n\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\n\'Till you do\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\n\nOur nation was built upon the right\nOf every person to improve their plight\nBut laws of this Republic they rewrite\nAnd now a few own everything in sight\n\nThey own it free of liability\nThey own, but they are not like you and me\nTheir influence dictates legality\nAnd until they are stopped we are not free\n\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\nTill you do\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\n\nYou enforce your monopolies with guns\nWhile sacrificing our daughters and sons\nBut certain things belong to everyone\nYour thievery has left the people none\n\nSo take heed of our notice to redress\nWe have little to lose, we must confess\nYour empty words do leave us unimpressed\nA growing number join us in protest\n\nWe occupy the streets\nWe occupy the courts\nWe occupy the offices of you\nTill you do\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\n\nYou can\'t divide us into sides\nAnd from our gaze, you cannot hide\nDenial serves to amplify\nAnd our allegiance you can\'t buy\n\nOur government is not for sale\nThe banks do not deserve a bail\nWe will not reward those who fail\nWe will not move till we prevail\n\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\nTill you do\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\n\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\nTill you do\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\n\nWe are the many\nYou are the few</div>','Occupy - The Music','','inherit','open','open','','2341-revision','','','2011-11-17 08:24:38','2011-11-17 16:24:38','',2341,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/17/2341-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2345,1,'2011-11-17 08:27:45','2011-11-17 16:27:45','<iframe src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/xq3BYw4xjxE\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"500\" height=\"254\"></iframe>\n\nby Makana\n<div>Ye come here, gather \'round the stage\nThe time has come for us to voice our rage\nAgainst the ones who\'ve trapped us in a cage\nTo steal from us the value of our wageFrom underneath the vestiture of law\nThe lobbyists at Washington do gnaw\nAt liberty, the bureaucrats guffaw\nAnd until they are purged, we won\'t withdraw\n\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\n\'Till you do\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\n\nOur nation was built upon the right\nOf every person to improve their plight\nBut laws of this Republic they rewrite\nAnd now a few own everything in sight\n\nThey own it free of liability\nThey own, but they are not like you and me\nTheir influence dictates legality\nAnd until they are stopped we are not free\n\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\nTill you do\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\n\nYou enforce your monopolies with guns\nWhile sacrificing our daughters and sons\nBut certain things belong to everyone\nYour thievery has left the people none\n\nSo take heed of our notice to redress\nWe have little to lose, we must confess\nYour empty words do leave us unimpressed\nA growing number join us in protest\n\nWe occupy the streets\nWe occupy the courts\nWe occupy the offices of you\nTill you do\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\n\nYou can\'t divide us into sides\nAnd from our gaze, you cannot hide\nDenial serves to amplify\nAnd our allegiance you can\'t buy\n\nOur government is not for sale\nThe banks do not deserve a bail\nWe will not reward those who fail\nWe will not move till we prevail\n\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\nTill you do\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\n\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\nTill you do\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\n\nWe are the many\nYou are the few\n\n</div>','Occupy The Music','','inherit','open','open','','2341-autosave','','','2011-11-17 08:27:45','2011-11-17 16:27:45','',2341,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/17/2341-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(2346,1,'2011-10-31 08:00:26','2011-10-31 15:00:26','<strong>About Provoketive Magazine</strong>: In a world saturated with people shouting at each other, it\'s rare to find a place where people can engage in conversation with each other.  Provoketive Magazine hopes to change that.  We\'re creating a space of rich conversation about life, faith, justice and culture without judgment.  Our desire is to provoke the reader\'s imagination through conversation and open up spaces of dialogue, learning, and hope.\r\n\r\n<strong>Current Categories</strong>:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Life: Business, Family, Growth, Humorous, Health, Sports, Technology, Work and World</li>\r\n	<li>Faith: Spirituality, Theology, Interfaith Dialogue, Spiritual Practices, and Questions</li>\r\n	<li>Justice: Social Justice, Gender Equality, Politics and Economics</li>\r\n	<li>Culture: Movies, Books, Music, Art, Poetry and Interviews</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nIf you are a writer [<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/nominate-a-writer/\">or you would like to nominate a writer</a>] and want to participate with us in creating this rich space of conversation, we invite you to sign up today.  Use the form below to provide the following information.  We will respond to you in 1-3 days with instructions for participation.\r\n\r\n[contact-form subject=\"Provoketive Magazine Writing For Provoketive\" to=\"jb@civitaspress.com\"] [contact-field label=\"Name\" type=\"name\" required=\"true\" /] [contact-field label=\"Email\" type=\"email\" required=\"true\" /] [contact-field label=\"Existing Blog or Website\" type=\"url\" /] [contact-field label=\"List the topic you are interested writing about\" type=\"textarea\" required=\"true\" /] [contact-field label=\"Current or New Wordpress Login Name (We\\\'ll send you a password.)\" type=\"text\" required=\"true\" /] [/contact-form]','Writing For Provoketive','','inherit','open','open','','358-revision-27','','','2011-10-31 08:00:26','2011-10-31 15:00:26','',358,'http://provoketive.com/2011/10/31/358-revision-27/',0,'revision','',0),(2347,1,'2011-11-17 08:26:37','2011-11-17 16:26:37','<iframe src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/xq3BYw4xjxE\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"500\" height=\"254\"></iframe>\r\n\r\nby Makana\r\n<div>Ye come here, gather \'round the stage\r\nThe time has come for us to voice our rage\r\nAgainst the ones who\'ve trapped us in a cage\r\nTo steal from us the value of our wage\r\n\r\nFrom underneath the vestiture of law\r\nThe lobbyists at Washington do gnaw\r\nAt liberty, the bureaucrats guffaw\r\nAnd until they are purged, we won\'t withdraw\r\n\r\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\r\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\r\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\r\n\'Till you do\r\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\r\n\r\nOur nation was built upon the right\r\nOf every person to improve their plight\r\nBut laws of this Republic they rewrite\r\nAnd now a few own everything in sight\r\n\r\nThey own it free of liability\r\nThey own, but they are not like you and me\r\nTheir influence dictates legality\r\nAnd until they are stopped we are not free\r\n\r\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\r\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\r\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\r\nTill you do\r\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\r\n\r\nYou enforce your monopolies with guns\r\nWhile sacrificing our daughters and sons\r\nBut certain things belong to everyone\r\nYour thievery has left the people none\r\n\r\nSo take heed of our notice to redress\r\nWe have little to lose, we must confess\r\nYour empty words do leave us unimpressed\r\nA growing number join us in protest\r\n\r\nWe occupy the streets\r\nWe occupy the courts\r\nWe occupy the offices of you\r\nTill you do\r\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\r\n\r\nYou can\'t divide us into sides\r\nAnd from our gaze, you cannot hide\r\nDenial serves to amplify\r\nAnd our allegiance you can\'t buy\r\n\r\nOur government is not for sale\r\nThe banks do not deserve a bail\r\nWe will not reward those who fail\r\nWe will not move till we prevail\r\n\r\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\r\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\r\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\r\nTill you do\r\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\r\n\r\nWe\'ll occupy the streets\r\nWe\'ll occupy the courts\r\nWe\'ll occupy the offices of you\r\nTill you do\r\nThe bidding of the many, not the few\r\n\r\nWe are the many\r\nYou are the few</div>','Occupy The Music','','inherit','open','open','','2341-revision-2','','','2011-11-17 08:26:37','2011-11-17 16:26:37','',2341,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/17/2341-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(2348,1,'2011-11-17 09:11:12','2011-11-17 17:11:12','','Run_With_Me_220x125','','inherit','open','open','','run_with_me_220x125','','','2011-11-17 09:11:12','2011-11-17 17:11:12','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Run_With_Me_220x125.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2352,24,'2011-11-17 10:21:09','2011-11-17 18:21:09','','Light vs darkness','','inherit','open','open','','light-vs-darkness','','','2011-11-17 10:21:09','2011-11-17 18:21:09','',1975,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Light-vs-darkness.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(2353,24,'2011-11-17 10:18:59','2011-11-17 18:18:59','Those of you who were raised in any sort of religion were usually told what to believe and why. Many heard that the bible is infallible and the absolute source of God\'s authority. The messages on Sunday were directed at what to believe and the consequences for not doing so.\n\nHow do we know if anything is true? Can our thoughts and perceptions be trusted? I could use a passage of scripture in the bible to rationalize and justify pretty much anything.\n\nLet\'s take a look at perception so we can then reexamine our experience with religion.\n\n<strong>\"Man is intrinsically innocent because he can only choose what he perceives to be good.\" - Socrates</strong>\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YoungOldWoman.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1976\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YoungOldWoman-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" /></a>Is this your wife or mother-in-law?\nWhich perception is real?\nDoes one negate the other?\nDo both exist simultaneously?\n\nI John 2: 9-11 Anyone who claims to live in God\'s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It\'s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God\'s light and doesn\'t block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn\'t know which end is up, blinded by the darkness.\n\nLook around the room you are in. Is it possible to see the light? Or can you only see that with which the light illuminates?\n\nA persons way of speaking, behavior and thought process simply reveals what they are aligned with. Light doe not judge or condemn, its simply reveals what is. God is light and in Him there is no shadow or darkness. So evil is not the opposite or antithesis of God, but simply his absence. Perception is then extremely subjective.\n\nOur perceptions are derived from a mind that searches for the meaning of what it perceives or in other words identifies with. If the mind believes something has value it then desires it. Thoughts and feelings arise from desire, and the mind desires what it values.\n\nPerception offers religion the security of labeling and putting people into categories of valuable or avoidable.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Perception is Deception','','inherit','open','open','','1975-revision-10','','','2011-11-17 10:18:59','2011-11-17 18:18:59','',1975,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/17/1975-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),(2354,24,'2011-11-17 10:25:42','2011-11-17 18:25:42','Those of you who were raised in any sort of religion were usually told what to believe and why. Many heard that the bible is infallible and the absolute source of God\'s authority. The messages on Sunday were directed at what to believe and the consequences for not doing so.\n\nHow do we know if anything is true? Can our thoughts and perceptions be trusted? I could use a passage of scripture in the bible to rationalize and justify pretty much anything.\n\nLet\'s take a look at perception so we can then reexamine our experience with religion.\n\n<strong>\"Man is intrinsically innocent because he can only choose what he perceives to be good.\" - Socrates</strong>\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YoungOldWoman.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1976\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YoungOldWoman-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" /></a>Is this your wife or mother-in-law?\nWhich perception is real?\nDoes one negate the other?\nDo both exist simultaneously?\n\nI John 2: 9-11 Anyone who claims to live in God\'s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It\'s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God\'s light and doesn\'t block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn\'t know which end is up, blinded by the darkness.\n\nLook around the room you are in. Is it possible to see the light? Or can you only see that with which the light illuminates?\n\nA persons way of speaking, behavior and thought process simply reveals what they are aligned with. Light doe not judge or condemn, its simply reveals what is. God is light and in Him there is no shadow or darkness. So evil is not the opposite or antithesis of God, but simply his absence. Perception is then extremely subjective.\n\nOur perceptions are derived from a mind that searches for the meaning of what it perceives or in other words identifies with. If the mind believes something has value it then desires it. Thoughts and feelings arise from desire, and the mind desires what it values.\n\nPerception offers religion the security of labeling and putting people into categories of valuable or avoidable.\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Light-vs-darkness.png\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2352 alignright\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Light-vs-darkness-300x224.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" /></a>\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Perception is Deception','','inherit','open','open','','1975-revision-11','','','2011-11-17 10:25:42','2011-11-17 18:25:42','',1975,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/17/1975-revision-11/',0,'revision','',0),(2355,64,'2011-11-24 09:00:25','2011-11-24 17:00:25','<blockquote>It is a beautiful thought, my children, that we have a sacrament that heals the wounds of our souls! -  Saint John Vianney</blockquote>\r\n<h3>Do you have soul wounds?</h3>\r\nFor me this depends on day-to-day realities.  It is a discipline (see below: Nouwen on discipline) not to allow things like bitterness, anger, envy, or conceit to enter in, quickly overtaking what I <em>know</em> to be true and beautiful.  A harsh or rude word is spoken or written.  I resent another\'s success. Or my day-to-day life practices add up to selfish spending  or no time for others, which bring an inability to be generous with either.\r\n<blockquote>Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.</blockquote>\r\nChoices, choices, choices.  Choices discipline us and bring order in and of themselves.  Knowing Christ, understanding Grace also did that for me.  Knowing that I am the one he loved enough to die for --  that his body was broken, the nails cut into his hands and feet as he slowly strangled, gasping for air.  All that was for me.  For you.\r\n\r\nAnd more than <em>the human</em> part of that death -- which was physically painful and devastating -- <em>he cried out to God, his father, to rescue him from my sin!</em>\r\n<h3>Then, all the petty and selfish choices I make day-to-day feel even more<em> petty,</em><em> selfish, and</em><em> sickening.</em></h3>\r\n<h3>But wait.  The pure beauty of the sacrament is the <em>washing away!</em></h3>\r\nThe cleansing of our heart, soul and mind that had been corrupted by the entangling of day-to-day.\r\n\r\nHenri Nouwen said this:\r\n<blockquote>“When God took on flesh in Jesus Christ, the uncreated and the created, the eternal and the temporal, the divine and the human became united. This unity meant that all that is mortal now points to the immortal, all that is finite now points to the infinite. In and through Jesus all creation has become like a splendid veil, through which the face of God is revealed to us. This is called the sacramental quality of the created order. All that is is sacred because all that is speaks of God\'s redeeming love. Seas and winds, mountains and trees, sun, moon, and stars, and all the animals and people have become sacred windows offering us glimpses of God.”</blockquote>\r\nIf truly understood, this is a profound, life changing truth. If you are feeling wounded. If you inflicted those bloody wounds on your own soul, remember.  He took on flesh pain and soul pain for you.  He took on our sin and we are now joined to him.\r\n\r\nAnd now our lives point others to the immortal, through the confession of our sin and the washing away. Through the cleansing Jesus offers.  Tell him where your soul is wounded.  Let him take it from you today.\r\n\r\n________________________________________\r\n<blockquote>Discipline is the other side of discipleship. Discipleship without discipline is like waiting to run in the marathon without ever practicing. Discipline without discipleship is like always practicing for the marathon but never participating. It is important, however, to realize that discipline in the spiritual life is not the same as discipline in sports. Discipline in sports is the concentrated effort to master the body so that it can obey the mind better. Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God\'s guidance.\r\n\r\nThus, discipline is the <em>creation of boundaries</em> that keep time and space open for God. Solitude requires discipline, worship requires discipline, caring for others requires discipline. They all ask us to set apart a time and a place where God\'s gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to.  -- Henri J.M. Nouwen\'s <em>Bread for the Journey.</em></blockquote>','Do You Have Soul Wounds?','','publish','open','open','','do-you-have-soul-wounds','','','2011-11-20 09:40:52','2011-11-20 17:40:52','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2355',0,'post','',0),(2356,64,'2011-11-17 10:38:38','2011-11-17 18:38:38','<blockquote>It is a beautiful thought, my children, that we have a sacrament that heals the wounds of our souls! -  Saint John Vianney</blockquote>\n<h3>Do you  have soul wounds?</h3>\nFor me this depends on day-to-day realities.  It is a discipline (see below: Nouwen on discipline) not to allow things like bitterness, anger, envy, or conceit to enter in, quickly overtaking what I <em>know</em> to be true and beautiful.  A harsh or rude word is spoken or written.  I resent another\'s success. Or my day-to-day life practices add up to selfish spending  or no time for others, which bring an inability to be generous with either.\n<blockquote>Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.</blockquote>\nChoices, choices, choices.  Choices discipline us and bring order in and of themselves.  Knowing Christ, understanding Grace also did that for me.  Knowing that I am the one he loved enough to die for --  that his body was broken, the nails cut into his hands and feet as he slowly strangled, gasping for air.  All that was for me.  For you.\n\nAnd more than <em>the human</em> part of that death -- which was physically painful and devastating -- <em>he cried out to God, his father, to rescue him from my sin!</em>\n<h3>Then, all the petty and selfish choices I make day-to-day feel even more<em> petty,</em><em> selfish, and</em><em> sickening.</em></h3>\n<h3>But wait.  The pure beauty of the sacrament is the <em>washing away!</em></h3>\nThe cleansing of our heart, soul and mind that had been corrupted by the entangling of day-to-day.\n\nHenri Nouwen said this:\n<blockquote>“When God took on flesh in Jesus Christ, the uncreated and the created, the eternal and the temporal, the divine and the human became united. This unity meant that all that is mortal now points to the immortal, all that is finite now points to the infinite. In and through Jesus all creation has become like a splendid veil, through which the face of God is revealed to us. This is called the sacramental quality of the created order. All that is is sacred because all that is speaks of God\'s redeeming love. Seas and winds, mountains and trees, sun, moon, and stars, and all the animals and people have become sacred windows offering us glimpses of God.”</blockquote>\nIf truly understood, this is a profound, life changing truth. If you are feeling wounded. If you inflicted those bloody wounds on your own soul, remember.  He took on flesh pain and soul pain for you.  He took on our sin and we are now joined to him.\n\nAnd now our lives point others to the immortal, through the confession of our sin and the washing away. Through the cleansing Jesus offers.  Tell him where your soul is wounded.  Let him take it from you today.\n\n________________________________________\n<blockquote>Discipline is the other side of discipleship. Discipleship without discipline is like waiting to run in the marathon without ever practicing. Discipline without discipleship is like always practicing for the marathon but never participating. It is important, however, to realize that discipline in the spiritual life is not the same as discipline in sports. Discipline in sports is the concentrated effort to master the body so that it can obey the mind better. Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God\'s guidance.\n\nThus, discipline is the <em>creation of boundaries</em> that keep time and space open for God. Solitude requires discipline, worship requires discipline, caring for others requires discipline. They all ask us to set apart a time and a place where God\'s gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to.  -- Henri J.M. Nouwen\'s <em>Bread for the Journey.</em></blockquote>','Do you have Soul Wounds?','','inherit','open','open','','2355-revision','','','2011-11-17 10:38:38','2011-11-17 18:38:38','',2355,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/17/2355-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2357,0,'2011-11-17 12:08:28','2011-11-17 20:08:28','NYMTkN  xdbaocinulld, [url=http://nusakuohahxi.com/]nusakuohahxi[/url], [link=http://sxmwitscrzje.com/]sxmwitscrzje[/link], http://qherkppufjqq.com/\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: harhul\nAUTHOR EMAIL: cpvfft@gnliew.com\nAUTHOR URL: http://ohlluevcaxrh.com/\nSUBJECT: [Provoketive Magazine] For better or for worse?\nIP: 146.115.11.160\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; harhul\n    [Email] =&gt; cpvfft@gnliew.com\n    [Website] =&gt; http://ohlluevcaxrh.com/\n    [Message] =&gt; NYMTkN  xdbaocinulld, [url=http://nusakuohahxi.com/]nusakuohahxi[/url], [link=http://sxmwitscrzje.com/]sxmwitscrzje[/link], http://qherkppufjqq.com/\n)\n','harhul - 2011-11-17 12:08:28','','publish','open','open','','dc3f8933a0ec3efccb57be74231eeb79','','','2011-11-17 12:08:28','2011-11-17 20:08:28','',1430,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2357',0,'feedback','',0),(2360,0,'2011-11-17 14:53:54','2011-11-17 22:53:54','Faith: Spiritualitym, Spiritual Practices\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Jason Elam\nAUTHOR EMAIL: jason@bartenderofgrace.com\nAUTHOR URL: http://www.BartenderofGrace.com\nSUBJECT: Provoketive Magazine Writing For Provoketive\nIP: 64.188.205.30\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Jason Elam\n    [Email] =&gt; jason@bartenderofgrace.com\n    [Existing Blog or Website] =&gt; www.BartenderofGrace.com\n    [List the topic you are interested writing about] =&gt; Faith: Spiritualitym, Spiritual Practices\n    [Current or New WordPress Login Name (We\'ll send you a password.)] =&gt; bartenderofgrace\n)\n','Jason Elam - 2011-11-17 14:53:54','','publish','open','open','','56aa84aeb9286afdc98b4778fcf45850','','','2011-11-17 14:53:54','2011-11-17 22:53:54','',358,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2360',0,'feedback','',0),(2361,10,'2011-11-21 08:00:29','2011-11-21 16:00:29','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/zax2.gif\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2366\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/zax2-300x263.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"263\" /></a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAgree or disagree?\r\n\r\n“There is no future without forgiveness.”\r\n\r\n“All violence terrorizes.”\r\n\r\n“Violence is never justified.”\r\n\r\n“Men are better drivers than women.”\r\n\r\nThese were some of the purposefully provocative questions posed to us toward the end of the week at the Corrymeela Peace Center in Northern Ireland, where a group of 14 Americans and “Islanders” met to experience and learn about Conflict Transformation.  The questions were designed to draw debate and to tickle a bit of real tension and conflict out of a group of people who share no history with one another.  That it succeeded in doing this became clear in the “check in” round after the heated debates took place.  The aim of the exercise was to lead us into our own experience of Deep Dialog, a core element of the Journey Through Conflict, which is a venture of reconciliation which <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Alistair Little</a> and <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Wilhelm Verwoerd</a> (definitely worth looking them up!) are inviting people from communities of deeply rooted conflict to participate in.  On this particular occasion, we were learning from their experience as a short intensive course within the M.Phil in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation program offered through the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College of Dublin.\r\n\r\nI shouldn’t have been as surprised at how easy it was to uncover some friction even among a group who hadn’t been together longer than a week.  For those of us who get stoned off of this kind of frenzied, back and forth probing of issues, with each round getting louder, messier, more invested, it could have gone on for hours.  Others tuned out rather than elbow their way into the fray, and others still were more than a little annoyed with such unrestrained bantering and domineering personalities.  I shouldn’t have been surprised, because the very reason I have embarked on this particular Master’s course is that I have come to the fervent conviction that conflict is a ubiquitous part of our lives, not to be gotten around by anyone, anywhere, in any way.  After breathing, sleeping, eating and relieving oneself, conflict is the very next aspect of our being alive which we cannot escape.  So of course we could find something to do deep dialog around after just a few days together: we’re humans!\r\n\r\nI bring this up here, because I see the danger of continuing a bad ‘family’ trait even into this new emergent generation.  I grew up in a non-christian home and a Christian extended family, both of which pretended that if we didn’t talk about conflict, it meant that we didn’t have any;  I studied theology at an inter-denominational college where conflict as a theme in and of itself was never addressed theologically; and I spent years in churches, seminars, conferences, retreats and missions (Evangelical, Charismatic, and Lutheran; in America, Sweden, Australia, PNG and Germany), where, besides an occasional reference to Matthew 18:15-17, and the ever-present lapel to forgive, there was no strategy and no underlying concept for helping their communities deal with conflict constructively.  The cardinal assumption being that good Christians don’t do conflict!\r\n\r\nBut rather than fostering fraternities exuding peace and justice in the world, this refusal to take conflict head on theologically, exacerbates the friction inevitable in any human plural, and conditions cultures to fester and fracture over matters both profound and piddling.  Of greater consequence even than the personal stories of disillusionment with Christian fellowships that abound, as grim as that is, however, is the general disconnect that many faith communities and institutions have toward complex societal ills, the prolific number of armed conflicts around the world, and trans-global injustices.  With the exception of my brief time in <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Church of the Savior</a>, DC, of which Sojourners Magazine is a part, nary a mention of these realities in the Christian sub-cultures I’ve experienced in over twenty years!\r\n\r\nPraiseworthy is the relatively recent attention that Evangelicals are paying to creating clean water supplies, catastrophe and famine relief and AIDs, but even these efforts are consistent with a ‘messianic’ self perception to ‘save’ the perishing ‘victims’ and allow us to wear a super hero cape without unmasking the fact, that we still have no viably creative alternatives to dealing with our enemy other than to kill them or send them to hell.  While some Emergents (Bell books and bloggers) are gaining prominence by questioning the latter alternative (the Christian concept of eternal punishment for God’s (our) enemies in the after life), those who are trying to apply a Christological lens to real world conflict in this life receive less attention in Christian popular culture.\r\n\r\nOne could become suspicious that our fanaticism with hell, either for or against, is mostly a misplaced projection of our unresolved ambivalence about the quandary that we should “love our enemies” in a world of enmity and often unspeakable evil without condoning it or encouraging a culture of impunity.  The fire and brimstone crowd compensates for a present powerlessness to execute justice by postponing judgement until the end of time, when the unrepentant will reap their just reward.  The ‘Love Wins’ crowd squirm their way out of the predicament by postponing the hard, and perhaps in some instances impossible, work of reconciliation between perpetrators and their victims until the afterlife, when God will just magically make everyone get along.\r\n\r\nBut not everyone has the luxury of delaying the question of reconciliation until some future trumpet wakes us from the dead.  There are too many in our world who must live side by side with those who have done the most unimaginable and unspeakable things to them and their families.  Just last night I saw <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/liberia/8812984/Nobel-Peace-Prize-profile-of-Leymah-Gbowee.html\">Leymah Gbowee</a>, Nobel peace prize winner and newly appointed head of a national reconciliation committee in Liberia, <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">tell John Stewart</a> about what is unfortunately not an anomaly in many war-torn countries.  A mother wrote to Gbowee asking for advice about her family’s dilemma.  Her son was murdered.  Her daughter fled to a refugee camp.  The daughter wrote to her mother ten years later, that she has married a pastor and has two children, and would be coming home with her new family.  The husband pictured in the photograph she included with the letter is the man who killed the mother\'s son… his wife’s brother!  Should this mother, who will have to live with the murderer of her son, tell her daughter the truth about her husband, the father to her grandchildren, whom they adore?  Gbowee has no answer for this woman.  She admits to Stewart, that ‘reconciliation’ is a mostly blank page, which they will begin to fill with their experiences and first efforts to work towards it.  It is from courageous people like Gbowee, and many others like her, that we must learn... that is, if we can stop speculating about the after life long enough to do so.\r\n\r\nWhen I am able to whittle away some time from being a full-time mother of three, full-time grad-student, part-time community organizer and part-time committee mom, I hope to contribute periodically to the conversation here in provokEtive.  When I do, I will be inviting readers to journey with me through the conflicts we face in this world here and now, hell enough for some people, and will be passing along the questions, insights and experience which I’m gleaning from people like Little, Verwoerd, Gbowee, as well as Miroslav Volf (<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Exclusion-Embrace-Theological-Exploration-Reconciliation/dp/0687002826/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321557714&amp;sr=1-1\"><em>Exclusion and Embrace</em></a> is a foundational and profoundly relevant book) Paul Lederach, an experienced practitioner) and many others who are not shying away from tackling this conundrum of Christian ethics, but who are searching for ways to transform conflict from the divisive contest it most often is into a constructive process of change, growth and flourishing that it can become.\r\n\r\n<em> Photo Credit: Illya Kondratyuk</em>','Journey Through Conflict','','publish','open','open','','journey-through-conflict','','','2011-11-20 09:56:01','2011-11-20 17:56:01','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2361',0,'post','',5),(2362,10,'2011-11-17 15:38:11','2011-11-17 23:38:11','','zax','','inherit','open','open','','zax','','','2011-11-17 15:38:11','2011-11-17 23:38:11','',2361,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/zax.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(2364,10,'2011-11-17 15:49:13','2011-11-17 23:49:13','Agree or disagree?\n\n“There is no future without forgiveness.”\n\n“All violence terrorizes.”\n\n“Violence is never justified.”\n\n“Men are better drivers than women.”\n\nThese were some of the purposefully provocative questions posed to us toward the end of the week at the Corrymeela Peace Center in Northern Ireland, where a group of 14 Americans and “Islanders” met to experience and learn about Conflict Transformation.  The questions were designed to draw debate and to tickle a bit of real tension and conflict out of a group of people who share no history with one another.  That it succeeded in doing this became clear in the “check in” round after the heated debates took place.  The aim of the exercise was to lead us into our own experience of Deep Dialog, a core element of the Journey Through Conflict, which is a venture of reconciliation which <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Alistair Little</a> and <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Wilhelm Verwoerd</a> (definitely worth looking them up!) are inviting people from communities of deeply rooted conflict to participate in.  On this particular occasion, we were learning from their experience as a short intensive course within the M.Phil in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation program offered through the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College of Dublin.\n\nI shouldn’t have been as surprised at how easy it was to uncover some friction even among a group who hadn’t been together longer than a week.  For those of us who get stoned off of this kind of frenzied, back and forth probing of issues, with each round getting louder, messier, more invested, it could have gone on for hours.  Others tuned out rather than elbow their way into the fray, and others still were more than a little annoyed with such unrestrained bantering and domineering personalities.  I shouldn’t have been surprised, because the very reason I have embarked on this particular Master’s course is that I have come to the fervent conviction that conflict is a ubiquitous part of our lives, not to be gotten around by anyone, anywhere, in any way.  After breathing, sleeping, eating and relieving oneself, conflict is the very next aspect of our being alive which we cannot escape.  So of course we could find something to do deep dialog around after just a few days together: we’re humans!\n\nI bring this up here, because I see the danger of continuing a bad ‘family’ trait even into this new emergent generation.  I grew up in a non-christian home and a Christian extended family, both of which pretended that if we didn’t talk about conflict, it meant that we didn’t have any;  I studied theology at an inter-denominational college where conflict as a theme in and of itself was never addressed theologically; and I spent years in churches, seminars, conferences, retreats and missions (Evangelical, Charismatic, and Lutheran; in America, Sweden, Australia, PNG and Germany), where, besides an occasional reference to Matthew 18:15-17, and the ever-present lapel to forgive, there was no strategy and no underlying concept for helping their communities deal with conflict constructively.  The cardinal assumption being that good Christians don’t do conflict!\n\nBut rather than fostering fraternities exuding peace and justice in the world, this refusal to take conflict head on theologically, exacerbates the friction inevitable in any human plural, and conditions cultures to fester and fracture over matters both profound and piddling.  Of greater consequence even than the personal stories of disillusionment with Christian fellowships that abound, as grim as that is, however, is the general disconnect that many faith communities and institutions have toward complex societal ills, the prolific number of armed conflicts around the world, and trans-global injustices.  With the exception of my brief time in <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Church of the Savior</a>, DC, of which Sojourners Magazine is a part, nary a mention of these realities in the Christian sub-cultures I’ve experienced in over twenty years!\n\nPraiseworthy is the relatively recent attention that Evangelicals are paying to creating clean water supplies, catastrophe and famine relief and AIDs, but even these efforts are consistent with a ‘messianic’ self perception to ‘save’ the perishing ‘victims’ and allow us to wear a super hero cape without unmasking the fact, that we still have no viably creative alternatives to dealing with our enemy other than to kill them or send them to hell.  While some Emergents (Bell books and bloggers) are gaining prominence by questioning the latter alternative (the Christian concept of eternal punishment for God’s (our) enemies in the after life), those who are trying to apply a Christological lens to real world conflict in this life receive less attention in Christian popular culture.\n\nOne could become suspicious that our fanaticism with hell, either for or against, is mostly a misplaced projection of our unresolved ambivalence about the quandary that we should “love our enemies” in a world of enmity and often unspeakable evil without condoning it or encouraging a culture of impunity.  The fire and brimstone crowd compensates for a present powerlessness to execute justice by postponing judgement until the end of time, when the unrepentant will reap their just reward.  The ‘Love Wins’ crowd squirm their way out of the predicament by postponing the hard, and perhaps in some instances impossible, work of reconciliation between perpetrators and their victims until the afterlife, when God will just magically make everyone get along.\n\nBut not everyone has the luxury of delaying the question of reconciliation until some future trumpet wakes us from the dead.  There are too many in our world who must live side by side with those who have done the most unimaginable and unspeakable things to them and their families.  Just last night I saw <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/liberia/8812984/Nobel-Peace-Prize-profile-of-Leymah-Gbowee.html\">Leymah Gbowee</a>, Nobel peace prize winner and newly appointed head of a national reconciliation committee in Liberia, <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">tell John Stewart</a> about what is unfortunately not an anomaly in many war-torn countries.  A mother wrote to Gbowee asking for advice about her family’s dilemma.  Her son was murdered.  Her daughter fled to a refugee camp.  The daughter wrote to her mother ten years later, that she has married a pastor and has two children, and would be coming home with her new family.  The husband pictured in the photograph she included with the letter is the man who killed the mother\'s son… his wife’s brother!  Should this mother, who will have to live with the murderer of her son, tell her daughter the truth about her husband, the father to her grandchildren, whom they adore?  Gbowee has no answer for this woman.  She admits to Stewart, that ‘reconciliation’ is a mostly blank page, which they will begin to fill with their experiences and first efforts to work towards it.  It is from courageous people like Gbowee, and many others like her, that we must learn... that is, if we can stop speculating about the after life long enough to do so.\n\nWhen I am able to whittle away some time from being a full-time mother of three, full-time grad-student, part-time community organizer and part-time committee mom, I hope to contribute periodically to the conversation here in provokEtive.  When I do, I will be inviting readers to journey with me through the conflicts we face in this world here and now, hell enough for some people, and will be passing along the questions, insights and experience which I’m gleaning from people like Little, Verwoerd, Gbowee, as well as Miroslav Volf (<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Exclusion-Embrace-Theological-Exploration-Reconciliation/dp/0687002826/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321557714&amp;sr=1-1\"><em>Exclusion and Embrace</em></a> is a foundational and profoundly relevant book) Paul Lederach, an experienced practitioner) and many others who are not shying away from tackling this conundrum of Christian ethics, but who are searching for ways to transform conflict from the divisive contest it most often is into a constructive process of change, growth and flourishing that it can become.\n\n&nbsp;','Journey Through Conflict','','inherit','open','open','','2361-revision','','','2011-11-17 15:49:13','2011-11-17 23:49:13','',2361,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/17/2361-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2363,10,'2011-11-17 15:42:08','2011-11-17 23:42:08','','zax','','inherit','open','open','','zax-2','','','2011-11-17 15:42:08','2011-11-17 23:42:08','',2361,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/zax1.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(2365,1,'2011-11-21 11:43:10','2011-11-21 19:43:10','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/zax2.gif\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2366\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/zax2-300x263.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"263\" /></a>\n\n&nbsp;\n\nAgree or disagree?\n\n“There is no future without forgiveness.”\n\n“All violence terrorizes.”\n\n“Violence is never justified.”\n\n“Men are better drivers than women.”\n\nThese were some of the purposefully provocative questions posed to us toward the end of the week at the Corrymeela Peace Center in Northern Ireland, where a group of 14 Americans and “Islanders” met to experience and learn about Conflict Transformation.  The questions were designed to draw debate and to tickle a bit of real tension and conflict out of a group of people who share no history with one another.  That it succeeded in doing this became clear in the “check in” round after the heated debates took place.  The aim of the exercise was to lead us into our own experience of Deep Dialog, a core element of the Journey Through Conflict, which is a venture of reconciliation which <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Alistair Little</a> and <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Wilhelm Verwoerd</a> (definitely worth looking them up!) are inviting people from communities of deeply rooted conflict to participate in.  On this particular occasion, we were learning from their experience as a short intensive course within the M.Phil in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation program offered through the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College of Dublin.\n\nI shouldn’t have been as surprised at how easy it was to uncover some friction even among a group who hadn’t been together longer than a week.  For those of us who get stoned off of this kind of frenzied, back and forth probing of issues, with each round getting louder, messier, more invested, it could have gone on for hours.  Others tuned out rather than elbow their way into the fray, and others still were more than a little annoyed with such unrestrained bantering and domineering personalities.  I shouldn’t have been surprised, because the very reason I have embarked on this particular Master’s course is that I have come to the fervent conviction that conflict is a ubiquitous part of our lives, not to be gotten around by anyone, anywhere, in any way.  After breathing, sleeping, eating and relieving oneself, conflict is the very next aspect of our being alive which we cannot escape.  So of course we could find something to do deep dialog around after just a few days together: we’re humans!\n\nI bring this up here, because I see the danger of continuing a bad ‘family’ trait even into this new emergent generation.  I grew up in a non-christian home and a Christian extended family, both of which pretended that if we didn’t talk about conflict, it meant that we didn’t have any;  I studied theology at an inter-denominational college where conflict as a theme in and of itself was never addressed theologically; and I spent years in churches, seminars, conferences, retreats and missions (Evangelical, Charismatic, and Lutheran; in America, Sweden, Australia, PNG and Germany), where, besides an occasional reference to Matthew 18:15-17, and the ever-present lapel to forgive, there was no strategy and no underlying concept for helping their communities deal with conflict constructively.  The cardinal assumption being that good Christians don’t do conflict!\n\nBut rather than fostering fraternities exuding peace and justice in the world, this refusal to take conflict head on theologically, exacerbates the friction inevitable in any human plural, and conditions cultures to fester and fracture over matters both profound and piddling.  Of greater consequence even than the personal stories of disillusionment with Christian fellowships that abound, as grim as that is, however, is the general disconnect that many faith communities and institutions have toward complex societal ills, the prolific number of armed conflicts around the world, and trans-global injustices.  With the exception of my brief time in <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Church of the Savior</a>, DC, of which Sojourners Magazine is a part, nary a mention of these realities in the Christian sub-cultures I’ve experienced in over twenty years!\n\nPraiseworthy is the relatively recent attention that Evangelicals are paying to creating clean water supplies, catastrophe and famine relief and AIDs, but even these efforts are consistent with a ‘messianic’ self perception to ‘save’ the perishing ‘victims’ and allow us to wear a super hero cape without unmasking the fact, that we still have no viably creative alternatives to dealing with our enemy other than to kill them or send them to hell.  While some Emergents (Bell books and bloggers) are gaining prominence by questioning the latter alternative (the Christian concept of eternal punishment for God’s (our) enemies in the after life), those who are trying to apply a Christological lens to real world conflict in this life receive less attention in Christian popular culture.\n\nOne could become suspicious that our fanaticism with hell, either for or against, is mostly a misplaced projection of our unresolved ambivalence about the quandary that we should “love our enemies” in a world of enmity and often unspeakable evil without condoning it or encouraging a culture of impunity.  The fire and brimstone crowd compensates for a present powerlessness to execute justice by postponing judgement until the end of time, when the unrepentant will reap their just reward.  The ‘Love Wins’ crowd squirm their way out of the predicament by postponing the hard, and perhaps in some instances impossible, work of reconciliation between perpetrators and their victims until the afterlife, when God will just magically make everyone get along.\n\nBut not everyone has the luxury of delaying the question of reconciliation until some future trumpet wakes us from the dead.  There are too many in our world who must live side by side with those who have done the most unimaginable and unspeakable things to them and their families.  Just last night I saw <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/liberia/8812984/Nobel-Peace-Prize-profile-of-Leymah-Gbowee.html\">Leymah Gbowee</a>, Nobel peace prize winner and newly appointed head of a national reconciliation committee in Liberia, <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">tell John Stewart</a> about what is unfortunately not an anomaly in many war-torn countries.  A mother wrote to Gbowee asking for advice about her family’s dilemma.  Her son was murdered.  Her daughter fled to a refugee camp.  The daughter wrote to her mother ten years later, that she has married a pastor and has two children, and would be coming home with her new family.  The husband pictured in the photograph she included with the letter is the man who killed the mother\'s son… his wife’s brother!  Should this mother, who will have to live with the murderer of her son, tell her daughter the truth about her husband, the father to her grandchildren, whom they adore?  Gbowee has no answer for this woman.  She admits to Stewart, that ‘reconciliation’ is a mostly blank page, which they will begin to fill with their experiences and first efforts to work towards it.  It is from courageous people like Gbowee, and many others like her, that we must learn... that is, if we can stop speculating about the after life long enough to do so.\n\nWhen I am able to whittle away some time from being a full-time mother of three, full-time grad-student, part-time community organizer and part-time committee mom, I hope to contribute periodically to the conversation here in provokEtive.  When I do, I will be inviting readers to journey with me through the conflicts we face in this world here and now, hell enough for some people, and will be passing along the questions, insights and experience which I’m gleaning from people like Little, Verwoerd, Gbowee, as well as Miroslav Volf (<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Exclusion-Embrace-Theological-Exploration-Reconciliation/dp/0687002826/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321557714&amp;sr=1-1\"><em>Exclusion and Embrace</em></a> is a foundational and profoundly relevant book) Paul Lederach, an experienced practitioner) and many others who are not shying away from tackling this conundrum of Christian ethics, but who are searching for ways to transform conflict from the divisive contest it most often is into a constructive process of change, growth and flourishing that it can become.\n\n<em> Photo Credit: Illya Kondratyuk</em>','Journey Through Conflict','','inherit','open','open','','2361-autosave','','','2011-11-21 11:43:10','2011-11-21 19:43:10','',2361,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/17/2361-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(2366,10,'2011-11-17 15:52:30','2011-11-17 23:52:30','','zax','','inherit','open','open','','zax-3','','','2011-11-17 15:52:30','2011-11-17 23:52:30','',2361,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/zax2.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(2367,10,'2011-11-17 15:49:48','2011-11-17 23:49:48','Agree or disagree?\r\n\r\n“There is no future without forgiveness.”\r\n\r\n“All violence terrorizes.”\r\n\r\n“Violence is never justified.”\r\n\r\n“Men are better drivers than women.”\r\n\r\nThese were some of the purposefully provocative questions posed to us toward the end of the week at the Corrymeela Peace Center in Northern Ireland, where a group of 14 Americans and “Islanders” met to experience and learn about Conflict Transformation.  The questions were designed to draw debate and to tickle a bit of real tension and conflict out of a group of people who share no history with one another.  That it succeeded in doing this became clear in the “check in” round after the heated debates took place.  The aim of the exercise was to lead us into our own experience of Deep Dialog, a core element of the Journey Through Conflict, which is a venture of reconciliation which <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Alistair Little</a> and <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Wilhelm Verwoerd</a> (definitely worth looking them up!) are inviting people from communities of deeply rooted conflict to participate in.  On this particular occasion, we were learning from their experience as a short intensive course within the M.Phil in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation program offered through the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College of Dublin.\r\n\r\nI shouldn’t have been as surprised at how easy it was to uncover some friction even among a group who hadn’t been together longer than a week.  For those of us who get stoned off of this kind of frenzied, back and forth probing of issues, with each round getting louder, messier, more invested, it could have gone on for hours.  Others tuned out rather than elbow their way into the fray, and others still were more than a little annoyed with such unrestrained bantering and domineering personalities.  I shouldn’t have been surprised, because the very reason I have embarked on this particular Master’s course is that I have come to the fervent conviction that conflict is a ubiquitous part of our lives, not to be gotten around by anyone, anywhere, in any way.  After breathing, sleeping, eating and relieving oneself, conflict is the very next aspect of our being alive which we cannot escape.  So of course we could find something to do deep dialog around after just a few days together: we’re humans!\r\n\r\nI bring this up here, because I see the danger of continuing a bad ‘family’ trait even into this new emergent generation.  I grew up in a non-christian home and a Christian extended family, both of which pretended that if we didn’t talk about conflict, it meant that we didn’t have any;  I studied theology at an inter-denominational college where conflict as a theme in and of itself was never addressed theologically; and I spent years in churches, seminars, conferences, retreats and missions (Evangelical, Charismatic, and Lutheran; in America, Sweden, Australia, PNG and Germany), where, besides an occasional reference to Matthew 18:15-17, and the ever-present lapel to forgive, there was no strategy and no underlying concept for helping their communities deal with conflict constructively.  The cardinal assumption being that good Christians don’t do conflict!\r\n\r\nBut rather than fostering fraternities exuding peace and justice in the world, this refusal to take conflict head on theologically, exacerbates the friction inevitable in any human plural, and conditions cultures to fester and fracture over matters both profound and piddling.  Of greater consequence even than the personal stories of disillusionment with Christian fellowships that abound, as grim as that is, however, is the general disconnect that many faith communities and institutions have toward complex societal ills, the prolific number of armed conflicts around the world, and trans-global injustices.  With the exception of my brief time in <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">Church of the Savior</a>, DC, of which Sojourners Magazine is a part, nary a mention of these realities in the Christian sub-cultures I’ve experienced in over twenty years!\r\n\r\nPraiseworthy is the relatively recent attention that Evangelicals are paying to creating clean water supplies, catastrophe and famine relief and AIDs, but even these efforts are consistent with a ‘messianic’ self perception to ‘save’ the perishing ‘victims’ and allow us to wear a super hero cape without unmasking the fact, that we still have no viably creative alternatives to dealing with our enemy other than to kill them or send them to hell.  While some Emergents (Bell books and bloggers) are gaining prominence by questioning the latter alternative (the Christian concept of eternal punishment for God’s (our) enemies in the after life), those who are trying to apply a Christological lens to real world conflict in this life receive less attention in Christian popular culture.\r\n\r\nOne could become suspicious that our fanaticism with hell, either for or against, is mostly a misplaced projection of our unresolved ambivalence about the quandary that we should “love our enemies” in a world of enmity and often unspeakable evil without condoning it or encouraging a culture of impunity.  The fire and brimstone crowd compensates for a present powerlessness to execute justice by postponing judgement until the end of time, when the unrepentant will reap their just reward.  The ‘Love Wins’ crowd squirm their way out of the predicament by postponing the hard, and perhaps in some instances impossible, work of reconciliation between perpetrators and their victims until the afterlife, when God will just magically make everyone get along.\r\n\r\nBut not everyone has the luxury of delaying the question of reconciliation until some future trumpet wakes us from the dead.  There are too many in our world who must live side by side with those who have done the most unimaginable and unspeakable things to them and their families.  Just last night I saw <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/liberia/8812984/Nobel-Peace-Prize-profile-of-Leymah-Gbowee.html\">Leymah Gbowee</a>, Nobel peace prize winner and newly appointed head of a national reconciliation committee in Liberia, <a href=\"http://livepage.apple.com/\">tell John Stewart</a> about what is unfortunately not an anomaly in many war-torn countries.  A mother wrote to Gbowee asking for advice about her family’s dilemma.  Her son was murdered.  Her daughter fled to a refugee camp.  The daughter wrote to her mother ten years later, that she has married a pastor and has two children, and would be coming home with her new family.  The husband pictured in the photograph she included with the letter is the man who killed the mother\'s son… his wife’s brother!  Should this mother, who will have to live with the murderer of her son, tell her daughter the truth about her husband, the father to her grandchildren, whom they adore?  Gbowee has no answer for this woman.  She admits to Stewart, that ‘reconciliation’ is a mostly blank page, which they will begin to fill with their experiences and first efforts to work towards it.  It is from courageous people like Gbowee, and many others like her, that we must learn... that is, if we can stop speculating about the after life long enough to do so.\r\n\r\nWhen I am able to whittle away some time from being a full-time mother of three, full-time grad-student, part-time community organizer and part-time committee mom, I hope to contribute periodically to the conversation here in provokEtive.  When I do, I will be inviting readers to journey with me through the conflicts we face in this world here and now, hell enough for some people, and will be passing along the questions, insights and experience which I’m gleaning from people like Little, Verwoerd, Gbowee, as well as Miroslav Volf (<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Exclusion-Embrace-Theological-Exploration-Reconciliation/dp/0687002826/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321557714&amp;sr=1-1\"><em>Exclusion and Embrace</em></a> is a foundational and profoundly relevant book) Paul Lederach, an experienced practitioner) and many others who are not shying away from tackling this conundrum of Christian ethics, but who are searching for ways to transform conflict from the divisive contest it most often is into a constructive process of change, growth and flourishing that it can become.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Journey Through Conflict','','inherit','open','open','','2361-revision-2','','','2011-11-17 15:49:48','2011-11-17 23:49:48','',2361,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/17/2361-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(2443,25,'2011-11-25 09:00:43','2011-11-25 17:00:43','Intentional Living seems to be the new buzz phrase right now. I have a tendency to dismiss stuff such as this because I don\'t really like \"church speak\". Church speak could be a whole other post. But suffice it to say that I was not raised in church and there has certainly been a learning curve when it comes to figuring out what some people are actually saying. I am lucky to go to a church that doesn\'t use it too much and really caters to the \"un-churched.\" But I digress.\r\n\r\nBack to Intentional Living. I have really been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because it keeps popping up. But also because once you get past the church speak, there are some basic truths there. In thinking about my life, I began to wonder if I have been living intentionally. What does living intentionally look like? Is there biblical backing to this?\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/intentional.gif\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2462\" title=\"intentional\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/intentional-300x150.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"125\" /></a>Intentional living starts with a destination. You have to know where you want to go to be able to get there. There are many different areas of your life to apply this concept to. Faith, finances, relationships, health, and career are areas to be intentional in. All of these areas are connected, so when one is going well, it helps the rest of them. The same goes conversely though. Therefore, you need to be intentional in all areas.\r\n\r\n<strong>Faith: Be intentional every day by spending time with your bible. Take 15 minutes and just sit down, read and pray.</strong>\r\n\r\nYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n<strong>Finances: Figure out a budget and stick to it. I know, it\'s easier said than done.</strong>\r\n\r\n“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17 (NIV)\r\n\r\n<strong>Family/relationships: Strive to make and keep a christian environment inside your home and with other people. Don\'t just hope it rubs off on the kids, make a concerted effort to teach them.</strong>\r\n\r\nBe devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves Romans 12:10 (NIV)\r\n\r\nStart children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.   Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n<strong>Health: Eat well and exercise. (Sigh) I know how hard this one is...really.</strong>\r\n\r\nIf you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit.  Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)\r\n\r\n<strong>Career: Be trustworthy and diligent in this area of life, but don\'t blow it out of proportion. Strive to be the best in whatever it is that you are doing.</strong>\r\n\r\nLazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)\r\n\r\nSo, you see, there is absolutely biblical basis for living the intentional life.  Here are a couple more scriptures that I think add to this idea.\r\n\r\nFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.   2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)\r\n\r\nSo let\'s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you\'ll see it yet! Now that we\'re on the right track, let\'s stay on it.  Philippians 3:15-16  (The Message)\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your ideas of intentional living?  What does this look like for you?  Did I miss any great verses that need to be added?  </strong>\r\n\r\nI will be looking deeper into each area and try to flesh out what intentional living looks like.  Be sure to check those out and let me know what you think.\r\n\r\n<em>Photo Credit: Anoldent</em>\r\n\r\n</div>','What Is Intentional Living?','','publish','open','open','','what-is-intentional-living','','','2011-11-21 14:39:34','2011-11-21 22:39:34','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2443',0,'post','',4),(2679,1,'2011-12-01 08:00:36','2011-12-01 16:00:36','<a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/Nobody.JimPalmer\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Palmer</a> has always been an <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconoclast\" target=\"_blank\">iconoclast</a> of sorts. A wildly popular writer of the book <em><a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Nobodies-Shedding-Religion-unlikely/dp/0849913985\" target=\"_blank\">Divine Nobodies</a></em>, which asked what it meant to shed religion and follow Jesus, Jim emblazoned a new but very old trail and captured the imagination of a restless and growing audience. With his follow up work, <em><a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Wide-Open-Spaces-Paint-Number/dp/0849913993\" target=\"_blank\">Wide Open Spaces</a></em>, Jim continued the the journey he started by asking what it meant to discover and experience God beyond religion.  But little did he know that those two books would lead Jim into a wild journey into the highs of fame and the lows of bankruptcy, and eventually to his newest project, <em><a href=\"With the upcoming release of Jim\'s newest book, Being Jesus In Nashville\" target=\"_blank\">Being Jesus In Nashville.</a></em>\r\n\r\nIn this three part interview, Jim shares the overwhelming experience of being a successful writer, and the toll it took on his life.  He\'ll also offer an honest look at what happens when the very thing you are writing about ends up changing what you are writing.  And finally Jim offers a first look into his latest project and what it means to publish outside the system.\r\n\r\nThis is author Jim Palmer...Uncensored.\r\n\r\n[question]You’ve experienced some of the ultimate highs and lows as a writer and as a human being.  Can you share a little about these experiences and what did you learn through that experience?[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]\r\n\r\nIt makes me nervous to be referred to as a “widely acclaimed author.” After writing <em>Divine Nobodies</em> in 2006 I was declared the “next Don Miller,” and following <em>Wide Open Spaces </em>I was dubbed the “next great spiritual writer.” That’s a lot of pressure for a guy who wrote his first two books in his one-car garage, using the hunt and peck method on his decrepit laptop!\r\n\r\nI didn’t plan to be an author and wasn’t seeking to be published when a guy at a publishing house began reading my blog and asked if I’d ever thought of writing a book.  One thing led to another and a major publisher took the risk of signing an unknown nobody author like me.  I was so stoked about my new career as a writer that my <em>Divine Nobodies</em> manuscript was 10,000 words over the prescribed word count. Word count, shmord count – I had something to say that humankind needed to hear, however long it was!! I was sure my publisher would agree. Well, not exactly. I remember the morning my editor informed me of all the chapters that would be nixed. Humankind survived somehow… barely.\r\n\r\n[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]Was your next book easier?[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]\r\n\r\nYou’d think with one book under my belt, the next one would be easier. It wasn’t. I didn’t want to be one of those “one-hit-wonders.” I had to live up to <em>Divine Nobodies</em>, which had unusual success as the first book of a largely unknown author… okay, COMPLETELY unknown author. Whereas my first book told my shedding religion story, the follow-up book, <em>Wide Open Spaces</em>, was the story of living into the alternative. Of all the chapters I expected to be problematic, it was the chapter about church that my publisher asked that I re-write.  There was also a lot of attention placed on how I was wording things because they feared it sounded too “universalistic.”\r\n\r\nIt was during the writing of <em>Wide Open Spaces</em> that I first began feeling hemmed in. I recognized that there might be a battle brewing between my spiritual evolution and what a conservative Christian publishing house would allow. Despite my Masters of Divinity degree, I’m a storyteller, not a theologian, but increasingly I was being asked to clarify my doctrine.\r\n\r\n[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]Did this process affect you?[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]\r\n\r\nBeing an author didn’t line up well with my neurosis, which included wanting everyone to like me, and taking everything personally. I don’t do constructive criticism so well either. I didn’t sleep for two nights after my first negative Amazon review. I wanted to contact him try to explain what he took issue with. I’ve never read another review since then. I don’t want to know.\r\n\r\n[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]What makes you a great writer?[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]\r\n\r\nI don’t think I’m such a great writer. My first drafts are normally a train wreck, and I do a ton of re-write. I think people probably like my books because they can relate to my kooky humanity. I seem to embolden people to press deeper and permission to be who they are, however messy that might seem to some.\r\n\r\n[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]But your first book did really, really well?[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]\r\n\r\nIt was strange after <em>Wide Open Spaces</em> to have multiple publishers bidding for my next book contract. They were particularly interested upon hearing about my 1-year experiment to be Jesus in Nashville – not Jesus <em>and</em> Jim but Jesus <em>as </em>Jim. I wanted to know how much of Jesus’ life could be pulled off as Jim Palmer. Where did Jesus stop and Jim begin? Or was that just an imaginary line that I created? And if it was an imaginary line, did that mean God and I could be one in the same way as Jesus? The idea had traction, especially if it meant I was going to attempt to heal people or try other Jesus-esque miracles or do something radial like live among the homeless in order to serve the “least of these.”\r\n\r\n[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]And you published with Zondervan.[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]\r\n\r\nUltimately I signed with Zondervan Publishing because they expressed strong interest in connecting with a reading audience beyond the typical mainstream Christian crowd. My tribe, who has shared this journey with me the last several years, are ordinary people, mostly from a Christian background, who have been shedding religion and no longer support the view of Jesus and Christian living promoted by the institutional church. Many in my tribe follow Jesus but do not subscribe to organized Christianity.\r\n\r\nI signed that contract with Zondervan in August of 2008. It was a 2-book deal; the first book, <em>Being Jesus in Nashville</em>. I could have never predicted what transpired in living and writing this book. The deaths of my mother and close friend were devastating. Shortly after, I had two near-death experiences of my own. To this day, I don’t know how I managed to have survived either one of them.\r\n\r\nDespite the heartache and turmoil of these and other experiences, I turned in my manuscript to Zondervan Publishing on February 21, 2011. Though they undergone considerable turnover, I had worked with 3 different managing editors, I had never received any indication that there was a problem with my manuscript. But on March 29<sup>th</sup> I received an email from Zondervan claiming that my book, similar to the firestorm of heresy charges leveled against Bell, did not “lie within the bounds of biblical, orthodox Christianity.” Zondervan rejected my manuscript and then informed me they were canceling my contract, to which I had no recourse because of a no-arbitration clause in the contract.\r\n\r\n[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]That must have been devastating.[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]\r\n\r\nHaving only received an initial advance when I signed the contract in 2008, I was eager to be paid my next installment. As a self-employed author, it was customary for me to live on credit and pay off my balance each time I received my next book payment. I had done almost three years of writing without getting paid and I desperately needed that next check to straighten out my financial obligations. In addition to not being paid, Zondervan demanded I pay back the advance I received in 2008. The combination of all of that meant I lost $80,000 one flail swoop. It was too much to absorb. I either faced eviction and becoming homeless, or file bankruptcy.\r\n\r\n[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]How did you respond?[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]\r\n\r\nHonestly, if it was just me I might have opted to become homeless or sleep on a friend’s couch for an extended period of time. But it wasn’t just me; I have a 12-year-old daughter. There are several things I just figured would never happen in my life. Filing bankruptcy was one of them. Once I dealt with my personal feelings of failure about it, I became more aware and compassionate for those in financial crisis. I discovered a side of humanity that I had not known before in bankruptcy court as I sat and heard the stories of those who went before us.\r\n\r\n[/answer]\r\n\r\n[question]In other words, you lived some of the same suffering as Jesus.[/question]\r\n\r\n[answer]\r\n\r\nThe whole ordeal of losing my book contract and filing bankruptcy forced me to confront a story about myself that I’ve been carrying since childhood that I’m a failure. I’m not out of the woods on that one yet; some stories die hard. Surviving my two near-death experiences was transformational, which I write about in the book. There was a Jim Palmer who died in that car, and someone different who was pulled out alive.\r\n\r\n[/answer]\r\n\r\nIn part 2, we\'ll allow Jim to unpack his writing experience with Zondervan a little more and why his book was rejected.  Stay tuned.','Author Jim Palmer Uncensored - Part 1','','publish','open','open','','author-jim-palmer-uncensored-part-1','','','2011-12-05 11:29:43','2011-12-05 19:29:43','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2679',0,'post','',5),(2446,0,'2011-11-21 12:53:40','2011-11-21 20:53:40','What a joy to find such clear thinking. Thanks for poistng!\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Parmelia\nAUTHOR EMAIL: alena.andyho@seznam.cz\nAUTHOR URL: http://www.bing.com/\nSUBJECT: [Provoketive Magazine] Better without the Bible\nIP: 109.230.216.60\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Parmelia\n    [Email] =&gt; alena.andyho@seznam.cz\n    [Website] =&gt; http://www.bing.com/\n    [Message] =&gt; What a joy to find such clear thinking. Thanks for poistng!\n)\n','Parmelia - 2011-11-21 12:53:40','','publish','open','open','','bb96a18941eb50b031dc189f342ab299','','','2011-11-21 12:53:40','2011-11-21 20:53:40','',440,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2446',0,'feedback','',0),(2447,57,'2011-11-21 13:24:40','2011-11-21 21:24:40','','lt_pike_spraying','','inherit','open','open','','lt_pike_spraying','','','2011-11-21 13:24:40','2011-11-21 21:24:40','',2405,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/lt_pike_spraying.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2448,57,'2011-11-21 13:29:04','2011-11-21 21:29:04','Like millions of others, I watched a disturbing video lastt weekend of UC Davis students getting pepper-sprayed by campus police lieutenant John Pike. The most surreal part of the video was the casual nonchalance with which Lt. Pike sprayed painful toxins into students\' faces. It was as though he were spraying Roundup in a garden, and it made me think of an experience I had in my garden.\n\nI like to harvest my own jalapeño and poblano seeds. The first time, I didn\'t use gloves. My hands were soon covered with a burning that made it impossible to think about anything else. Then I did something very stupid. I itched my nose. This made me sneeze repeatedly. So my eyes got itchy, and before I knew it, I had spread the evil pepper juice to my eyes as well. Every time I tried to wash a part of me that was on fire, it made the burning spread. It took several painful experiences before I caved and made the very unmanly move of buying some latex gloves to handle my peppers with.\n\nPepper spray is made of concentrated capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers hot. The difference between my painful pepper seed harvesting experience and what the UC Davis students felt who got pepper-sprayed last Friday is that they got a several hundred times more intense version of my pain sprayed deliberately into their faces from point-blank range. Though I\'ve never been pepper-sprayed, I have some idea based on my painful experience what pepper spray might do to a person physically. But what else does it do?\n\nWhat does pepper spray do to the person spraying it? Lieutenant John Pike is the police officer who sprayed the students. Since he\'s a cop on a college campus (and not in the hood), this might have been his first time using pepper spray. What does it do to your humanity when you watch other human beings suffer intense pain because of what you sprayed into their faces? I suspect it\'s different if you\'re caught in an adrenalin rush when someone physically attacks you. But wouldn\'t it mess with your head to spray people who are sitting on the ground and the most threatening thing they\'ve done is to link arms and try to hide their eyes underneath their sweater when they see your pepper spray can?\n\nWhen you do something like that, does the memory haunt you? Do you have bad dreams about it? Or do you change the story in your mind and conjure up a way that your victim was attacking you? This sounds like what UC Davis campus police chief Annette Spicuzza is <a href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/19/4066159/10-occupy-protesters-arrested.html\">trying to do</a>. She said the police were surrounded by a crowd and felt \"threatened.\" The only problem with that narrative is that, in the <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjnR7xET7Uo\">youtube video</a>, Lt. Pike actually <em>steps over</em> the seated protesters right before spraying them (so it\'s pretty hard to argue that they were an obstacle to his passage).\n\nThis brings us to another effect of pepper spray: the perception of the public who hear about the story. Since pepper spray is what you use on a guy in a dark alley who\'s about to mug you, the assumption is that if people get pepper sprayed, they must have done something violent. It\'s been interesting to watch university officials try to redefine the boundaries of nonviolence in response to to these incidents. UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau <a href=\"http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/10/campus-administrators-send-out-message-responding-to-occupy-cal-demonstrations/\">wrote</a> that \"linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents... is not non-violent civil disobedience.\" So linking arms has now become violent? When most people reading these stories see pepper spray, they assume that whoever was on the receiving end must have deserved it, so nonviolence is allowed to be redefined in popular discourse.\n\nStill, there\'s one positive thing that happens to people who get pepper sprayed. When you suffer for what you believe in, it\'s the ultimate validation of your faith that inspires you to fight for your cause all the more zealously. This was what the Roman Empire could not understand about the early Christians. Every time they threw another one to the lions, they added lighter fluid to the fire they were trying to stomp out which eventually burned their empire down. The Jewish religious authorities had a similar experience in Acts 5:40-42:\n<blockquote><em>They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.</em></blockquote>\nThe flogging of the Sanhedrin made the apostles rejoice because it validated their faith. I\'m not saying it makes the UC Davis students\' opinions \"right\" just because they got pepper-sprayed. I\'m ambivalent about the Occupy protests in general, because I believe the way to change the world is through the long, boring process of Christian discipleship.\n\nBut I do wonder what it means that few Christians in our country today \"have been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name\" (unlike Christians in Pakistan and other places). What does it say about Christians that we <em>aren\'t</em> getting pepper-sprayed? Jesus tells His disciples that the world will hate them because it hated Him (John 15:18). I have really hated it every time I\'ve had pepper juice on my face, but maybe one day God will count me worthy of suffering for the name of Jesus.','What Does Pepper Spray Do?','','inherit','open','open','','2405-revision-4','','','2011-11-21 13:29:04','2011-11-21 21:29:04','',2405,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2405-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(2449,57,'2011-11-21 13:29:25','2011-11-21 21:29:25','Like millions of others, I watched a disturbing video last weekend of UC Davis students getting pepper-sprayed by campus police lieutenant John Pike. The most surreal part of the video was the casual nonchalance with which Lt. Pike sprayed painful toxins into students\' faces. It was as though he were spraying Roundup in a garden, and it made me think of an experience I had in my garden.\r\n\r\nI like to harvest my own jalapeño and poblano seeds. The first time, I didn\'t use gloves. My hands were soon covered with a burning that made it impossible to think about anything else. Then I did something very stupid. I itched my nose. This made me sneeze repeatedly. So my eyes got itchy, and before I knew it, I had spread the evil pepper juice to my eyes as well. Every time I tried to wash a part of me that was on fire, it made the burning spread. It took several painful experiences before I caved and made the very unmanly move of buying some latex gloves to handle my peppers with.\r\n\r\nPepper spray is made of concentrated capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers hot. The difference between my painful pepper seed harvesting experience and what the UC Davis students felt who got pepper-sprayed last Friday is that they got a several hundred times more intense version of my pain sprayed deliberately into their faces from point-blank range. Though I\'ve never been pepper-sprayed, I have some idea based on my painful experience what pepper spray might do to a person physically. But what else does it do?\r\n\r\nWhat does pepper spray do to the person spraying it? Lieutenant John Pike is the police officer who sprayed the students. Since he\'s a cop on a college campus (and not in the hood), this might have been his first time using pepper spray. What does it do to your humanity when you watch other human beings suffer intense pain because of what you sprayed into their faces? I suspect it\'s different if you\'re caught in an adrenalin rush when someone physically attacks you. But wouldn\'t it mess with your head to spray people who are sitting on the ground and the most threatening thing they\'ve done is to link arms and try to hide their eyes underneath their sweater when they see your pepper spray can?\r\n\r\nWhen you do something like that, does the memory haunt you? Do you have bad dreams about it? Or do you change the story in your mind and conjure up a way that your victim was attacking you? This sounds like what UC Davis campus police chief Annette Spicuzza is <a href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/19/4066159/10-occupy-protesters-arrested.html\">trying to do</a>. She said the police were surrounded by a crowd and felt \"threatened.\" The only problem with that narrative is that, in the <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjnR7xET7Uo\">youtube video</a>, Lt. Pike actually <em>steps over</em> the seated protesters right before spraying them (so it\'s pretty hard to argue that they were an obstacle to his passage).\r\n\r\nThis brings us to another effect of pepper spray: the perception of the public who hear about the story. Since pepper spray is what you use on a guy in a dark alley who\'s about to mug you, the assumption is that if people get pepper sprayed, they must have done something violent. It\'s been interesting to watch university officials try to redefine the boundaries of nonviolence in response to to these incidents. UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau <a href=\"http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/10/campus-administrators-send-out-message-responding-to-occupy-cal-demonstrations/\">wrote</a> that \"linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents... is not non-violent civil disobedience.\" So linking arms has now become violent? When most people reading these stories see pepper spray, they assume that whoever was on the receiving end must have deserved it, so nonviolence is allowed to be redefined in popular discourse.\r\n\r\nStill, there\'s one positive thing that happens to people who get pepper sprayed. When you suffer for what you believe in, it\'s the ultimate validation of your faith that inspires you to fight for your cause all the more zealously. This was what the Roman Empire could not understand about the early Christians. Every time they threw another one to the lions, they added lighter fluid to the fire they were trying to stomp out which eventually burned their empire down. The Jewish religious authorities had a similar experience in Acts 5:40-42:\r\n<blockquote><em>They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.</em></blockquote>\r\nThe flogging of the Sanhedrin made the apostles rejoice because it validated their faith. I\'m not saying it makes the UC Davis students\' opinions \"right\" just because they got pepper-sprayed. I\'m ambivalent about the Occupy protests in general, because I believe the way to change the world is through the long, boring process of Christian discipleship.\r\n\r\nBut I do wonder what it means that few Christians in our country today \"have been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name\" (unlike Christians in Pakistan and other places). What does it say about Christians that we <em>aren\'t</em> getting pepper-sprayed? Jesus tells His disciples that the world will hate them because it hated Him (John 15:18). I have really hated it every time I\'ve had pepper juice on my face, but maybe one day God will count me worthy of suffering for the name of Jesus.','What Does Pepper Spray Do?','','inherit','open','open','','2405-revision-5','','','2011-11-21 13:29:25','2011-11-21 21:29:25','',2405,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2405-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(2451,1,'2011-11-21 13:41:21','2011-11-21 21:41:21','','Life Post','','inherit','open','open','','2450-revision','','','2011-11-21 13:41:21','2011-11-21 21:41:21','',2450,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2450-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2452,1,'2010-11-21 13:42:05','2010-11-21 21:42:05','This is a test post.','Faith Post','','publish','open','open','','faith-post','','','2011-11-21 13:42:25','2011-11-21 21:42:25','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2452',0,'post','',0),(2453,1,'2011-11-21 13:42:11','2011-11-21 21:42:11','','Faith Post','','inherit','open','open','','2452-revision','','','2011-11-21 13:42:11','2011-11-21 21:42:11','',2452,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2452-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2454,1,'2010-11-21 13:42:32','2010-11-21 21:42:32','Culture post.','Culture Post','','publish','open','open','','culture-post','','','2011-11-21 13:42:56','2011-11-21 21:42:56','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2454',0,'post','',0),(2455,1,'2011-11-21 13:42:44','2011-11-21 21:42:44','Culture','Culture Post','','inherit','open','open','','2454-revision','','','2011-11-21 13:42:44','2011-11-21 21:42:44','',2454,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2454-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2456,1,'2010-11-21 13:43:10','2010-11-21 21:43:10','Test post','Justice Post','','publish','open','open','','justice-post','','','2011-11-21 13:43:32','2011-11-21 21:43:32','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2456',0,'post','',0),(2457,1,'2011-11-21 13:43:21','2011-11-21 21:43:21','','Justice Post','','inherit','open','open','','2456-revision','','','2011-11-21 13:43:21','2011-11-21 21:43:21','',2456,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2456-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2458,25,'2011-11-21 13:46:53','2011-11-21 21:46:53','Intentional Living seems to be the new buzz phrase right now. I have a tendency to dismiss stuff such as this because I don\'t really like \"church speak\". Church speak could be a whole other post. But suffice it to say that I was not raised in church and there has certainly been a learning curve when it comes to figuring out what some people are actually saying. I am lucky to go to a church that doesn\'t use it too much and really caters to the \"un-churched.\" But I digress.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nBack to Intentional Living. I have really been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because it keeps popping up. But also because once you get past the church speak, there are some basic truths there. In thinking about my life, I began to wonder if I have been living intentionally. What does living intentionally look like? Is there biblical backing to this?\n\n&nbsp;\n\nIntentional living starts with a destination. You have to know where you want to go to be able to get there. There are many different areas of your life to apply this concept to. Faith, finances, relationships, health, and career are areas to be intentional in. All of these areas are connected, so when one is going well, it helps the rest of them. The same goes conversely though. Therefore, you need to be intentional in all areas.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n<strong>Faith: Be intentional every day by spending time with your bible. Take 15 minutes and just sit down, read and pray.</strong>\n\n&nbsp;\n\nYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)\n<div>\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n<strong>Finances: Figure out a budget and stick to it. I know, it\'s easier said than done.</strong>\n\n&nbsp;\n\n“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17 (NIV)\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n<strong>Family/relationships: Strive to make and keep a christian environment inside your home and with other people. Don\'t just hope it rubs off on the kids, make a concerted effort to teach them.</strong>\n\n&nbsp;\n\nBe devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves Romans 12:10 (NIV)\n\n&nbsp;\n\nStart children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.</div>\n<div>    Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n<strong>Health: Eat well and exercise. (Sigh) I know how hard this one is...really.</strong>\n\n&nbsp;\n\nIf you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit.  Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n<strong>Career: Be trustworthy and diligent in this area of life, but don\'t blow it out of proportion. Strive to be the best in whatever it is that you are doing.</strong>\nLazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\nSo, you see, there is absolutely biblical basis for living the intentional life.  Here are a couple more scriptures that I think add to this idea.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)\n\n&nbsp;\n\nSo let\'s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you\'ll see it yet! Now that we\'re on the right track, let\'s stay on it.  Philippians 3:15-16  (The Message)\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n<strong>What are your ideas of intentional living?  What does this look like for you?  Did I miss any great verses that need to be added?  </strong>\n\n&nbsp;\n\nI am going to look deeper into each area and try to flesh out what intentional living looks like.  Be sure to check those out and let me know what you think.\n\n</div>','What is Intentional Living?','','inherit','open','open','','2443-revision','','','2011-11-21 13:46:53','2011-11-21 21:46:53','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2443-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2461,25,'2011-11-21 13:51:38','2011-11-21 21:51:38','Intentional Living seems to be the new buzz phrase right now. I have a tendency to dismiss stuff such as this because I don\'t really like \"church speak\". Church speak could be a whole other post. But suffice it to say that I was not raised in church and there has certainly been a learning curve when it comes to figuring out what some people are actually saying. I am lucky to go to a church that doesn\'t use it too much and really caters to the \"un-churched.\" But I digress.\r\n\r\nBack to Intentional Living. I have really been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because it keeps popping up. But also because once you get past the church speak, there are some basic truths there. In thinking about my life, I began to wonder if I have been living intentionally. What does living intentionally look like? Is there biblical backing to this?\r\n\r\nIntentional living starts with a destination. You have to know where you want to go to be able to get there. There are many different areas of your life to apply this concept to. Faith, finances, relationships, health, and career are areas to be intentional in. All of these areas are connected, so when one is going well, it helps the rest of them. The same goes conversely though. Therefore, you need to be intentional in all areas.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFaith: Be intentional every day by spending time with your bible. Take 15 minutes and just sit down, read and pray.\r\n\r\nYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFinances: Figure out a budget and stick to it. I know, it\'s easier said than done.\r\n\r\n“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFamily/relationships: Strive to make and keep a christian environment inside your home and with other people. Don\'t just hope it rubs off on the kids, make a concerted effort to teach them.\r\n\r\nBe devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves Romans 12:10 (NIV)\r\n\r\nStart children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n<div>    Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)&nbsp;\r\n\r\nHealth: Eat well and exercise. (Sigh) I know how hard this one is...really.\r\n\r\nIf you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit.  Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)\r\n\r\nCareer: Be trustworthy and diligent in this area of life, but don\'t blow it out of proportion. Strive to be the best in whatever it is that you are doing.\r\n\r\nLazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, you see, there is absolutely biblical basis for living the intentional life.  Here are a couple more scriptures that I think add to this idea.\r\n\r\nFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.\r\n\r\n2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo let\'s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you\'ll see it yet! Now that we\'re on the right track, let\'s stay on it.  Philippians 3:15-16  (The Message)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWhat are your ideas of intentional living?  What does this look like for you?  Did I miss any great verses that need to be added?\r\n\r\nI will be looking deeper into each area and try to flesh out what intentional living looks like.  Be sure to check those out and let me know what you think.\r\n\r\n</div>','What is Intentional Living?','','inherit','open','open','','2443-revision-3','','','2011-11-21 13:51:38','2011-11-21 21:51:38','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2443-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(2459,0,'2011-11-21 13:50:20','2011-11-21 21:50:20','Great stuff, you hepled me out so much!\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Storm\nAUTHOR EMAIL: along@hallmarkhealth.org\nAUTHOR URL: http://www.google.com/\nSUBJECT: [Provoketive Magazine] Finding Life Beyond Religion...Is There A Way Forward\nIP: 109.230.216.225\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Storm\n    [Email] =&gt; along@hallmarkhealth.org\n    [Website] =&gt; http://www.google.com/\n    [Message] =&gt; Great stuff, you hepled me out so much!\n)\n','Storm - 2011-11-21 13:50:20','','publish','open','open','','7be9a9d22273340efac2bf4daa409452','','','2011-11-21 13:50:20','2011-11-21 21:50:20','',1621,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2459',0,'feedback','',0),(2460,25,'2011-11-21 13:47:15','2011-11-21 21:47:15','Intentional Living seems to be the new buzz phrase right now. I have a tendency to dismiss stuff such as this because I don\'t really like \"church speak\". Church speak could be a whole other post. But suffice it to say that I was not raised in church and there has certainly been a learning curve when it comes to figuring out what some people are actually saying. I am lucky to go to a church that doesn\'t use it too much and really caters to the \"un-churched.\" But I digress.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBack to Intentional Living. I have really been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because it keeps popping up. But also because once you get past the church speak, there are some basic truths there. In thinking about my life, I began to wonder if I have been living intentionally. What does living intentionally look like? Is there biblical backing to this?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIntentional living starts with a destination. You have to know where you want to go to be able to get there. There are many different areas of your life to apply this concept to. Faith, finances, relationships, health, and career are areas to be intentional in. All of these areas are connected, so when one is going well, it helps the rest of them. The same goes conversely though. Therefore, you need to be intentional in all areas.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Faith: Be intentional every day by spending time with your bible. Take 15 minutes and just sit down, read and pray.</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Finances: Figure out a budget and stick to it. I know, it\'s easier said than done.</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Family/relationships: Strive to make and keep a christian environment inside your home and with other people. Don\'t just hope it rubs off on the kids, make a concerted effort to teach them.</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBe devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves Romans 12:10 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nStart children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.</div>\r\n<div>    Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Health: Eat well and exercise. (Sigh) I know how hard this one is...really.</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIf you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit.  Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Career: Be trustworthy and diligent in this area of life, but don\'t blow it out of proportion. Strive to be the best in whatever it is that you are doing.</strong>\r\nLazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, you see, there is absolutely biblical basis for living the intentional life.  Here are a couple more scriptures that I think add to this idea.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.\r\n\r\n2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo let\'s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you\'ll see it yet! Now that we\'re on the right track, let\'s stay on it.  Philippians 3:15-16  (The Message)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your ideas of intentional living?  What does this look like for you?  Did I miss any great verses that need to be added?  </strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI am going to look deeper into each area and try to flesh out what intentional living looks like.  Be sure to check those out and let me know what you think.\r\n\r\n</div>','What is Intentional Living?','','inherit','open','open','','2443-revision-2','','','2011-11-21 13:47:15','2011-11-21 21:47:15','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2443-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(2462,25,'2011-11-21 13:57:58','2011-11-21 21:57:58','','intentional','','inherit','open','open','','intentional','','','2011-11-21 13:57:58','2011-11-21 21:57:58','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/intentional.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(2463,25,'2011-11-21 13:54:08','2011-11-21 21:54:08','Intentional Living seems to be the new buzz phrase right now. I have a tendency to dismiss stuff such as this because I don\'t really like \"church speak\". Church speak could be a whole other post. But suffice it to say that I was not raised in church and there has certainly been a learning curve when it comes to figuring out what some people are actually saying. I am lucky to go to a church that doesn\'t use it too much and really caters to the \"un-churched.\" But I digress.\r\n\r\nBack to Intentional Living. I have really been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because it keeps popping up. But also because once you get past the church speak, there are some basic truths there. In thinking about my life, I began to wonder if I have been living intentionally. What does living intentionally look like? Is there biblical backing to this?\r\n\r\nIntentional living starts with a destination. You have to know where you want to go to be able to get there. There are many different areas of your life to apply this concept to. Faith, finances, relationships, health, and career are areas to be intentional in. All of these areas are connected, so when one is going well, it helps the rest of them. The same goes conversely though. Therefore, you need to be intentional in all areas.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Faith: Be intentional every day by spending time with your bible. Take 15 minutes and just sit down, read and pray.</strong>\r\n\r\nYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Finances: Figure out a budget and stick to it. I know, it\'s easier said than done.</strong>\r\n\r\n“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong> Family/relationships: Strive to make and keep a christian environment inside your home and with other people. Don\'t just hope it rubs off on the kids, make a concerted effort to teach them.</strong>\r\n\r\nBe devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves Romans 12:10 (NIV)\r\n\r\nStart children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n<div>    Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Health: Eat well and exercise. (Sigh) I know how hard this one is...really.</strong>\r\n\r\nIf you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit.  Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Career: Be trustworthy and diligent in this area of life, but don\'t blow it out of proportion. Strive to be the best in whatever it is that you are doing.</strong>\r\n\r\nLazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, you see, there is absolutely biblical basis for living the intentional life.  Here are a couple more scriptures that I think add to this idea.\r\n\r\nFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.\r\n\r\n2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo let\'s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you\'ll see it yet! Now that we\'re on the right track, let\'s stay on it.  Philippians 3:15-16  (The Message)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your ideas of intentional living?  What does this look like for you?  Did I miss any great verses that need to be added?  </strong>\r\n\r\nI will be looking deeper into each area and try to flesh out what intentional living looks like.  Be sure to check those out and let me know what you think.\r\n\r\n</div>','What is Intentional Living?','','inherit','open','open','','2443-revision-4','','','2011-11-21 13:54:08','2011-11-21 21:54:08','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2443-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(2464,25,'2011-11-21 13:58:40','2011-11-21 21:58:40','Intentional Living seems to be the new buzz phrase right now. I have a tendency to dismiss stuff such as this because I don\'t really like \"church speak\". Church speak could be a whole other post. But suffice it to say that I was not raised in church and there has certainly been a learning curve when it comes to figuring out what some people are actually saying. I am lucky to go to a church that doesn\'t use it too much and really caters to the \"un-churched.\" But I digress.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBack to Intentional Living. I have really been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because it keeps popping up. But also because once you get past the church speak, there are some basic truths there. In thinking about my life, I began to wonder if I have been living intentionally. What does living intentionally look like? Is there biblical backing to this?\r\n\r\nIntentional living starts with a destination. You have to know where you want to go to be able to get there. There are many different areas of your life to apply this concept to. Faith, finances, relationships, health, and career are areas to be intentional in. All of these areas are connected, so when one is going well, it helps the rest of them. The same goes conversely though. Therefore, you need to be intentional in all areas.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Faith: Be intentional every day by spending time with your bible. Take 15 minutes and just sit down, read and pray.</strong>\r\n\r\nYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Finances: Figure out a budget and stick to it. I know, it\'s easier said than done.</strong>\r\n\r\n“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong> Family/relationships: Strive to make and keep a christian environment inside your home and with other people. Don\'t just hope it rubs off on the kids, make a concerted effort to teach them.</strong>\r\n\r\nBe devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves Romans 12:10 (NIV)\r\n\r\nStart children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.   Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Health: Eat well and exercise. (Sigh) I know how hard this one is...really.</strong>\r\n\r\nIf you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit.  Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Career: Be trustworthy and diligent in this area of life, but don\'t blow it out of proportion. Strive to be the best in whatever it is that you are doing.</strong>\r\n\r\nLazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, you see, there is absolutely biblical basis for living the intentional life.  Here are a couple more scriptures that I think add to this idea.\r\n\r\nFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.   2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo let\'s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you\'ll see it yet! Now that we\'re on the right track, let\'s stay on it.  Philippians 3:15-16  (The Message)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your ideas of intentional living?  What does this look like for you?  Did I miss any great verses that need to be added?  </strong>\r\n\r\nI will be looking deeper into each area and try to flesh out what intentional living looks like.  Be sure to check those out and let me know what you think.\r\n\r\n</div>','What is Intentional Living?','','inherit','open','open','','2443-revision-5','','','2011-11-21 13:58:40','2011-11-21 21:58:40','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2443-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(2465,25,'2011-11-21 13:59:26','2011-11-21 21:59:26','Intentional Living seems to be the new buzz phrase right now. I have a tendency to dismiss stuff such as this because I don\'t really like \"church speak\". Church speak could be a whole other post. But suffice it to say that I was not raised in church and there has certainly been a learning curve when it comes to figuring out what some people are actually saying. I am lucky to go to a church that doesn\'t use it too much and really caters to the \"un-churched.\" But I digress.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBack to Intentional Living. I have really been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because it keeps popping up. But also because once you get past the church speak, there are some basic truths there. In thinking about my life, I began to wonder if I have been living intentionally. What does living intentionally look like? Is there biblical backing to this?\r\n\r\nIntentional living starts with a destination. You have to know where you want to go to be able to get there. There are many different areas of your life to apply this concept to. Faith, finances, relationships, health, and career are areas to be intentional in. All of these areas are connected, so when one is going well, it helps the rest of them. The same goes conversely though. Therefore, you need to be intentional in all areas.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Faith: Be intentional every day by spending time with your bible. Take 15 minutes and just sit down, read and pray.</strong>\r\n\r\nYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Finances: Figure out a budget and stick to it. I know, it\'s easier said than done.</strong>\r\n\r\n“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong> Family/relationships: Strive to make and keep a christian environment inside your home and with other people. Don\'t just hope it rubs off on the kids, make a concerted effort to teach them.</strong>\r\n\r\nBe devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves Romans 12:10 (NIV)\r\n\r\nStart children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.   Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Health: Eat well and exercise. (Sigh) I know how hard this one is...really.</strong>\r\n\r\nIf you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit.  Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Career: Be trustworthy and diligent in this area of life, but don\'t blow it out of proportion. Strive to be the best in whatever it is that you are doing.</strong>\r\n\r\nLazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, you see, there is absolutely biblical basis for living the intentional life.  Here are a couple more scriptures that I think add to this idea.\r\n\r\nFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.   2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo let\'s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you\'ll see it yet! Now that we\'re on the right track, let\'s stay on it.  Philippians 3:15-16  (The Message)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your ideas of intentional living?  What does this look like for you?  Did I miss any great verses that need to be added?  </strong>\r\n\r\nI will be looking deeper into each area and try to flesh out what intentional living looks like.  Be sure to check those out and let me know what you think.\r\n\r\n</div>','What is Intentional Living?','','inherit','open','open','','2443-revision-6','','','2011-11-21 13:59:26','2011-11-21 21:59:26','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2443-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(2466,25,'2011-11-21 14:09:10','2011-11-21 22:09:10','Intentional Living seems to be the new buzz phrase right now. I have a tendency to dismiss stuff such as this because I don\'t really like \"church speak\". Church speak could be a whole other post. But suffice it to say that I was not raised in church and there has certainly been a learning curve when it comes to figuring out what some people are actually saying. I am lucky to go to a church that doesn\'t use it too much and really caters to the \"un-churched.\" But I digress.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBack to Intentional Living. I have really been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because it keeps popping up. But also because once you get past the church speak, there are some basic truths there. In thinking about my life, I began to wonder if I have been living intentionally. What does living intentionally look like? Is there biblical backing to this?\r\n\r\nIntentional living starts with a destination. You have to know where you want to go to be able to get there. There are many different areas of your life to apply this concept to. Faith, finances, relationships, health, and career are areas to be intentional in. All of these areas are connected, so when one is going well, it helps the rest of them. The same goes conversely though. Therefore, you need to be intentional in all areas.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Faith: Be intentional every day by spending time with your bible. Take 15 minutes and just sit down, read and pray.</strong>\r\n\r\nYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Finances: Figure out a budget and stick to it. I know, it\'s easier said than done.</strong>\r\n\r\n“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong> Family/relationships: Strive to make and keep a christian environment inside your home and with other people. Don\'t just hope it rubs off on the kids, make a concerted effort to teach them.</strong>\r\n\r\nBe devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves Romans 12:10 (NIV)\r\n\r\nStart children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.   Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Health: Eat well and exercise. (Sigh) I know how hard this one is...really.</strong>\r\n\r\nIf you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit.  Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Career: Be trustworthy and diligent in this area of life, but don\'t blow it out of proportion. Strive to be the best in whatever it is that you are doing.</strong>\r\n\r\nLazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, you see, there is absolutely biblical basis for living the intentional life.  Here are a couple more scriptures that I think add to this idea.\r\n\r\nFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.   2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo let\'s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you\'ll see it yet! Now that we\'re on the right track, let\'s stay on it.  Philippians 3:15-16  (The Message)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your ideas of intentional living?  What does this look like for you?  Did I miss any great verses that need to be added?  </strong>\r\n\r\nI will be looking deeper into each area and try to flesh out what intentional living looks like.  Be sure to check those out and let me know what you think.\r\n\r\n</div>','What is Intentional Living?','','inherit','open','open','','2443-revision-7','','','2011-11-21 14:09:10','2011-11-21 22:09:10','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2443-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(2467,1,'2011-11-21 13:34:48','2011-11-21 21:34:48','Like millions of others, I watched a disturbing video last weekend of UC Davis students getting pepper-sprayed by campus police lieutenant John Pike. The most surreal part of the video was the casual nonchalance with which Lt. Pike sprayed painful toxins into students\' faces. It was as though he were spraying Roundup in a garden, and it made me think of an experience I had in my garden.\r\n\r\nI like to harvest my own jalapeño and poblano seeds. The first time, I didn\'t use gloves. My hands were soon covered with a burning that made it impossible to think about anything else. Then I did something very stupid. I itched my nose. This made me sneeze repeatedly. So my eyes got itchy, and before I knew it, I had spread the evil pepper juice to my eyes as well. Every time I tried to wash a part of me that was on fire, it made the burning spread. It took several painful experiences before I caved and made the very unmanly move of buying some latex gloves to handle my peppers with.\r\n\r\nPepper spray is made of concentrated capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers hot. The difference between my painful pepper seed harvesting experience and what the UC Davis students felt who got pepper-sprayed last Friday is that they got a several hundred times more intense version of my pain sprayed deliberately into their faces from point-blank range. Though I\'ve never been pepper-sprayed, I have some idea based on my painful experience what pepper spray might do to a person physically. But what else does it do?\r\n\r\nWhat does pepper spray do to the person spraying it? Lieutenant John Pike is the police officer who sprayed the students. Since he\'s a cop on a college campus (and not in the hood), this might have been his first time using pepper spray. What does it do to your humanity when you watch other human beings suffer intense pain because of what you sprayed into their faces? I suspect it\'s different if you\'re caught in an adrenalin rush when someone physically attacks you. But wouldn\'t it mess with your head to spray people who are sitting on the ground and the most threatening thing they\'ve done is to link arms and try to hide their eyes underneath their sweater when they see your pepper spray can?\r\n\r\nWhen you do something like that, does the memory haunt you? Do you have bad dreams about it? Or do you change the story in your mind and conjure up a way that your victim was attacking you? This sounds like what UC Davis campus police chief Annette Spicuzza is <a href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/19/4066159/10-occupy-protesters-arrested.html\">trying to do</a>. She said the police were surrounded by a crowd and felt \"threatened.\" The only problem with that narrative is that, in the <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjnR7xET7Uo\">youtube video</a>, Lt. Pike actually <em>steps over</em> the seated protesters right before spraying them (so it\'s pretty hard to argue that they were an obstacle to his passage).\r\n\r\nThis brings us to another effect of pepper spray: the perception of the public who hear about the story. Since pepper spray is what you use on a guy in a dark alley who\'s about to mug you, the assumption is that if people get pepper sprayed, they must have done something violent. It\'s been interesting to watch university officials try to redefine the boundaries of nonviolence in response to to these incidents. UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau <a href=\"http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/10/campus-administrators-send-out-message-responding-to-occupy-cal-demonstrations/\">wrote</a> that \"linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents... is not non-violent civil disobedience.\" So linking arms has now become violent? When most people reading these stories see pepper spray, they assume that whoever was on the receiving end must have deserved it, so nonviolence is allowed to be redefined in popular discourse.\r\n\r\nStill, there\'s one positive thing that happens to people who get pepper sprayed. When you suffer for what you believe in, it\'s the ultimate validation of your faith that inspires you to fight for your cause all the more zealously. This was what the Roman Empire could not understand about the early Christians. Every time they threw another one to the lions, they added lighter fluid to the fire they were trying to stomp out which eventually burned their empire down. The Jewish religious authorities had a similar experience in Acts 5:40-42:\r\n<blockquote><em>They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.</em></blockquote>\r\nThe flogging of the Sanhedrin made the apostles rejoice because it validated their faith. I\'m not saying it makes the UC Davis students\' opinions \"right\" just because they got pepper-sprayed. I\'m ambivalent about the Occupy protests in general, because I believe the way to change the world is through the long, boring process of Christian discipleship.\r\n\r\nBut I do wonder what it means that few Christians in our country today \"have been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name\" (unlike Christians in Pakistan and other places). What does it say about Christians that we <em>aren\'t</em> getting pepper-sprayed? Jesus tells His disciples that the world will hate them because it hated Him (John 15:18). I have really hated it every time I\'ve had pepper juice on my face, but maybe one day God will count me worthy of suffering for the name of Jesus.','What Does Pepper Spray Do?','','inherit','open','open','','2405-revision-6','','','2011-11-21 13:34:48','2011-11-21 21:34:48','',2405,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2405-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(2476,57,'2011-11-21 14:29:44','2011-11-21 22:29:44','Like millions of others, I watched a disturbing video last weekend of UC Davis students getting pepper-sprayed by campus police lieutenant John Pike. The most surreal part of the video was the casual nonchalance with which Lt. Pike sprayed painful toxins into students\' faces. It was as though he were spraying Roundup in a garden, and it made me think of an experience I had in my garden.\r\n\r\nI like to harvest my own jalapeño and poblano seeds. The first time, I didn\'t use gloves. My hands were soon covered with a burning that made it impossible to think about anything else. Then I did something very stupid. I itched my nose. This made me sneeze repeatedly. So my eyes got itchy, and before I knew it, I had spread the evil pepper juice to my eyes as well. Every time I tried to wash a part of me that was on fire, it made the burning spread. It took several painful experiences before I caved and made the very unmanly move of buying some latex gloves to handle my peppers with.\r\n\r\nPepper spray is made of concentrated capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers hot. The difference between my painful pepper seed harvesting experience and what the UC Davis students felt who got pepper-sprayed last Friday is that they got a several hundred times more intense version of my pain sprayed deliberately into their faces from point-blank range. Though I\'ve never been pepper-sprayed, I have some idea based on my painful experience what pepper spray might do to a person physically. But what else does it do?\r\n\r\nWhat does pepper spray do to the person spraying it? Lieutenant John Pike is the police officer who sprayed the students. Since he\'s a cop on a college campus (and not in the hood), this might have been his first time using pepper spray. What does it do to your humanity when you watch other human beings suffer intense pain because of what you sprayed into their faces? I suspect it\'s different if you\'re caught in an adrenalin rush when someone physically attacks you. But wouldn\'t it mess with your head to spray people who are sitting on the ground and the most threatening thing they\'ve done is to link arms and try to hide their eyes underneath their sweater when they see your pepper spray can?\r\n\r\nWhen you do something like that, does the memory haunt you? Do you have bad dreams about it? Or do you change the story in your mind and conjure up a way that your victim was attacking you? This sounds like what UC Davis campus police chief Annette Spicuzza is <a href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/19/4066159/10-occupy-protesters-arrested.html\">trying to do</a>. She said the police were surrounded by a crowd and felt \"threatened.\" The only problem with that narrative is that, in the <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjnR7xET7Uo\">youtube video</a>, Lt. Pike actually <em>steps over</em> the seated protesters right before spraying them (so it\'s pretty hard to argue that they were an obstacle to his passage).\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/lt_pike_spraying.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2447\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/lt_pike_spraying-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" /></a>This brings us to another effect of pepper spray: the perception of the public who hear about the story. Since pepper spray is what you use on a guy in a dark alley who\'s about to mug you, the assumption is that if people get pepper sprayed, they must have done something violent. It\'s been interesting to watch university officials try to redefine the boundaries of nonviolence in response to to these incidents. UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau <a href=\"http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/10/campus-administrators-send-out-message-responding-to-occupy-cal-demonstrations/\">wrote</a> that \"linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents... is not non-violent civil disobedience.\" So linking arms has now become violent? When most people reading these stories see pepper spray, they assume that whoever was on the receiving end must have deserved it, so nonviolence is allowed to be redefined in popular discourse.\r\n\r\nStill, there\'s one positive thing that happens to people who get pepper sprayed. When you suffer for what you believe in, it\'s the ultimate validation of your faith that inspires you to fight for your cause all the more zealously. This was what the Roman Empire could not understand about the early Christians. Every time they threw another one to the lions, they added lighter fluid to the fire they were trying to stomp out which eventually burned their empire down. The Jewish religious authorities had a similar experience in Acts 5:40-42:\r\n<blockquote><em>They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.</em></blockquote>\r\nThe flogging of the Sanhedrin made the apostles rejoice because it validated their faith. I\'m not saying it makes the UC Davis students\' opinions \"right\" just because they got pepper-sprayed. I\'m ambivalent about the Occupy protests in general, because I believe the way to change the world is through the long, boring process of Christian discipleship.\r\n\r\nBut I do wonder what it means that few Christians in our country today \"have been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name\" (unlike Christians in Pakistan and other places). What does it say about Christians that we <em>aren\'t</em> getting pepper-sprayed? Jesus tells His disciples that the world will hate them because it hated Him (John 15:18). I have really hated it every time I\'ve had pepper juice on my face, but maybe one day God will count me worthy of suffering for the name of Jesus.','What Does Pepper Spray Do?','','inherit','open','open','','2405-revision-8','','','2011-11-21 14:29:44','2011-11-21 22:29:44','',2405,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2405-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(2468,1,'2011-11-21 14:28:45','2011-11-21 22:28:45','Like millions of others, I watched a disturbing video last weekend of UC Davis students getting pepper-sprayed by campus police lieutenant John Pike. The most surreal part of the video was the casual nonchalance with which Lt. Pike sprayed painful toxins into students\' faces. It was as though he were spraying Roundup in a garden, and it made me think of an experience I had in my garden.\r\n\r\nI like to harvest my own jalapeño and poblano seeds. The first time, I didn\'t use gloves. My hands were soon covered with a burning that made it impossible to think about anything else. Then I did something very stupid. I itched my nose. This made me sneeze repeatedly. So my eyes got itchy, and before I knew it, I had spread the evil pepper juice to my eyes as well. Every time I tried to wash a part of me that was on fire, it made the burning spread. It took several painful experiences before I caved and made the very unmanly move of buying some latex gloves to handle my peppers with.\r\n\r\nPepper spray is made of concentrated capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers hot. The difference between my painful pepper seed harvesting experience and what the UC Davis students felt who got pepper-sprayed last Friday is that they got a several hundred times more intense version of my pain sprayed deliberately into their faces from point-blank range. Though I\'ve never been pepper-sprayed, I have some idea based on my painful experience what pepper spray might do to a person physically. But what else does it do?\r\n\r\nWhat does pepper spray do to the person spraying it? Lieutenant John Pike is the police officer who sprayed the students. Since he\'s a cop on a college campus (and not in the hood), this might have been his first time using pepper spray. What does it do to your humanity when you watch other human beings suffer intense pain because of what you sprayed into their faces? I suspect it\'s different if you\'re caught in an adrenalin rush when someone physically attacks you. But wouldn\'t it mess with your head to spray people who are sitting on the ground and the most threatening thing they\'ve done is to link arms and try to hide their eyes underneath their sweater when they see your pepper spray can?\r\n\r\nWhen you do something like that, does the memory haunt you? Do you have bad dreams about it? Or do you change the story in your mind and conjure up a way that your victim was attacking you? This sounds like what UC Davis campus police chief Annette Spicuzza is <a href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/19/4066159/10-occupy-protesters-arrested.html\">trying to do</a>. She said the police were surrounded by a crowd and felt \"threatened.\" The only problem with that narrative is that, in the <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjnR7xET7Uo\">youtube video</a>, Lt. Pike actually <em>steps over</em> the seated protesters right before spraying them (so it\'s pretty hard to argue that they were an obstacle to his passage).\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/lt_pike_spraying.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2447\" title=\"lt_pike_spraying\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/lt_pike_spraying-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" /></a>This brings us to another effect of pepper spray: the perception of the public who hear about the story. Since pepper spray is what you use on a guy in a dark alley who\'s about to mug you, the assumption is that if people get pepper sprayed, they must have done something violent. It\'s been interesting to watch university officials try to redefine the boundaries of nonviolence in response to to these incidents. UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau <a href=\"http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/10/campus-administrators-send-out-message-responding-to-occupy-cal-demonstrations/\">wrote</a> that \"linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents... is not non-violent civil disobedience.\" So linking arms has now become violent? When most people reading these stories see pepper spray, they assume that whoever was on the receiving end must have deserved it, so nonviolence is allowed to be redefined in popular discourse.\r\n\r\nStill, there\'s one positive thing that happens to people who get pepper sprayed. When you suffer for what you believe in, it\'s the ultimate validation of your faith that inspires you to fight for your cause all the more zealously. This was what the Roman Empire could not understand about the early Christians. Every time they threw another one to the lions, they added lighter fluid to the fire they were trying to stomp out which eventually burned their empire down. The Jewish religious authorities had a similar experience in Acts 5:40-42:\r\n<blockquote><em>They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.</em></blockquote>\r\nThe flogging of the Sanhedrin made the apostles rejoice because it validated their faith. I\'m not saying it makes the UC Davis students\' opinions \"right\" just because they got pepper-sprayed. I\'m ambivalent about the Occupy protests in general, because I believe the way to change the world is through the long, boring process of Christian discipleship.\r\n\r\nBut I do wonder what it means that few Christians in our country today \"have been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name\" (unlike Christians in Pakistan and other places). What does it say about Christians that we <em>aren\'t</em> getting pepper-sprayed? Jesus tells His disciples that the world will hate them because it hated Him (John 15:18). I have really hated it every time I\'ve had pepper juice on my face, but maybe one day God will count me worthy of suffering for the name of Jesus.','What Does Pepper Spray Do?','','inherit','open','open','','2405-revision-7','','','2011-11-21 14:28:45','2011-11-21 22:28:45','',2405,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2405-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(2469,1,'2011-11-21 14:32:46','2011-11-21 22:32:46','Intentional Living seems to be the new buzz phrase right now. I have a tendency to dismiss stuff such as this because I don\'t really like \"church speak\". Church speak could be a whole other post. But suffice it to say that I was not raised in church and there has certainly been a learning curve when it comes to figuring out what some people are actually saying. I am lucky to go to a church that doesn\'t use it too much and really caters to the \"un-churched.\" But I digress.\n\nBack to Intentional Living. I have really been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because it keeps popping up. But also because once you get past the church speak, there are some basic truths there. In thinking about my life, I began to wonder if I have been living intentionally. What does living intentionally look like? Is there biblical backing to this?\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/intentional.gif\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2462\" title=\"intentional\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/intentional-300x150.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"125\" /></a>Intentional living starts with a destination. You have to know where you want to go to be able to get there. There are many different areas of your life to apply this concept to. Faith, finances, relationships, health, and career are areas to be intentional in. All of these areas are connected, so when one is going well, it helps the rest of them. The same goes conversely though. Therefore, you need to be intentional in all areas.\n\n<strong>Faith: Be intentional every day by spending time with your bible. Take 15 minutes and just sit down, read and pray.</strong>\n\nYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)\n<div>\n\n<strong>Finances: Figure out a budget and stick to it. I know, it\'s easier said than done.</strong>\n\n“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17 (NIV)\n\n<strong>Family/relationships: Strive to make and keep a christian environment inside your home and with other people. Don\'t just hope it rubs off on the kids, make a concerted effort to teach them.</strong>\n\nBe devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves Romans 12:10 (NIV)\n\nStart children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.   Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)\n\n</div>\n<div>\n\n<strong>Health: Eat well and exercise. (Sigh) I know how hard this one is...really.</strong>\n\nIf you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit.  Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)\n\n<strong>Career: Be trustworthy and diligent in this area of life, but don\'t blow it out of proportion. Strive to be the best in whatever it is that you are doing.</strong>\n\nLazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)\n\nSo, you see, there is absolutely biblical basis for living the intentional life.  Here are a couple more scriptures that I think add to this idea.\n\nFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.   2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)\n\nSo let\'s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you\'ll see it yet! Now that we\'re on the right track, let\'s stay on it.  Philippians 3:15-16  (The Message)\n\n<strong>What are your ideas of intentional living?  What does this look like for you?  Did I miss any great verses that need to be added?  </strong>\n\nI will be looking deeper into each area and try to flesh out what intentional living looks like.  Be sure to check those out and let me know what you think.\n\n</div>','What Is Intentional Living?','','inherit','open','open','','2443-autosave','','','2011-11-21 14:32:46','2011-11-21 22:32:46','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2443-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(2470,0,'2011-11-21 14:36:05','2011-11-21 22:36:05','You saved me a lot of hsalse just now.\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Lakesha\nAUTHOR EMAIL: label114.com@hotmail.com\nAUTHOR URL: http://www.bing.com/\nSUBJECT: [Provoketive Magazine] Obstacle Illusion\nIP: 196.35.33.39\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Lakesha\n    [Email] =&gt; label114.com@hotmail.com\n    [Website] =&gt; http://www.bing.com/\n    [Message] =&gt; You saved me a lot of hsalse just now. \n)\n','Lakesha - 2011-11-21 14:36:05','','publish','open','open','','1ed6a6b95ce069210298f4c1f8518a15','','','2011-11-21 14:36:05','2011-11-21 22:36:05','',1388,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2470',0,'feedback','',0),(2471,1,'2011-11-21 14:38:40','2011-11-21 22:38:40','','sailing_ship','','inherit','open','open','','sailing_ship','','','2011-11-21 14:38:40','2011-11-21 22:38:40','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sailing_ship.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(2472,1,'2011-11-21 14:10:01','2011-11-21 22:10:01','Intentional Living seems to be the new buzz phrase right now. I have a tendency to dismiss stuff such as this because I don\'t really like \"church speak\". Church speak could be a whole other post. But suffice it to say that I was not raised in church and there has certainly been a learning curve when it comes to figuring out what some people are actually saying. I am lucky to go to a church that doesn\'t use it too much and really caters to the \"un-churched.\" But I digress.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBack to Intentional Living. I have really been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because it keeps popping up. But also because once you get past the church speak, there are some basic truths there. In thinking about my life, I began to wonder if I have been living intentionally. What does living intentionally look like? Is there biblical backing to this?\r\n\r\nIntentional living starts with a destination. You have to know where you want to go to be able to get there. There are many different areas of your life to apply this concept to. Faith, finances, relationships, health, and career are areas to be intentional in. All of these areas are connected, so when one is going well, it helps the rest of them. The same goes conversely though. Therefore, you need to be intentional in all areas.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Faith: Be intentional every day by spending time with your bible. Take 15 minutes and just sit down, read and pray.</strong>\r\n\r\nYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Finances: Figure out a budget and stick to it. I know, it\'s easier said than done.</strong>\r\n\r\n“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong> Family/relationships: Strive to make and keep a christian environment inside your home and with other people. Don\'t just hope it rubs off on the kids, make a concerted effort to teach them.</strong>\r\n\r\nBe devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves Romans 12:10 (NIV)\r\n\r\nStart children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.   Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Health: Eat well and exercise. (Sigh) I know how hard this one is...really.</strong>\r\n\r\nIf you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit.  Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Career: Be trustworthy and diligent in this area of life, but don\'t blow it out of proportion. Strive to be the best in whatever it is that you are doing.</strong>\r\n\r\nLazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, you see, there is absolutely biblical basis for living the intentional life.  Here are a couple more scriptures that I think add to this idea.\r\n\r\nFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.   2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo let\'s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you\'ll see it yet! Now that we\'re on the right track, let\'s stay on it.  Philippians 3:15-16  (The Message)\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your ideas of intentional living?  What does this look like for you?  Did I miss any great verses that need to be added?  </strong>\r\n\r\nI will be looking deeper into each area and try to flesh out what intentional living looks like.  Be sure to check those out and let me know what you think.\r\n\r\n</div>','What is Intentional Living?','','inherit','open','open','','2443-revision-8','','','2011-11-21 14:10:01','2011-11-21 22:10:01','',2443,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2443-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(2473,0,'2011-11-21 15:55:32','2011-11-21 23:55:32','Your atrilce perfectly shows what I needed to know, thanks!\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Destry\nAUTHOR EMAIL: info@sportsconnection.de\nAUTHOR URL: http://udllwHPkIlzhIz\nSUBJECT: [Provoketive Magazine] Advertise on Provoketive\nIP: 109.230.216.225\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Destry\n    [Email] =&gt; info@sportsconnection.de\n    [Ad Space You Want To Buy] =&gt; udllwHPkIlzhIz\n    [Comment] =&gt; Your atrilce perfectly shows what I needed to know, thanks!\n)\n','Destry - 2011-11-21 15:55:32','','publish','open','open','','a1689eabc094885a626d64e5770eb75a','','','2011-11-21 15:55:32','2011-11-21 23:55:32','',29,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2473',0,'feedback','',0),(2474,0,'2011-11-21 16:25:09','2011-11-22 00:25:09','Grazi for mkaing it nice and EZ.\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Tilly\nAUTHOR EMAIL: nsparyan@eircom.net\nAUTHOR URL: http://www.bing.com/\nSUBJECT: [Provoketive Magazine] Loving All Our Enemies\nIP: 146.219.19.160\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Tilly\n    [Email] =&gt; nsparyan@eircom.net\n    [Website] =&gt; http://www.bing.com/\n    [Message] =&gt; Grazi for mkaing it nice and EZ.\n)\n','Tilly - 2011-11-21 16:25:09','','publish','open','open','','dd5e9609d4708048edfe1da9bc3fb90c','','','2011-11-21 16:25:09','2011-11-22 00:25:09','',1144,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2474',0,'feedback','',0),(2475,0,'2011-11-21 17:09:16','2011-11-22 01:09:16','This is way more helpful than anything else I\'ve lokeod at.\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Kayo\nAUTHOR EMAIL: tekopa@tekopa.com\nAUTHOR URL: http://www.facebook.com/\nSUBJECT: [Provoketive Magazine] Consuming God\nIP: 109.230.216.60\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Kayo\n    [Email] =&gt; tekopa@tekopa.com\n    [Website] =&gt; http://www.facebook.com/\n    [Message] =&gt; This is way more helpful than anything else I\'ve lokeod at.\n)\n','Kayo - 2011-11-21 17:09:16','','publish','open','open','','f734b91116c483bc65e781601a5fb404','','','2011-11-21 17:09:16','2011-11-22 01:09:16','',808,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2475',0,'feedback','',0),(5426,160,'2012-03-09 07:59:31','2012-03-09 15:59:31','','Mayan cal.','','inherit','open','open','','mayan-cal-2','','','2012-03-09 07:59:31','2012-03-09 15:59:31','',5423,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Mayan-cal.1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5026,80,'2012-02-09 07:29:03','0000-00-00 00:00:00','<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/birth-control-rules-obama_n_1264685.html?ref=tw\">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/birth-control-rules-obama_n_1264685.html?ref=tw</a>\r\n\r\nRepublicans complain about big government intruding into peoples lives forcing the Church to provide insurance coverage for  birth control control. Then, they turn around and want the government to intrude into people\'s lives by banning abortion and gay marriage. Which is it, guys?','Birth Control','','draft','open','open','','','','','2012-02-09 07:29:03','2012-02-09 15:29:03','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=5026',0,'post','',0),(5027,80,'2012-02-09 07:28:22','2012-02-09 15:28:22','<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/birth-control-rules-obama_n_1264685.html?ref=tw\">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/birth-control-rules-obama_n_1264685.html?ref=tw</a>\n\nRepublicans complain about big government intruding into peoples lives forcing the Church to provide birth control co. Then, they turn around and want the government to intrude into people\'s lives by','Birth Control','','inherit','open','open','','5026-revision','','','2012-02-09 07:28:22','2012-02-09 15:28:22','',5026,'http://provoketive.com/2012/02/09/5026-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(5028,1,'2012-02-06 06:02:44','2012-02-06 14:02:44','[caption id=\"attachment_4918\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Luke Harms\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/lukeharms.jpg\"><img src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/lukeharms-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4918\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThis week we continue our talk with US Army veteran Luke Harms.\r\n\r\nHarms served in both Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the US Army and then returned to Afghanistan as a civilian contractor.\r\n\r\nHarms shares his unique perspective on the war and the military meta-narrative and the struggle he faced adjusting from living in a combat zone to civilian life.\r\n\r\nBe sure and listen to <a href=\"http://somethingbeautifulpodcast.com/podcast/luke-harms-5-2/\" target=\"_blank\">part 1</a> of Harms\' story if you haven’t already.\r\n\r\n<strong>Things to consider as you listen ::</strong>\r\n\r\nWhat does it mean to be a maker of peace?\r\nDo you agree that by viewing one group as sub-human, it enables us to view anyone as sub-human?\r\nHow has guilt played a part in your journey?\r\nHow can we better process guilt and tragedy in our lives and the lives of those around us?\r\nHow has nationalism and/or American exceptionalism shaped your view of the current war on terror?\r\n\r\n[audio=\"http://somethingbeautifulpodcast.com/podcast/012012.mp3\"]','Something Beautiful - Luke Harms (part 2)','','inherit','open','open','','4916-revision-4','','','2012-02-06 06:02:44','2012-02-06 14:02:44','',4916,'http://provoketive.com/2012/02/06/4916-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(2486,20,'2011-11-21 22:44:54','2011-11-22 06:44:54','It seems pretty clear that the most determining fact of our existence is <em>when</em> and <em>where </em>we are born, and into what family or social class.  This makes all the difference. Obviously there are exceptions and stories of social mobility that are part and parcel of the American identity, but the vast majority of the possibilities for our lives on average are nonetheless limited or expanded by these conditions.  And almost every story you hear that defies this has a back-story that illustrates how all these divergent pieces had to come together at just the right time for that person’s “rags to riches” dream to come true.  The most significant thing about our birth though is that we have absolutely nothing to do with it.  Contemplating this truth alone can bring even the most ostentatious of us to our knees before God.  Yet we take so much pride in our accomplishments and are very quick to think that what we have is earned and achieved… is somehow ours to claim – despite that the very basis of those accomplishments is grounded in something utterly contingent and beyond our control.\n\nAt the same time, it’s also common to hear people in the church admit that everything is God’s and that we are just stewards of our money, but there can be a strong dose of superficiality even in this seemingly humble statement.  In fact, this idea can very easily serve to justify doing exactly what we want with 90% of our possessions, rather than to encourage us to take our God-given <em>collective</em> responsibility seriously and to make legitimate sacrifices.  Why?  Because this statement is almost always followed by a disclaimer like, “it’s not a crime to be ‘successful’ . . . as long what I’m doing doesn’t harm anyone, or as long as I give a tithe to my church, give generously to my kids,\" etc.  But is this view not oblivious of why some “have” and others “have not”?  What are the social conditions that permit us to live in relative peace and to have the chance to accumulate wealth?  What is the history that gave us access to prosperity?\n\nWith all things held constant, with “perfect competition” as economists like to say, if all of us begin with relatively equal access to opportunity, and all basic resources are available in relative plenitude, than it might just be true that to accumulate excessively is not a crime.  The complication is, no such constants exist.  My contention – which is definitely not a new one – is that in today’s world, it is <em>never</em> enough to just give money away and avoid “doing harm.”  We must work to transform the societal structures that perpetuate poverty and disability in the first place.  If our standard of living is at a level such that everyone in the world could feasibly live at that same level, then our wealth might justified – as long as we are doing our part to create that kind of world.  If most or all of our charitable donations go to a church, for instance, then additionally we’d better ask what our churches are doing to build such a world.\n\nSo yes, I submit that if there are those who are oppressed and dying by no fault of their own <em>at the same time</em> that there are Christians living in the world abundantly, then this situation itself is a crime.  But here is the key: our culpability for the death and destruction going on around the world is not primarily individual in nature.  Individuals ought not be exonerated, but I am not pointing to any one prosperous person and accusing them of ill intent.  Rather, there are structural and systemic forces at work that have long histories that have led us to this particular moment.  These forces amount to more than the mere sum of their parts and take on a self-preserving life of their own at the expense of the interest of society as a whole.  Great transfers of wealth occurred during the slave trade and various European (and more recently American!) colonial conquests whose consequences are still being felt today.  Generational sins are passed down, and we come into this world already conditioned by a past with which we are not very familiar and constantly take for granted.  This shortsightedness is kind of like what the philosopher Martin Heidegger liked to call “the forgetfulness of being.”  Christians everywhere, in the U.S. especially, are suffering from a fatal case of this forgetfulness.  The lesson to be learned is this: the essence of human life is one of thorough interdependency.  The second we fail to remember this, a foolish sense of entitlement creeps in, which, I suggest, produces the single greatest blind spot in American political and economic ideology.  Consequently, the most counter-cultural imagination available to Christians in the 21st Century one the runs directly against the current of individualism - understood here as the values of liberty and independence gone awry.\n\nNow, it should go without saying that individual responsibility and the potential weight of the choices we make can still be affirmed.  Choices matter – just not nearly as much as a lot of people think they do.  Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the choices and the options with which we are presented are all-too-often already narrowed down before they get to us\n\nWe <em>are</em> our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers, and we don’t get to ask, “oh but what did you do to end up in this situation?  Did you work hard like me?”  The arrogance of this sort of question is equal to the ignorance of the sinner who says to Jesus, “but when did we see you hungry?”  Admittedly, Jesus did not seem terribly concerned about necessarily changing the power structures of his day, but he was very intent on subverting and exposing them for what they were – especially when it came to social hierarchies.  He did this every time he healed or forgave someone who was unclean and who, in the eyes of society, had brought certain misfortunes upon herself.  What we’ve learned since Jesus, however, is that human beings are capable of being transformative agents in history both toward the end of greater or destruction.  The Bible doesn’t answer all of our contemporary questions when it comes to matters of faith and practice.  It does, however, give us the foundational principles, not the least of which is to plead the case of the afflicted and needy (Jeremiah 22:16).\n\nIn sum, individualism is not just one worldview to choose from among others with neutral value.  Individualism is an inherently illusory, naïve and pernicious perspective.  We must diagnose ourselves by taking off the rose-colored glasses handed to us by unmerited privilege, with their lenses that would otherwise give the status quo the benefit of the doubt.','The Myth of Individualism','','inherit','open','open','','2484-revision-2','','','2011-11-21 22:44:54','2011-11-22 06:44:54','',2484,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2484-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(2485,20,'2011-11-21 22:36:56','2011-11-22 06:36:56','It seems pretty clear that the most determining fact of our existence is <em>when</em> and <em>where </em>we are born, and into what family or social class.  This makes all the difference. Obviously there are exceptions and stories of social mobility that are part and parcel of the American identity, but the vast majority of the possibilities for our lives on average are nonetheless limited or expanded by these conditions.  And almost every story you hear that defies this has a back-story that illustrates how all these divergent pieces had to come together at just the right time for that person’s “rags to riches” dream to come true.  The most significant thing about our birth though is that we have absolutely nothing to do with it.  Contemplating this truth alone can bring even the most ostentatious of us to our knees before God.  Yet we take so much pride in our accomplishments and are very quick to think that what we have is earned and achieved… is somehow ours to claim – despite that the very basis of those accomplishments is grounded in something utterly contingent and beyond our control.\n\nAt the same time, it’s also common to hear people in the church admit that everything is God’s and that we are just stewards of our money, but there can be a strong dose of superficiality even in this seemingly humble statement.  In fact, this idea can very easily serve to justify doing exactly what we want with 90% of our possessions, rather than to encourage us to take our God-given <em>collective</em> responsibility seriously and to make legitimate sacrifices.  Why?  Because this statement is almost always followed by a disclaimer like, “it’s not a crime to be ‘successful’ . . . as long what I’m doing doesn’t harm anyone, or as long as I give a tithe to my church, give generously to my kids,\" etc.  But is this view not oblivious of why some “have” and others “have not”?  What are the social conditions that permit us to live in relative peace and to have the chance to accumulate wealth?  What is the history that gave us access to prosperity?\n\nWith all things held constant, with “perfect competition” as economists like to say, if all of us begin with relatively equal access to opportunity, and all basic resources are available in relative plenitude, than it might just be true that to accumulate excessively is not a crime.  The complication is, no such constants exist.  My contention – which is definitely not a new one – is that in today’s world, it is <em>never</em> enough to just give money away and avoid “doing harm.”  We must work to transform the societal structures that perpetuate poverty and disability in the first place.  If our standard of living is at a level such that everyone in the world could feasibly live at that same level, then our wealth might justified – as long as we are doing our part to create that kind of world.  If most or all of our charitable donations go to a church, for instance, then additionally we’d better ask what our churches are doing to build such a world.\n\nSo yes, I submit that if there are those who are oppressed and dying by no fault of their own <em>at the same time</em> that there are Christians living in the world abundantly, then this situation itself is a crime.  But here is the key: our culpability for the death and destruction going on around the world is not primarily individual in nature.  Individuals ought not be exonerated, but I am not pointing to any one prosperous person and accusing them of ill intent.  Rather, there are structural and systemic forces at work that have long histories that have led us to this particular moment.  These forces are often greater than the sum of their parts and take on a self-preserving life of their own at the expense of the interest of society as a whole.  Great transfers of wealth occurred during the slave trade and various European (and more recently American!) colonial conquests whose consequences are still being felt today.  Generational sins are passed down, and we come into this world already conditioned by a past with which we are not very familiar and constantly take for granted.  This shortsightedness is kind of like what the philosopher Martin Heidegger liked to call “the forgetfulness of being.”  Christians everywhere, in the U.S. especially, are suffering from a fatal case of this forgetfulness.  The lesson to be learned is this: the essence of human life is one of thorough interdependency.  The second we fail to remember this, a foolish sense of entitlement creeps in, which, I suggest, produces the single greatest blind spot in American political and economic ideology.  Consequently, the most counter-cultural imagination available to Christians in the 21st Century one the runs directly against the current of individualism - understood here as the values of liberty and independence gone awry.\n\nNow, it should go without saying that individual responsibility and the potential weight of the choices we make can still be affirmed.  Choices matter – just not nearly as much as a lot of people think they do.  Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the choices and the options with which we are presented are all-too-often already narrowed down before they get to us, and our horizons are anything but limitless.\n\nWe <em>are</em> our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers, and we don’t get to ask, “oh but what did you do to end up in this situation?  Did you work hard like me?”  The arrogance of this sort of question is equal to the ignorance of the sinner who says to Jesus, “but when did we see you hungry?”  Admittedly, Jesus did not seem terribly concerned about necessarily changing the power structures of his day, but he was very intent on subverting and exposing them for what they were – especially when it came to social hierarchies.  He did this every time he healed or forgave someone who was unclean and who, in the eyes of society, had brought certain misfortunes upon herself.  What we’ve learned since Jesus, however, is that human beings are capable of being transformative agents in history both toward the end of greater or destruction.  The Bible doesn’t answer all of our contemporary questions when it comes to matters of faith and practice.  It does, however, give us the foundational principles, not the least of which is to plead the case of the afflicted and needy (Jeremiah 22:16).\n\nIn sum, individualism is not just one worldview to choose from among others with neutral value.  Individualism is an inherently illusory, naïve and pernicious perspective.  We must diagnose ourselves by taking off the rose-colored glasses handed to us by unmerited privilege, with their lenses that would otherwise give the status quo the benefit of the doubt.','The Myth of Individualism','','inherit','open','open','','2484-revision','','','2011-11-21 22:36:56','2011-11-22 06:36:56','',2484,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/21/2484-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2488,0,'2011-11-22 02:38:24','2011-11-22 10:38:24','I was contacted by Jonathan about doing an article.  Hi Jonathan, are you looking for an exclusive piece or will the perfectionist article do.  Many people like that article and reprinting it in your mag might work.  Let me know what you are interested in specifically.  Thanks for the invitation.  Love, Scott\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Scott Kiloby\nAUTHOR EMAIL: scottkiloby@aol.com\nAUTHOR URL: \nSUBJECT: [Provoketive Magazine] Contact Us\nIP: 96.27.180.249\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Scott Kiloby\n    [Email] =&gt; scottkiloby@aol.com\n    [Comment] =&gt; I was contacted by Jonathan about doing an article.  Hi Jonathan, are you looking for an exclusive piece or will the perfectionist article do.  Many people like that article and reprinting it in your mag might work.  Let me know what you are interested in specifically.  Thanks for the invitation.  Love, Scott\r\n\n)\n','Scott Kiloby - 2011-11-22 02:38:24','','publish','open','open','','9d9618a7bbac0776a8692d8eac4ed603','','','2011-11-22 02:38:24','2011-11-22 10:38:24','',16,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2488',0,'feedback','',0),(5029,1,'2012-02-09 10:38:52','2012-02-09 18:38:52','[caption id=\"attachment_4918\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Luke Harms\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/lukeharms.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-4918\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/lukeharms-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThis week we continue our talk with US Army veteran Luke Harms.\r\n\r\nHarms served in both Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the US Army and then returned to Afghanistan as a civilian contractor.\r\n\r\nHarms shares his unique perspective on the war and the military meta-narrative and the struggle he faced adjusting from living in a combat zone to civilian life.\r\n\r\nBe sure and listen to <a href=\"http://somethingbeautifulpodcast.com/podcast/luke-harms-5-2/\" target=\"_blank\">part 1</a> of Harms\' story if you haven’t already.\r\n\r\n<strong>Things to consider as you listen ::</strong>\r\n\r\nWhat does it mean to be a maker of peace?\r\nDo you agree that by viewing one group as sub-human, it enables us to view anyone as sub-human?\r\nHow has guilt played a part in your journey?\r\nHow can we better process guilt and tragedy in our lives and the lives of those around us?\r\nHow has nationalism and/or American exceptionalism shaped your view of the current war on terror?\r\n\r\n[audio=\"http://somethingbeautifulpodcast.com/podcast/012012.mp3\"]','Something Beautiful - Luke Harms (part 2)','','inherit','open','open','','4916-revision-5','','','2012-02-09 10:38:52','2012-02-09 18:38:52','',4916,'http://provoketive.com/2012/02/09/4916-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(2491,96,'2011-11-23 09:27:15','2011-11-23 17:27:15','The news articles that come daily into my inbox are quite naturally those that reflect my interests. From years of living in Pakistan and the Middle East the news in that region is top of my list. I also have a deeper  reason. There is a particular piece of my heart in Cairo, Egypt. My 26 year old daughter, Annie, is living and studying in Egypt, and has been there for the past three years. She lives directly off Tahrir Square and as a news source she is current, articulate, and involved.\r\n\r\nOnce again Egypt is on the <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/world/middleeast/egypts-cabinet-offers-to-quit-as-activists-urge-wider-protests.html?ref=world\" target=\"_blank\">front page of the New York Time</a>s. The hopes of the Arab Spring and tremendous unity displayed by Christians and Muslims, men, women and children has slowly been discouraged, replaced with a disillusionment and anger at the questionable practices of the military. All of this has fueled another massive protest in Tahrir \"Freedom\" Square.  The number of demonstrators has grown to thousands, and hundreds have been wounded with many killed.\r\n\r\nIn the midst of the turmoil, a church stands, solid and strong.  <a href=\"http://arabkingdom.wordpress.com/welcome-to-kasr-el-dobara/\" target=\"_blank\">Kasr Al Dobara</a>, the largest evangelical church in the Middle East and a place of faith and hope is just off Tahrir Square. It is unable to hide in a suburb of safety and sits,  fully connected but set apart, in the middle of all the chaos that is Tahrir.  And so they are using the location in a way that reflects what they believe about God and the church. They have set up a clinic for the wounded. It is a picture of what the Church is called to be, a place that doesn\'t \"shoot the wounded\" but seeks to heal the wounded. This is the church, the body of Christ.\r\n\r\nThere are times when I struggle with the church, when I no longer want to attend. For years I sustained a soul wound that was the church. My theology became distorted and my vision clouded. I would listen to people talk about the church and how much they loved the church and it was like hearing a language that I used to know, but because of an injury I no longer had a memory that included that vocabulary.  Slowly and graciously God has been healing the soul wound and replacing it with a realistic hope and Kasr Al Dobara is part of that realistic hope. Refusing to hide in safety and seclusion, it\'s doors are open to those who are wounded with no expectation of anything in return. The hands of those both gifted and educated in healing are washing and bandaging wounds, using triage to assess the fallen, and comforting those that have lost someone. This is the Church. This is the body of Christ.\r\n\r\nThe short YouTube clip below shows this church in action. It is in Arabic but there is no need for translation of the actions that you will see. It is the Church, the body of Christ.\r\n\r\n[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ChHemNvnqI[/youtube]','Tahrir Square and a Clinic for the Wounded','','publish','open','open','','tahrir-square-and-a-clinic-for-the-wounded','','','2011-11-23 09:27:15','2011-11-23 17:27:15','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2491',0,'post','',8),(2492,96,'2011-11-22 05:16:04','2011-11-22 13:16:04','The news articles that come daily into my inbox are quite naturally those that reflect my interests. From years of living in Pakistan and the Middle East the news in that region is top of my list of interests. I also have a deeper  reason. There is a particular piece of my heart in Tahrir Square - my 26 year old daughter, Annie, has been living and studying in Egypt for the past three years. She lives directly off Tahrir Square and as a news source she is current, articulate, and involved.\n\nOnce again Egypt has a prominent place on the front page of the New York Times. The hopes of the Arab Spring and tremendous unity of Christians and Muslims, men, women and children have slowly been discouraged and a disillusionment with the questionable practices of the military has caused another massive protest in Tahrir \"Freedom\" Square.  The number of demonstrators has grown to thousands, and hundreds have been wounded with many killed.\n\nIn the midst of the turmoil, a church stands, solid and strong.  Kasr Al Dobara, the largest evangelical church in the Middle East and a place of faith and hope is just off Tahrir Square. It is unable to hide in a suburb of safety and stands, fully connected but set apart, in the middle of all the chaos that is Tahrir.  And so they are using the location in a way that reflects what they believe about God and the church. They have set up a clinic for the wounded. It is a picture of what the Church is called to be, a place that doesn\'t \"shoot the wounded\" but seeks to heal the wounded. This is the church, the body of Christ.\n\nThere are times when I struggle with the church, when I no longer want to attend. For years I sustained a soul wound that was the church. My theology became distorted and my vision clouded. I would listen to people talk about the church and how much they loved the church and it was like hearing a language that I used to know, but because of an injury I no longer had a memory that included that vocabulary.  Slowly and graciously God has been healing the soul wound and replacing it with a realistic hope and Kasr Al Dobara is part of that realistic hope. Refusing to hide in safety and seclusion, it\'s doors are open to those who are wounded with no expectation of anything in return. The hands of those both gifted and educated in healing are washing and bandaging wounds, using triage to assess the fallen, and comforting those that have lost someone. This is the Church. This is the body of Christ.\n\nThe short YouTube clip below shows this church in action. It is in Arabic but there is no need for translation of the actions that you will see. It is the Church, the body of Christ.','Tahrir Square and a Clinic for the Wounded','','inherit','open','open','','2491-revision','','','2011-11-22 05:16:04','2011-11-22 13:16:04','',2491,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2491-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2493,96,'2011-11-22 05:16:59','2011-11-22 13:16:59','The news articles that come daily into my inbox are quite naturally those that reflect my interests. From years of living in Pakistan and the Middle East the news in that region is top of my list of interests. I also have a deeper  reason. There is a particular piece of my heart in Tahrir Square - my 26 year old daughter, Annie, has been living and studying in Egypt for the past three years. She lives directly off Tahrir Square and as a news source she is current, articulate, and involved.\r\n\r\nOnce again Egypt has a prominent place on the front page of the New York Times. The hopes of the Arab Spring and tremendous unity of Christians and Muslims, men, women and children have slowly been discouraged and a disillusionment with the questionable practices of the military has caused another massive protest in Tahrir \"Freedom\" Square.  The number of demonstrators has grown to thousands, and hundreds have been wounded with many killed.\r\n\r\nIn the midst of the turmoil, a church stands, solid and strong.  <a href=\"http://arabkingdom.wordpress.com/welcome-to-kasr-el-dobara/\" target=\"_blank\">Kasr Al Dobara</a>, the largest evangelical church in the Middle East and a place of faith and hope is just off Tahrir Square. It is unable to hide in a suburb of safety and stands, fully connected but set apart, in the middle of all the chaos that is Tahrir.  And so they are using the location in a way that reflects what they believe about God and the church. They have set up a clinic for the wounded. It is a picture of what the Church is called to be, a place that doesn\'t \"shoot the wounded\" but seeks to heal the wounded. This is the church, the body of Christ.\r\n\r\nThere are times when I struggle with the church, when I no longer want to attend. For years I sustained a soul wound that was the church. My theology became distorted and my vision clouded. I would listen to people talk about the church and how much they loved the church and it was like hearing a language that I used to know, but because of an injury I no longer had a memory that included that vocabulary.  Slowly and graciously God has been healing the soul wound and replacing it with a realistic hope and Kasr Al Dobara is part of that realistic hope. Refusing to hide in safety and seclusion, it\'s doors are open to those who are wounded with no expectation of anything in return. The hands of those both gifted and educated in healing are washing and bandaging wounds, using triage to assess the fallen, and comforting those that have lost someone. This is the Church. This is the body of Christ.\r\n\r\nThe short YouTube clip below shows this church in action. It is in Arabic but there is no need for translation of the actions that you will see. It is the Church, the body of Christ.\r\n\r\n[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ChHemNvnqI&amp;w=560&amp;h=315]','Tahrir Square and a Clinic for the Wounded','','inherit','open','open','','2491-revision-2','','','2011-11-22 05:16:59','2011-11-22 13:16:59','',2491,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2491-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(2494,96,'2011-11-22 05:26:24','2011-11-22 13:26:24','The news articles that come daily into my inbox are quite naturally those that reflect my interests. From years of living in Pakistan and the Middle East the news in that region is top of my list. I also have a deeper  reason. There is a particular piece of my heart in Cairo, Egypt. My 26 year old daughter, Annie, is living and studying in Egypt, and has been there for the past three years. She lives directly off Tahrir Square and as a news source she is current, articulate, and involved.\n\nOnce again Egypt is on the front page of the New York Times. The hopes of the Arab Spring and tremendous unity displayed by Christians and Muslims, men, women and children has slowly been discouraged, replaced with a disillusionment and anger at the questionable practices of the military. All of this has fueled another massive protest in Tahrir \"Freedom\" Square.  The number of demonstrators has grown to thousands, and hundreds have been wounded with many killed.\n\nIn the midst of the turmoil, a church stands, solid and strong.  <a href=\"http://arabkingdom.wordpress.com/welcome-to-kasr-el-dobara/\" target=\"_blank\">Kasr Al Dobara</a>, the largest evangelical church in the Middle East and a place of faith and hope is just off Tahrir Square. It is unable to hide in a suburb of safety and sits,  fully connected but set apart, in the middle of all the chaos that is Tahrir.  And so they are using the location in a way that reflects what they believe about God and the church. They have set up a clinic for the wounded. It is a picture of what the Church is called to be, a place that doesn\'t \"shoot the wounded\" but seeks to heal the wounded. This is the church, the body of Christ.\n\nThere are times when I struggle with the church, when I no longer want to attend. For years I sustained a soul wound that was the church. My theology became distorted and my vision clouded. I would listen to people talk about the church and how much they loved the church and it was like hearing a language that I used to know, but because of an injury I no longer had a memory that included that vocabulary.  Slowly and graciously God has been healing the soul wound and replacing it with a realistic hope and Kasr Al Dobara is part of that realistic hope. Refusing to hide in safety and seclusion, it\'s doors are open to those who are wounded with no expectation of anything in return. The hands of those both gifted and educated in healing are washing and bandaging wounds, using triage to assess the fallen, and comforting those that have lost someone. This is the Church. This is the body of Christ.\n\nThe short YouTube clip below shows this church in action. It is in Arabic but there is no need for translation of the actions that you will see. It is the Church, the body of Christ.\n\n[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ChHemNvnqI&amp;w=560&amp;h=315]','Tahrir Square and a Clinic for the Wounded','','inherit','open','open','','2491-revision-3','','','2011-11-22 05:26:24','2011-11-22 13:26:24','',2491,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2491-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(2495,96,'2011-11-22 05:27:03','2011-11-22 13:27:03','The news articles that come daily into my inbox are quite naturally those that reflect my interests. From years of living in Pakistan and the Middle East the news in that region is top of my list. I also have a deeper  reason. There is a particular piece of my heart in Cairo, Egypt. My 26 year old daughter, Annie, is living and studying in Egypt, and has been there for the past three years. She lives directly off Tahrir Square and as a news source she is current, articulate, and involved.\r\n\r\nOnce again Egypt is on the <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/world/middleeast/egypts-cabinet-offers-to-quit-as-activists-urge-wider-protests.html?ref=world\" target=\"_blank\">front page of the New York Time</a>s. The hopes of the Arab Spring and tremendous unity displayed by Christians and Muslims, men, women and children has slowly been discouraged, replaced with a disillusionment and anger at the questionable practices of the military. All of this has fueled another massive protest in Tahrir \"Freedom\" Square.  The number of demonstrators has grown to thousands, and hundreds have been wounded with many killed.\r\n\r\nIn the midst of the turmoil, a church stands, solid and strong.  <a href=\"http://arabkingdom.wordpress.com/welcome-to-kasr-el-dobara/\" target=\"_blank\">Kasr Al Dobara</a>, the largest evangelical church in the Middle East and a place of faith and hope is just off Tahrir Square. It is unable to hide in a suburb of safety and sits,  fully connected but set apart, in the middle of all the chaos that is Tahrir.  And so they are using the location in a way that reflects what they believe about God and the church. They have set up a clinic for the wounded. It is a picture of what the Church is called to be, a place that doesn\'t \"shoot the wounded\" but seeks to heal the wounded. This is the church, the body of Christ.\r\n\r\nThere are times when I struggle with the church, when I no longer want to attend. For years I sustained a soul wound that was the church. My theology became distorted and my vision clouded. I would listen to people talk about the church and how much they loved the church and it was like hearing a language that I used to know, but because of an injury I no longer had a memory that included that vocabulary.  Slowly and graciously God has been healing the soul wound and replacing it with a realistic hope and Kasr Al Dobara is part of that realistic hope. Refusing to hide in safety and seclusion, it\'s doors are open to those who are wounded with no expectation of anything in return. The hands of those both gifted and educated in healing are washing and bandaging wounds, using triage to assess the fallen, and comforting those that have lost someone. This is the Church. This is the body of Christ.\r\n\r\nThe short YouTube clip below shows this church in action. It is in Arabic but there is no need for translation of the actions that you will see. It is the Church, the body of Christ.\r\n\r\n[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ChHemNvnqI&amp;w=560&amp;h=315]','Tahrir Square and a Clinic for the Wounded','','inherit','open','open','','2491-revision-4','','','2011-11-22 05:27:03','2011-11-22 13:27:03','',2491,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2491-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(2496,96,'2011-12-15 03:51:40','2011-12-15 11:51:40','The news articles that come daily into my inbox are quite naturally those that reflect my interests. From years of living in Pakistan and the Middle East the news in that region is top of my list. I also have a deeper  reason. There is a particular piece of my heart in Cairo, Egypt. My 26 year old daughter, Annie, is living and studying in Egypt, and has been there for the past three years. She lives directly off Tahrir Square and as a news source she is current, articulate, and involved.\n\nOnce again Egypt is on the <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/world/middleeast/egypts-cabinet-offers-to-quit-as-activists-urge-wider-protests.html?ref=world\" target=\"_blank\">front page of the New York Time</a>s. The hopes of the Arab Spring and tremendous unity displayed by Christians and Muslims, men, women and children has slowly been discouraged, replaced with a disillusionment and anger at the questionable practices of the military. All of this has fueled another massive protest in Tahrir \"Freedom\" Square.  The number of demonstrators has grown to thousands, and hundreds have been wounded with many killed.\n\nIn the midst of the turmoil, a church stands, solid and strong.  <a href=\"http://arabkingdom.wordpress.com/welcome-to-kasr-el-dobara/\" target=\"_blank\">Kasr Al Dobara</a>, the largest evangelical church in the Middle East and a place of faith and hope is just off Tahrir Square. It is unable to hide in a suburb of safety and sits,  fully connected but set apart, in the middle of all the chaos that is Tahrir.  And so they are using the location in a way that reflects what they believe about God and the church. They have set up a clinic for the wounded. It is a picture of what the Church is called to be, a place that doesn\'t \"shoot the wounded\" but seeks to heal the wounded. This is the church, the body of Christ.\n\nThere are times when I struggle with the church, when I no longer want to attend. For years I sustained a soul wound that was the church. My theology became distorted and my vision clouded. I would listen to people talk about the church and how much they loved the church and it was like hearing a language that I used to know, but because of an injury I no longer had a memory that included that vocabulary.  Slowly and graciously God has been healing the soul wound and replacing it with a realistic hope and Kasr Al Dobara is part of that realistic hope. Refusing to hide in safety and seclusion, it\'s doors are open to those who are wounded with no expectation of anything in return. The hands of those both gifted and educated in healing are washing and bandaging wounds, using triage to assess the fallen, and comforting those that have lost someone. This is the Church. This is the body of Christ.\n\nThe short YouTube clip below shows this church in action. It is in Arabic but there is no need for translation of the actions that you will see. It is the Church, the body of Christ.\n\n[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ChHemNvnqI[/youtube]','Tahrir Square and a Clinic for the Wounded','','inherit','open','open','','2491-autosave','','','2011-12-15 03:51:40','2011-12-15 11:51:40','',2491,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2491-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(2497,85,'2011-11-30 08:00:51','2011-11-30 16:00:51','You know what a grandma smells like, right? I don\'t even have to go into the details, you already know what I\'m talking about. If a grandma walked into the room where you are sitting right now, you would smell her before you saw her. Personally I don\'t think it\'s an altogether pleasant smell, but I tolerate it because the people that smell that way are ancient. It\'s very likely that they don\'t know any better than to soak in a tub of ivory soap for a few hours and then rub rose scented potpourri all over themselves.\r\n\r\nAny way the point here is that some smells are absolutely defining. You know what grandma smells like. For some people that smell stirs up some very stuffy and unpleasant memories. For some people all you can think about is wanting to hug your own grandma just one more time. When you smell freshly mown grass you may think of hours of back breaking labor, I think of sitting on the porch in summertime with a good book. When you smell coffee you might think of being a kid, waking up in the morning before dad went to work, I think of hours of back breaking labor.\r\n\r\nSo when scripture says that we are the aroma of God, well that will just make you stop for a moment. 2 Corinthians 2:15. It says that any one who dares spread the gospel, smells like God. So essentially, when you walk into a room, people smell God. What does God smell like? He smells like Death, He smells like Life. To people on the path to salvation, you smell like fresh air, like thanksgiving dinner, like a first love. To people on the path to destruction, you smell like rotten food, like that perfume store at the mall, like sulfur.\r\n\r\nObviously, it\'s not something you can actually smell, imagine being able to sniff out other believers. Or being able to smell if people were ready to hear the gospel. But just the same way you can\'t see a smell, you can\'t always explain why a person gives you the creeps, or inspires you just by being there. The spirit of God that is alive in us, is something that people are aware of, even if only subconsciously.\r\n\r\nYour sense of smell is the weakest sense you have. Eventually those sensors get used to what is in the air and you stop smelling it. Suppose you are in a room that has been exposed to a powerful airborne hallucinogen. You may smell it at first and take steps to get out of there. But after a while, you stop smelling it and you are far too fascinated by the pretty shapes on the walls to want to leave any more.\r\n\r\nSo if someone doesn\'t want you around, if they persecute you, if they spread lies about you, they smell God, they smell their own impending doom. Give it some time. Eventually they will realize that you are no danger, and soon may even begin to smell life on you rather than death.','Smells Like God','','publish','open','open','','smells-like-god','','','2011-11-28 12:15:17','2011-11-28 20:15:17','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2497',0,'post','',0),(2498,20,'2011-11-22 09:10:37','2011-11-22 17:10:37','It seems pretty clear that the most determining fact of our existence is <em>when</em> and <em>where </em>we are born, and into what family or social class.  This makes all the difference. Obviously there are exceptions and stories of social mobility that are part and parcel of the American identity, but the vast majority of the possibilities for our lives on average are nonetheless limited or expanded by these conditions.  And almost every story you hear that defies this has a back-story that illustrates how all these divergent pieces had to come together at just the right time for that person’s “rags to riches” dream to come true.  The most significant thing about our birth though is that we have absolutely nothing to do with it.  Contemplating this truth alone can bring even the most pretentious of us to our knees before God.  Yet we take so much pride in our accomplishments and are very quick to think that what we have is earned and achieved… is somehow ours to claim – despite that the very basis of those accomplishments is grounded in something utterly contingent and beyond our control.\n\nAt the same time, it’s also common to hear people in the church admit that everything is God’s and that we are just stewards of our money, but there can be a strong dose of superficiality even in this seemingly humble statement.  In fact, this idea can very easily serve to justify doing exactly what we want with 90% of our possessions, rather than to encourage us to take our God-given <em>collective</em> responsibility seriously and to make legitimate sacrifices.  Why?  Because this statement is almost always followed by a disclaimer like, “it’s not a crime to be ‘successful’ . . . as long what I’m doing doesn’t harm anyone, or as long as I give a tithe to my church, etc.\" etc.  But is this view not oblivious to why some “have” and others “have not”?  What are the social conditions that permit us to live in relative peace and to have the chance to accumulate wealth?  What is the history that gave us access to prosperity?\n\nWith all things held constant, with “perfect competition” as economists like to say, if all of us begin with relatively equal access to opportunity, and all basic resources are available in relative plenitude, than it might just be true that to accumulate excessively is not a crime.  The complication is, no such constants exist.  The point – which is definitely not a new one – is that in today’s world, it is <em>never</em> enough to just give money away and avoid “doing harm.”  We must work to transform the societal structures that perpetuate poverty and disability in the first place.  If our standard of living is at a level such that everyone in the world could feasibly live at that same level, then our wealth might justified – as long as we are doing our part to create that kind of world.  If most or all of our charitable donations go to a church, for instance, then additionally we’d better ask what our churches are doing to build such a world.\n\nSo yes, I submit that if there are those who are oppressed and dying by no fault of their own <em>at the same time</em> that there are Christians living in the world abundantly, then this situation itself is a crime.  But here is the key: our culpability for the death and destruction going on around the world is not primarily individual in nature.  Individuals ought not be exonerated, but I am not pointing to any one prosperous person and accusing them of ill intent.  Rather, there are structural and systemic forces at work that have long histories that have led us to this particular moment.  These forces amount to more than the mere sum of their parts and take on a self-preserving life of their own at the expense of the interest of society as a whole.  Great transfers of wealth occurred during the slave trade and various European (and more recently American!) colonial conquests whose consequences are still being felt today.  Generational sins are passed down, and we come into this world already conditioned by a past with which we are not very familiar and constantly take for granted.  This shortsightedness is kind of like what the philosopher Martin Heidegger liked to call “the forgetfulness of being.”  Christians everywhere, in the U.S. especially, are suffering from a fatal case of this forgetfulness.  The lesson to be learned is this: the essence of human life is one of thorough interdependency.  The second we fail to remember this, a foolish sense of entitlement creeps in, which, I suggest, produces the single greatest blind spot in American political and economic ideology.  Consequently, the most counter-cultural imagination available to Christians in the 21st Century is one that runs directly against the current of individualism - individualism being understood here as the values of liberty and independence gone awry.\n\nNow, it should go without saying that individual responsibility and the potential weight of the choices we make can still be affirmed.  Choices matter – just not nearly as much as a lot of people think they do.  Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the choices and the options with which we are presented are all-too-often already narrowed down before they get to us.  Our horizons are anything about limitless.\n\nWe <em>are</em> our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers, and we don’t get to ask, “oh but what did you do to end up in this situation?  Did you work hard like me?”  The arrogance of this sort of question is equal to the ignorance of the sinner who says to Jesus, “but when did we see you hungry?”  Admittedly, Jesus did not seem terribly concerned about necessarily changing the power structures of his day, but he was very intent on subverting and exposing them for what they were – especially when it came to social hierarchies.  He did this every time he healed or forgave people who were unclean and who, in the eyes of society, had brought certain misfortunes upon themselves.  What we’ve learned since Jesus, however, is that human beings are capable of being transformative agents in history working toward either a more just social order or a more desruct.  The Bible doesn’t answer all of our contemporary questions when it comes to matters of faith and practice.  It does, however, give us the foundational principles, not the least of which is to plead the case of the afflicted and needy (Jeremiah 22:16).\n\nIn sum, individualism is not just one worldview to choose from among others with neutral value.  Individualism is an inherently illusory, naïve and pernicious perspective.  We must diagnose ourselves by taking off the rose-colored glasses handed to us by unmerited privilege, with their lenses that would otherwise give the status quo the benefit of the doubt.','The Myth of Individualism','','inherit','open','open','','2484-revision-3','','','2011-11-22 09:10:37','2011-11-22 17:10:37','',2484,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2484-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(2499,20,'2011-11-22 09:12:36','2011-11-22 17:12:36','It seems pretty clear that the most determining fact of our existence is <em>when</em> and <em>where </em>we are born, and into what family or social class.  This makes all the difference. Obviously there are exceptions and stories of social mobility that are part and parcel of the American identity, but the vast majority of the possibilities for our lives on average are nonetheless limited or expanded by these conditions.  And almost every story you hear that defies this has a back-story that illustrates how all these divergent pieces had to come together at just the right time for that person’s “rags to riches” dream to come true.  The most significant thing about our birth though is that we have absolutely nothing to do with it.  Contemplating this truth alone can bring even the most pretentious of us to our knees before God.  Yet we take so much pride in our accomplishments and are very quick to think that what we have is earned and achieved… is somehow ours to claim – despite that the very basis of those accomplishments is grounded in something utterly contingent and beyond our control.\n\nAt the same time, it’s also common to hear people in the church admit that everything is God’s and that we are just stewards of our money, but there can be a strong dose of superficiality even in this seemingly humble statement.  In fact, this idea can very easily serve to justify doing exactly what we want with 90% of our possessions, rather than to encourage us to take our God-given <em>collective</em> responsibility seriously and to make legitimate sacrifices.  Why?  Because this statement is almost always followed by a disclaimer like, “it’s not a crime to be ‘successful’ . . . as long what I’m doing doesn’t harm anyone, or as long as I give a tithe to my church, etc.\" etc.  But is this view not oblivious to why some “have” and others “have not”?  What are the social conditions that permit us to live in relative peace and to have the chance to accumulate wealth?  What is the history that gave us access to prosperity?\n\nWith all things held constant, with “perfect competition” as economists like to say, if all of us begin with relatively equal access to opportunity, and all basic resources are available in relative plenitude, than it might just be true that to accumulate excessively is not a crime.  The complication is, no such constants exist.  The point – which is definitely not a new one – is that in today’s world, it is <em>never</em> enough to just give money away and avoid “doing harm.”  We must work to transform the societal structures that perpetuate poverty and disability in the first place.  If our standard of living is at a level such that everyone in the world could feasibly live at that same level, then our wealth might justified – as long as we are doing our part to create that kind of world.  If most or all of our charitable donations go to a church, for instance, then additionally we’d better ask what our churches are doing to build such a world.\n\nSo yes, I submit that if there are those who are oppressed and dying by no fault of their own <em>at the same time</em> that there are Christians living in the world abundantly, then this situation itself is a crime.  But here is the key: our culpability for the death and destruction going on around the world is not primarily individual in nature.  Individuals ought not be exonerated, but I am not pointing to any one prosperous person and accusing them of ill intent.  Rather, there are structural and systemic forces at work that have long histories that have led us to this particular moment.  These forces amount to more than the mere sum of their parts and take on a self-preserving life of their own at the expense of the interest of society as a whole.  Great transfers of wealth occurred during the slave trade and various European (and more recently American!) colonial conquests whose consequences are still being felt today.  Generational sins are passed down, and we come into this world already conditioned by a past with which we are not very familiar and constantly take for granted.  This shortsightedness is kind of like what the philosopher Martin Heidegger liked to call “the forgetfulness of being.”  Christians everywhere, in the U.S. especially, are suffering from a fatal case of this forgetfulness.  The lesson to be learned is this: the essence of human life is one of thorough interdependency.  The second we fail to remember this, a foolish sense of entitlement creeps in, which, I suggest, produces the single greatest blind spot in American political and economic ideology.  Consequently, the most counter-cultural imagination available to Christians in the 21st Century is one that runs directly against the current of individualism - individualism being understood here as the values of liberty and independence gone awry.\n\nNow, it should go without saying that individual responsibility and the potential weight of the choices we make can still be affirmed.  Choices matter – just not nearly as much as a lot of people think they do.  Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the choices and the options with which we are presented are all-too-often already narrowed down before they get to us.  Our horizons are anything about limitless.\n\nWe <em>are</em> our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers, and we don’t get to ask, “oh but what did you do to end up in this situation?  Did you work hard like me?”  The arrogance of this sort of question is equal to the ignorance of the sinner who says to Jesus, “but when did we see you hungry?”  Admittedly, Jesus did not seem terribly concerned about necessarily changing the power structures of his day, but he was very intent on subverting and exposing them for what they were – especially when it came to social hierarchies.  He did this every time he healed or forgave people who were unclean and who, in the eyes of society, had brought certain misfortunes upon themselves.  What we’ve learned since Jesus, however, is that human beings are capable of being transformative agents in history working toward either a more just social order or a more disparate gap between classes.  The Bible doesn’t answer all of our contemporary questions when it comes to matters of faith and practice.  It does, however, give us the foundational principles, not the least of which is to plead the case of the afflicted and needy (Jeremiah 22:16).\n\nIn sum, individualism is not just one worldview to choose from among others with neutral value.  Individualism is an inherently illusory, naïve and pernicious perspective.  We must diagnose ourselves by taking off the rose-colored glasses handed to us by unmerited privilege, with their lenses that would otherwise give the status quo the benefit of the doubt.','The Myth of Individualism','','inherit','open','open','','2484-revision-4','','','2011-11-22 09:12:36','2011-11-22 17:12:36','',2484,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2484-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(2500,20,'2012-03-24 13:41:49','2012-03-24 20:41:49','It seems pretty clear that the most determining fact of our existence is <em>when</em> and <em>where </em>we are born, and into what family or social class.  This makes all the difference. Obviously there are exceptions and stories of social mobility that are part and parcel of the American identity, but the vast majority of the possibilities for our lives on average are nonetheless limited or expanded by these conditions.  And almost every story you hear that defies this has a back-story that illustrates how all these divergent pieces had to come together at just the right time for that person’s “rags to riches” dream to come true.  The most significant thing about our birth though is that we have absolutely nothing to do with it.  Contemplating this truth alone can bring even the most pretentious of us to our knees before God.  Yet we take so much pride in our accomplishments and are very quick to think that what we have is earned and achieved… is somehow ours to claim – despite that the very basis of those accomplishments is grounded in something utterly contingent and beyond our control.\n\nAt the same time, it’s also common to hear people in the church admit that everything is God’s and that we are just stewards of our money, but there can be a strong dose of superficiality even in this seemingly humble statement.  In fact, this idea can very easily serve to justify doing exactly what we want with 90% of our possessions, rather than to encourage us to take our God-given <em>collective</em> responsibility seriously and to make legitimate sacrifices.  Why?  Because this statement is almost always followed by a disclaimer like, “it’s not a crime to be ‘successful’ . . . as long what I’m doing doesn’t harm anyone, or as long as I give a tithe to my church, etc.\" etc.  But is this view not oblivious to why some “have” and others “have not”?  What are the social conditions that permit us to live in relative peace and to have the chance to accumulate wealth?  What is the history that gave us access to prosperity?\n\nWith all things held constant, with “perfect competition” as economists like to say, if all of us begin with relatively equal access to opportunity, and all basic resources are available in relative plenitude, than it might just be true that to accumulate excessively is not a crime.  The complication is, no such constants exist.  The point – which is definitely not a new one – is that in today’s world, it is <em>never</em> enough to just give money away and avoid “doing harm.”  We must work to transform the societal structures that perpetuate poverty and disability in the first place.  If our standard of living is at a level such that everyone in the world could feasibly live at that same level, then our wealth might be justified – as long as we are doing our part to create that kind of world.  If most or all of our charitable donations go to a church, for instance, then additionally we’d better ask what our churches are doing to build such a world.\n\nSo yes, I submit that if there are those who are oppressed and dying by no fault of their own <em>at the same time</em> that there are Christians living in the world abundantly, then this situation itself is a crime.  But here is the key: our culpability for the death and destruction going on around the world is not primarily individual in nature.  Individuals ought not be exonerated, but I am not pointing to any one prosperous person and accusing them of ill intent.  Rather, there are structural and systemic forces at work that have long histories that have led us to this particular moment.  These forces amount to more than the mere sum of their parts and take on a self-preserving life of their own at the expense of the interest of society as a whole.  Great transfers of wealth occurred during the slave trade and various European (and more recently American!) colonial conquests whose consequences are still being felt today.  Generational sins are passed down, and we come into this world already conditioned by a past with which we are not very familiar and constantly take for granted.  This shortsightedness is kind of like what the philosopher Martin Heidegger liked to call “the forgetfulness of being.”  Christians everywhere, in the U.S. especially, are suffering from a fatal case of this forgetfulness.  The lesson to be learned is this: the essence of human life is one of thorough interdependency.  The second we fail to remember this, a foolish sense of entitlement creeps in, which, I suggest, produces the single greatest blind spot in American political and economic ideology.  Consequently, the most counter-cultural imagination available to Christians in the 21st Century is one that runs directly against the current of individualism - individualism being understood here as the values of liberty and independence gone awry.\n\nNow, it should go without saying that individual responsibility and the potential weight of the choices we make can still be affirmed.  Choices matter – just not nearly as much as a lot of people think they do.  Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the choices and the options with which we are presented are all-too-often already narrowed down before they get to us.  Our horizons are anything about limitless.\n\nWe <em>are</em> our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers, and we don’t get to ask, “oh but what did you do to end up in this situation?  Did you work hard like me?”  The arrogance of this sort of question is equal to the ignorance of the sinner who says to Jesus, “but when did we see you hungry?”  Admittedly, Jesus did not seem terribly concerned about necessarily changing the power structures of his day, but he was very intent on subverting and exposing them for what they were – especially when it came to social hierarchies.  He did this every time he healed or forgave people who were unclean and who, in the eyes of society, had brought certain misfortunes upon themselves.  What we’ve learned since Jesus, however, is that human beings are capable of being transformative agents in history working toward either a more just social order or a more disparate gap between classes.  The Bible doesn’t answer all of our contemporary questions when it comes to matters of faith and practice.  It does, however, give us the foundational principles, not the least of which is to plead the case of the afflicted and needy (Jeremiah 22:16).\n\nIn sum, individualism is not just one worldview to choose from among others with neutral value.  Individualism is an inherently illusory, naïve and pernicious perspective.  We must diagnose ourselves by taking off the rose-colored glasses handed to us by unmerited privilege - with their lenses that would otherwise give the status quo the benefit of the doubt.\n\n<em>Photo Credit: Oddsock</em>','The Myth of Individualism','','inherit','open','open','','2484-autosave','','','2012-03-24 13:41:49','2012-03-24 20:41:49','',2484,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2484-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(2502,43,'2011-11-25 09:00:09','2011-11-25 17:00:09','Where did we get the clever idea that women are all kooky ditzes?  Perhaps it\'s from this \"re-post if you agree\" going around Facebook:\r\n<blockquote>I push doors that clearly say PULL. I laugh harder when I\'m trying to explain why I\'m laughing. I walk in to a room and forget why I was there. I count on my fingers. I hide the pain from my loved ones. I say \"its a long story\",...When it really isn\'t, just to get out of having to tell it. I cry a lot more then you think. I care about people who don\'t care about me. I am strong because I have to be, not because I want to be. I listen to you, even when you don\'t listen to me. And a hug will always help. Yes, I\'m a girl!!!! Re-post if you\'re a lady and proud of it! :D</blockquote>\r\nI don\'t know about you, but nothing on that list seems particularly feminine to me.  It\'s not even terribly clever; it lacks all the cheeky irony of, say, <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1ilu-ARtiY&amp;feature=related\">Ann-Margaret in \"Bye Bye Birdie.\"</a>  (In case you\'re wondering, Ann-Margaret is singing about how wonderful it is to be a woman, while dressing herself as a boy.)\r\n\r\nHow is it uniquely girlish to do any of the things listed in that post?  After all, I\'ve seen plenty of men try to use a door the wrong way and lots of people, male and female alike, forget why they\'re in a room.  In my own experience, guys cry more than people think, too, mainly because they\'re coached not to do it publicly.  On the flip side, I don\'t know a whole lot of women who count on their fingers, but I do know plenty who aren\'t very good listeners.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/vintage-barbie-line.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2503\" title=\"vintage barbie line\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/vintage-barbie-line-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"100\" /></a>More than the fact that this is somehow supposed to represent common feminine traits is that it\'s aimed at adolescent girls.  At an age when girls (and boys, too, for that matter) need to hear that they are capable and that it\'s okay to be themselves, they are instead hearing:\r\n\r\n-Girls are silly\r\n\r\n-Girls are forgetful and distractable\r\n\r\n-Girls aren\'t any good at math\r\n\r\n-Girls are expected to hide their true feelings, because no one wants an emotional drama queen\r\n\r\n-Girls cry <em>all the time</em>\r\n\r\n-Girls are expected to drain themselves emotionally for other people, who will walk all over them\r\n\r\n-Girls are strong, but secretly wish they could be \"themselves,\" meaning be weak\r\n\r\nAre these the lessons we want our daughters to learn?  I won\'t deny that there are biological differences between men and women.  However, not one of the things on the list has anything to do with those differences.  Those are all cultural assumptions, all of which imply that girls and women are somehow <em>less</em>:  Less intelligent, less capable, less emotionally stable.  We\'re systematically indoctrinating our young women with the idea that they are unworthy, but instead of being outraged, girls are passing this around to each other and celebrating.  They honestly seem to believe that they are sharing some kind of creed which gives them permission to be true to themselves.\r\n\r\nIt\'s no wonder fewer women enter math and science fields; women are still paid less for the same jobs; and we have yet to elect a woman as President of the United States.\r\n\r\nThe saddest part of this is that it\'s women who are providing their daughters with instruction in inferiority.  It\'s possible some man made up the above statement, but I have yet to see it on any of their pages.  Adult women are spreading this foolishness right alongside their daughters.  I understand <em>men</em> who treat women as a subspecies.  Plenty of men still claim that there is no such thing as sex discrimination.  (Do a web search for \"men are better than women\"; there are whole web sites devoted to this concept.)  But <em>women</em>?  This would be similar to my Italian-American relatives telling their kids that they\'re not as good as the kids of other ethnicity on the next block.  It makes about as much sense.\r\n\r\nUntil we stop perpetuating stereotypes about our own gender, we can hardly expect men to take us seriously.  Perhaps we need to start a new Facebook meme in which we make it clear that both boys and girls have value, based not on their traits or intelligence, but simply by virtue of their humanity.\r\n\r\n<em>Photo Credit: Adwriter</em>','Being a Girl','','publish','open','open','','being-a-girl','','','2011-11-23 12:36:03','2011-11-23 20:36:03','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2502',0,'post','',2),(2503,43,'2011-11-22 14:22:15','2011-11-22 22:22:15','','vintage barbie line','','inherit','open','open','','vintage-barbie-line','','','2011-11-22 14:22:15','2011-11-22 22:22:15','',2502,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/vintage-barbie-line.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2504,43,'2011-11-22 14:18:04','2011-11-22 22:18:04','Where did we get the clever idea that women are all kooky ditzes?  Perhaps it\'s from this \"re-post if you agree\" going around Facebook:\n<blockquote>I push doors that clearly say PULL. I laugh harder when I\'m trying to explain why I\'m laughing. I walk in to a room and forget why I was there. I count on my fingers. I hide the pain from my loved ones. I say \"its a long story\",...When it really isn\'t, just to get out of having to tell it. I cry a lot more then you think. I care about people who don\'t care about me. I am strong because I have to be, not because I want to be. I listen to you, even when you don\'t listen to me. And a hug will always help. Yes, I\'m a girl!!!! Re-post if you\'re a lady and proud of it! :D</blockquote>\nI don\'t know about you, but nothing on that list seems particularly feminine to me.  It\'s not even terribly clever; it lacks all the cheeky irony of, say, <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1ilu-ARtiY&amp;feature=related\">Ann-Margaret in \"Bye Bye Birdie.\"</a>  (In case you\'re wondering, Ann-Margaret is singing about how wonderful it is to be a woman, while dressing herself as a boy.)\n\nHow is it uniquely girlish to do any of the things listed in that post?  After all, I\'ve seen plenty of men try to use a door the wrong way and lots of people, male and female alike, forget why they\'re in a room.  In my own experience, guys cry more than people think, too, mainly because they\'re coached not to do it publicly.  On the flip side, I don\'t know a whole lot of women who count on their fingers, but I do know plenty who aren\'t very good listeners.\n\nMore than the fact that this is somehow supposed to represent common feminine traits is that it\'s aimed at adolescent girls.  At an age when girls (and boys, too, for that matter) need to hear that they are capable and that it\'s okay to be themselves, they are instead hearing:\n\n-Girls are silly\n\n-Girls are forgetful and distractable\n\n-Girls aren\'t any good at math\n\n-Girls are expected to hide their true feelings, because no one wants an emotional drama queen\n\n-Girls cry <em>all the time</em>\n\n-Girls are expected to drain themselves emotionally for other people, who will walk all over them\n\n-Girls are strong, but secretly wish they could be \"themselves,\" meaning be weak\n\nAre these the lessons we want our daughters to learn?  I won\'t deny that there are biological differences between men and women.  However, not one of the things on the list has anything to do with those differences.  Those are all cultural assumptions, all of which imply that girls and women are somehow <em>less</em>:  Less intelligent, less capable, less emotionally stable.  We\'re systematically indoctrinating our young women with the idea that they are unworthy, but instead of being outraged, girls are passing this around to each other and celebrating.  They honestly seem to believe that they are sharing some kind of creed which gives them permission to be true to themselves.\n\nIt\'s no wonder fewer women enter math and science fields; women are still paid less for the same jobs; and we have yet to elect a woman as President of the United States.\n\nThe saddest part of this is that it\'s women who are providing their daughters with instruction in inferiority.  It\'s possible some man made up the above statement, but I have yet to see it on any of their pages.  Adult women are also spreading this foolishness.  I understand <em>men</em> who treat women as a subspecies.  Plenty of men still claim that there is no such thing as sex discrimination.  (Do a web search for \"men are better than women\"; there are whole web sites devoted to this concept.)  But <em>women</em>?  This would be similar to my Italian-American relatives telling their kids that they\'re not as good as the kids of other ethnicities on the next block.  It makes about as much sense.\n\nUntil we stop perpetuating stereotypes about our own gender, we can hardly expect men to take us seriously.  Perhaps we need to start a new Facebook meme in which we make it clear that both boys and girls have value, based not on their traits or intelligence, but simply by virtue of their humanity.\n\n&nbsp;','Being a Girl','','inherit','open','open','','2502-revision','','','2011-11-22 14:18:04','2011-11-22 22:18:04','',2502,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2502-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2505,43,'2011-11-22 14:22:28','2011-11-22 22:22:28','Where did we get the clever idea that women are all kooky ditzes?  Perhaps it\'s from this \"re-post if you agree\" going around Facebook:\r\n<blockquote>I push doors that clearly say PULL. I laugh harder when I\'m trying to explain why I\'m laughing. I walk in to a room and forget why I was there. I count on my fingers. I hide the pain from my loved ones. I say \"its a long story\",...When it really isn\'t, just to get out of having to tell it. I cry a lot more then you think. I care about people who don\'t care about me. I am strong because I have to be, not because I want to be. I listen to you, even when you don\'t listen to me. And a hug will always help. Yes, I\'m a girl!!!! Re-post if you\'re a lady and proud of it! :D</blockquote>\r\nI don\'t know about you, but nothing on that list seems particularly feminine to me.  It\'s not even terribly clever; it lacks all the cheeky irony of, say, <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1ilu-ARtiY&amp;feature=related\">Ann-Margaret in \"Bye Bye Birdie.\"</a>  (In case you\'re wondering, Ann-Margaret is singing about how wonderful it is to be a woman, while dressing herself as a boy.)\r\n\r\nHow is it uniquely girlish to do any of the things listed in that post?  After all, I\'ve seen plenty of men try to use a door the wrong way and lots of people, male and female alike, forget why they\'re in a room.  In my own experience, guys cry more than people think, too, mainly because they\'re coached not to do it publicly.  On the flip side, I don\'t know a whole lot of women who count on their fingers, but I do know plenty who aren\'t very good listeners.\r\n\r\nMore than the fact that this is somehow supposed to represent common feminine traits is that it\'s aimed at adolescent girls.  At an age when girls (and boys, too, for that matter) need to hear that they are capable and that it\'s okay to be themselves, they are instead hearing:\r\n\r\n-Girls are silly\r\n\r\n-Girls are forgetful and distractable\r\n\r\n-Girls aren\'t any good at math\r\n\r\n-Girls are expected to hide their true feelings, because no one wants an emotional drama queen\r\n\r\n-Girls cry <em>all the time</em>\r\n\r\n-Girls are expected to drain themselves emotionally for other people, who will walk all over them\r\n\r\n-Girls are strong, but secretly wish they could be \"themselves,\" meaning be weak\r\n\r\nAre these the lessons we want our daughters to learn?  I won\'t deny that there are biological differences between men and women.  However, not one of the things on the list has anything to do with those differences.  Those are all cultural assumptions, all of which imply that girls and women are somehow <em>less</em>:  Less intelligent, less capable, less emotionally stable.  We\'re systematically indoctrinating our young women with the idea that they are unworthy, but instead of being outraged, girls are passing this around to each other and celebrating.  They honestly seem to believe that they are sharing some kind of creed which gives them permission to be true to themselves.\r\n\r\nIt\'s no wonder fewer women enter math and science fields; women are still paid less for the same jobs; and we have yet to elect a woman as President of the United States.\r\n\r\nThe saddest part of this is that it\'s women who are providing their daughters with instruction in inferiority.  It\'s possible some man made up the above statement, but I have yet to see it on any of their pages.  Adult women are also spreading this foolishness.  I understand <em>men</em> who treat women as a subspecies.  Plenty of men still claim that there is no such thing as sex discrimination.  (Do a web search for \"men are better than women\"; there are whole web sites devoted to this concept.)  But <em>women</em>?  This would be similar to my Italian-American relatives telling their kids that they\'re not as good as the kids of other ethnicities on the next block.  It makes about as much sense.\r\n\r\nUntil we stop perpetuating stereotypes about our own gender, we can hardly expect men to take us seriously.  Perhaps we need to start a new Facebook meme in which we make it clear that both boys and girls have value, based not on their traits or intelligence, but simply by virtue of their humanity.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Being a Girl','','inherit','open','open','','2502-revision-2','','','2011-11-22 14:22:28','2011-11-22 22:22:28','',2502,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2502-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(2506,0,'2011-11-22 16:00:15','2011-11-23 00:00:15','Nondual teachings as relevant to modern life\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Scott Kiloby\nAUTHOR EMAIL: scottkiloby@aol.com\nAUTHOR URL: http://www.livingrealization.organdwww.kiloby.com\nSUBJECT: Provoketive Magazine Writing For Provoketive\nIP: 96.27.180.249\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Scott Kiloby\n    [Email] =&gt; scottkiloby@aol.com\n    [Existing Blog or Website] =&gt; www.livingrealization.org and www.kiloby.com\n    [List the topic you are interested writing about] =&gt; Nondual teachings as relevant to modern life\n    [Current or New WordPress Login Name (We\'ll send you a password.)] =&gt; Scottkiloby\n)\n','Scott Kiloby - 2011-11-22 16:00:15','','publish','open','open','','e2ecefc9a15aa88c6adeb2aafc53fffd','','','2011-11-22 16:00:15','2011-11-23 00:00:15','',358,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=2506',0,'feedback','',0),(2508,102,'2011-11-26 08:00:45','2011-11-26 16:00:45','Before I was married, my hairdresser—a divorced man—told me about a woman in her sixties who explained to him the meaning of marriage, the breakdown of gender roles, and the secret to staying together. She could see beyond her husband’s analytical nature. She was perspicacious. It thus became her job to let her husband in on the nuances of others—ticks, sidelong glances, subtleties. Once her husband had been informed of her observations and ensuing opinions, she trusted his judgment. Her husband, a prominent entrepreneur, used her insights to make the best decisions for business, for family, for himself. After forty years of marriage, by operating out of their inherent strengths, they had created a peaceful and thriving life together, as one.\r\n\r\nI usually can see a thing before it happens. I believe I was born this way, but I also know that in reconciling with my creator as a Christian, I’ve learned how to harness these gifts for the greater good.\r\n\r\nNearly five years ago, just after my husband Greg and I got married, I was overcome by sadness whenever he reacted a certain way to others. I knew that if this behavior did not change, it would inhibit Greg as a Christian, husband, father, and leader. I believed this revelation was from God, so I told Greg what I perceived. He stared at me blankly. He had no idea what I meant. Without pushing the issue further, I went to bed that night reminding the Lord that He was the one who had prompted me to broach this subject.\r\n\r\nThe following morning, Greg nudged me awake. He said, “I had a dream last night. The Lord showed me what you were talking about.”\r\n\r\nGreg has not exhibited that behavior since.\r\n\r\nOne of Greg’s fortes is deciphering and explaining emotions in those with whom he is close. His insights have helped me heal from past abuse. I’ve become a more honest, confident and forthright person because of Greg’s influence.\r\n\r\nSince we trust each other in these abilities, Greg as the “spiritual leader” of our family is not burdened down by religious expectation to be perfect in single handedly making decisions for our family. Instead, he has the responsibility of seeking God’s wisdom with me. Our relationship becomes a conduit for God’s voice.\r\n\r\nMarriages cannot function properly without both spouses operating in their innate strengths—spiritual or otherwise.\r\n\r\nIt is an absolute necessity for women to speak up in their marriages, not only to enrich their relationships but also to benefit their church communities. The church cannot unite as God intended—and as Christ prayed for in the garden—without women rising up to reclaim their roles. If American Christian culture has found that its marriages and churches are broken or struggling, it may serve both institutions well to reevaluate and reform their philosophy of gender roles.\r\n\r\nJust as the church cannot operate effectively without Christ’s initiation, the Holy Spirit cannot carry out God’s perfect will without the church’s participation. The symbiotic relationship between God and His people should be mirrored by husbands and wives.\r\n\r\nRegrettably, churches bent toward legalism often teach that God is angry with His people (never mind the sinners), and to merit entrance into Heaven, Christians must restrict pleasures, separate from mainstream society, and be silent before God’s throne. This is not God’s will. God through Christ invites interaction; He establishes love as the cornerstone of behavior; He speaks to His people through the written word, His Holy Spirit, and revelation. He asks, in return, for them to make their requests known to Him.\r\n\r\nGod created marriage as an earthly reflection of a spiritual dynamic.\r\n\r\nHowever, too many Christian marriages—and churches—have defaulted to Paul’s presumed biblical admonitions to silence women. Instead of looking at the context of Paul’s culture, in which women notoriously overused the gift of speech, we should consider the entirety of the Bible to develop a realistic view of women.\r\n\r\nFor example, just before Pontius Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified, his wife had warned him from her dream not to punish Jesus. Had Pilate regarded his wife’s counsel, not only would the Apostle’s Creed have read differently, but Pilate’s fate would have been one of grace, not shame.\r\n\r\nWith a contrasting outcome in Exodus, the Lord spared Moses’ life because Zipporah interceded to circumcise their sons. She intuited what Moses had not.\r\n\r\nFulfilling Deborah’s prophecy, Jael overrode her husband’s peace agreement, discerning her greater calling, and won Israel’s victory, satisfying God’s will for the Israelites.\r\n\r\nDuring the week of Jesus’ death, a woman poured oil from an alabaster jar over Jesus’ head. Jesus reminded the men who had derided her actions that she was anointing Him for burial. This woman knew of Jesus what His disciples had not perceived—even though Jesus had already alerted them of His impending death.\r\n\r\nDespite these biblical proofs, for too long in church history, women have been relegated to the back of the sanctuary—for food preparation, decorating, childcare. Although many women are gifted, even called, to serve churches in such ways impressively, many others can hear the voice of God, perceive His heart’s desire, and express these revelations boldly to the church.\r\n\r\nThe prophetesses of the Most High God are fulfilling the scripture from Joel 2:28: “Your sons and <em>daughters</em> shall prophesy.” During Pentecost, when the church was united, Peter justified the speaking in tongues and prophesying with this Scripture.\r\n\r\nThe daughters are here and ready. They just need invitations to speak.\r\n\r\nWhen women take their abilities home, families are restored and strengthened. Husbands no longer seize under the pressure of unreasonable expectations, and wives are not bound under an unjust restraining order. A new generation of children will grow up witnessing their parents in full-effect—at home, in the workplace, at church.\r\n\r\nRedefining gender roles in the Christian community may not be as difficult as it would seem. It will be like entering into a world where people are as they were meant to be.','Gender Roles As God Intended','','publish','open','open','','gender-roles-as-god-intended','','','2011-11-28 10:13:05','2011-11-28 18:13:05','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2508',0,'post','',41),(2790,110,'2011-12-05 10:00:32','2011-12-05 18:00:32','In the <a title=\"De-harmonizing Christmas – Part 1: Mark\" href=\"http://provoketive.com/2011/11/29/de-harmonizing-christmas-part-1-mark/\">first post</a> of this Advent series, I introduced the idea that we have \'harmonized\' Christmas, combining the different voices and stories of the Gospel writers. I think this homogenized story loses some of its rawness and punch. By \'de-harmonizing\' we start to hear the voices more distinctly and recognize the melodies that each one is singing as special in their own right.\r\n\r\nWhile <a title=\"De-harmonizing Christmas – Part 1: Mark\" href=\"http://provoketive.com/2011/11/29/de-harmonizing-christmas-part-1-mark/\">Mark</a> might be the least likely gospel to be chosen to read during Advent (though I\'ve discovered that it may be in your lectionary for the second Sunday in Advent, it\'s still a tough one to choose!), John is often read in the traditional \'Nine Lessons\' services of Christmas. Like Mark, John does not narrate the details of Jesus\' birth in the way we are accustomed to - donkey, stable, angels and so on. He chooses a much more philosophical approach, exploring who Jesus is at the beginning, the first 18 verses, then showing his working through the rest of the book.\r\n\r\nI love the phrase that John uses - \'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us\'. John is referring to both Jewish tradition and Greek philosophy - in a church context that increasingly has both people raised as Jews and others with a more Roman or Greek background. You can\'t help but notice the parallels with the beginning of Genesis 1 in the first few verses of John. The Word is the creative power of God, as He speaks, things are, or things become. Yet the Word is also an image of prophecy in the Old Testament: throughout the books of Samuel and Kings, on to Isaiah and especially Jeremiah, the phrase \'the word of the Lord\' means that God spoke through a prophet to communicate with His people; ignoring the prophet and the prophecy meant ignoring God .\r\n\r\nTo someone familiar with Greek philosophy, <em>logos</em> took a different meaning. It was the reason behind what happened - the suggestion that the cosmos was not accidental and random but structured and understandable. To some, it took on an almost spiritual meaning, the perfection of order in the universe.\r\n\r\nJohn at once combines the two ideas and confounds them - the Word became flesh, <em>sarx</em>. Quite literally a four-letter word, especially in the turbulent times of the turn of the second century. Many suggested that the spiritual could have nothing to do with the fleshly, that we humans, \'embodied souls\', sought to cast off the flesh to become a pure, spiritual being. John says that the perfect, immutable, only God, the animating force behind the universe became flesh to live with us.\r\n\r\nBut there\'s more: \'And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.\' (<a title=\"John 1, English Standard Version on Biblegateway.com\" href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%201&amp;version=ESV\">John 1:14, ESV</a>) The words \'only Son\' (or \'only begotten\' as I learned it at Sunday School!) are distinctive to John - it\'s only applied to Jesus in John\'s gospel and in the letter of 1 John. In Greek it\'s one word - <em>monogenes</em>, one which obviously doesn\'t have a direct English translation. Looking at the word, <em>mono</em> means one or only, while <em>genes</em> comes from the same root word that gave us the word \'gene\' in English. I suppose you might say that Jesus is the only on with the exact same DNA as the Father - while being in the flesh! Not only that, but John says that they saw his glory while he was \'in the flesh\', not needing to be without flesh.\r\n\r\nFor John, the material matters - because of Jesus being a fleshy human like us. We can\'t just focus on the \'spiritual matters\' and ignore physical ones, the divide won\'t work. Humans, like Jesus are integral beings, both spirit and body in harmony. Neither can exist without the other and it is in the physical that glory is displayed. We can see the family likeness of the Father in Jesus because of his grace and truth. In a time when some are obsessed with truth, John says it\'s the two together that show the DNA of God in Jesus.\r\n\r\nWe saw Mark set up a big mystery about who Jesus is, but John takes the exact opposite tack. He goes into the philosophy, the detail of what it means for Jesus to be fully human as well as divine, while still ignoring the material details of how, where and when (don\'t worry, with two more weeks of Advent we\'ve still got Matthew and Luke to give us those!) John reminds us that Christmas is not just about a baby in a manger, it\'s bigger, with cosmic significance, it can\'t be glossed over with fairy lights. The glory of God, the Father, is seen in the glory of Jesus, the Word become flesh, living with us. May you experience both the truth and grace of Christmas this year!','De-harmonizing Christmas - Part 2: John','','publish','open','open','','de-harmonizing-christmas-part-2-john','','','2011-12-05 09:25:03','2011-12-05 17:25:03','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=2790',0,'post','',0),(2510,102,'2011-11-22 19:44:20','2011-11-23 03:44:20','Before I was married, my hairdresser told me about a woman in her sixties who explained to him the meaning of marriage, the breakdown of gender roles, and the secret to staying together. She could see beyond her husband’s analytical nature. She was perspicacious. It thus became her job to let her husband in on the nuances of others—ticks, sidelong glances, subtleties. Once her husband had been informed of her observations and ensuing opinions, she trusted his judgment. Her husband, a prominent entrepreneur, used her insights to make the best decisions for business, for family, for himself. After forty years of marriage, by operating out of their inherent strengths, they had created a peaceful and thriving life together, as one.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nI usually can see a thing before it happens. I believe I was born this way, but I also know that in reconciling with my creator as a Christian, I’ve learned how to harness these gifts for the greater good.\n\nNearly five years ago, just after my husband Greg and I got married, I was overcome by sadness whenever he reacted a certain way to others. I knew that if this behavior did not change, it would inhibit Greg as a Christian, husband, father, and leader. I believed this revelation was from God, so I told Greg what I perceived. He stared at me blankly. He had no idea what I meant. Without pushing the issue further, I went to bed that night reminding the Lord that He was the one who had prompted me to broach this subject.\n\nThe following morning, Greg nudged me awake. He said, “I had a dream last night. The Lord showed me what you were talking about.”\n\nGreg has not exhibited that behavior since.\n\nOne of Greg’s fortes is deciphering and explaining emotions in those with whom he is close. His insights have helped me heal from past abuse. I’ve become a more honest, confident and forthright person because of Greg’s influence.\n\nSince we trust each other in these abilities, Greg as the “spiritual leader” of our family is not burdened down by religious expectation to be perfect in singlehandedly making decisions for our family. Instead, he has the responsibility of seeking God’s wisdom with me. Our relationship becomes a conduit for God’s voice.\n\nMarriages cannot function properly without both spouses operating in their innate strengths—spiritual or otherwise.\n\nIt is an absolute necessity for women to speak up in their marriages, not only to enrich their relationships but also to benefit their church communities. The church cannot unite as God intended—and as Christ prayed for in the garden—without women rising up to reclaim their roles. If American Christian culture has found that its marriages and churches are broken or struggling, it may serve both institutions well to reevaluate and reform their philosophy of gender roles.\n\nJust as the church cannot operate effectively without Christ’s initiation, the Holy Spirit cannot carry out God’s perfect will without the church’s participation. The symbiotic relationship between God and His people should be mirrored by husbands and wives.\n\nRegrettably, churches bent toward legalism often teach that God is angry with His people (never mind the sinners), and to merit entrance into Heaven, Christians must restrict pleasures, separate from mainstream society, and be silent before God’s throne. This is not God’s will. God through Christ invites interaction; He establishes love as the cornerstone of behavior; He speaks to His people through the written word, His Holy Spirit, and revelation. He asks, in return, for them to make their requests known to Him.\n\nGod created marriage as an earthly reflection of a spiritual dynamic.\n\nHowever, too many Christian marriages—and churches—have defaulted to Paul’s presumed biblical admonitions to silence women. Instead of looking at the context of Paul’s culture, in which women notoriously overused the gift of speech, we should consider the entirety of the Bible to develop a realistic view of women.\n\nFor example, just before Pontius Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified, his wife had warned him from her dream not to punish Jesus. Had Pilate regarded his wife’s counsel, not only would the Apostle’s Creed have read differently, but Pilate’s fate would have been one of grace, not shame.\n\nWith a contrasting outcome in Exodus, the Lord spared Moses’ life because Zipporah interceded to circumcise their sons. She intuited what Moses had not.\n\nFulfilling Deborah’s prophecy, Jael overrode her husband’s peace agreement, discerning her greater calling, and won Israel’s victory, satisfying God’s will for the Israelites.\n\nDuring the week of Jesus’ death, a woman poured oil from an alabaster jar over Jesus’ head. Jesus reminded the men who had derided her actions that she was anointing Him for burial. This woman knew of Jesus what His disciples had not perceived—even though Jesus had already alerted them of His impending death.\n\nDespite these biblical proofs, for too long in church history, women have been relegated to the back of the sanctuary—for food preparation, decorating, childcare. Although many women are gifted, even called, to serve churches in such ways impressively, many others can hear the voice of God, perceive His heart’s desire, and express these revelations boldly to the church.\n\nThe prophetesses of the Most High God are fulfilling the scripture from Joel 2:28: “Your sons and <em>daughters</em> shall prophesy.” During Pentecost, when the church was united, Peter justified the speaking in tongues and prophesying with this Scripture.\n\nThe daughters are here and ready. They just need invitations to speak.\n\nWhen women take their abilities home, families are restored and strengthened. Husbands no longer seize under the pressure of unreasonable expectations, and wives are not bound under an unjust restraining order. A new generation of children will grow up witnessing their parents in full-effect—at home, in the workplace, at church.\n\nRedefining gender roles in the Christian community may not be as difficult as it would seem. It will be like entering into a world where people are as they were meant to be.','Gender Roles as God Intended','','inherit','open','open','','2508-revision','','','2011-11-22 19:44:20','2011-11-23 03:44:20','',2508,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2508-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(2511,102,'2011-11-22 19:45:45','2011-11-23 03:45:45','Before I was married, my hairdresser told me about a woman in her sixties who explained to him the meaning of marriage, the breakdown of gender roles, and the secret to staying together. She could see beyond her husband’s analytical nature. She was perspicacious. It thus became her job to let her husband in on the nuances of others—ticks, sidelong glances, subtleties. Once her husband had been informed of her observations and ensuing opinions, she trusted his judgment. Her husband, a prominent entrepreneur, used her insights to make the best decisions for business, for family, for himself. After forty years of marriage, by operating out of their inherent strengths, they had created a peaceful and thriving life together, as one.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI usually can see a thing before it happens. I believe I was born this way, but I also know that in reconciling with my creator as a Christian, I’ve learned how to harness these gifts for the greater good.\r\n\r\nNearly five years ago, just after my husband Greg and I got married, I was overcome by sadness whenever he reacted a certain way to others. I knew that if this behavior did not change, it would inhibit Greg as a Christian, husband, father, and leader. I believed this revelation was from God, so I told Greg what I perceived. He stared at me blankly. He had no idea what I meant. Without pushing the issue further, I went to bed that night reminding the Lord that He was the one who had prompted me to broach this subject.\r\n\r\nThe following morning, Greg nudged me awake. He said, “I had a dream last night. The Lord showed me what you were talking about.”\r\n\r\nGreg has not exhibited that behavior since.\r\n\r\nOne of Greg’s fortes is deciphering and explaining emotions in those with whom he is close. His insights have helped me heal from past abuse. I’ve become a more honest, confident and forthright person because of Greg’s influence.\r\n\r\nSince we trust each other in these abilities, Greg as the “spiritual leader” of our family is not burdened down by religious expectation to be perfect in singlehandedly making decisions for our family. Instead, he has the responsibility of seeking God’s wisdom with me. Our relationship becomes a conduit for God’s voice.\r\n\r\nMarriages cannot function properly without both spouses operating in their innate strengths—spiritual or otherwise.\r\n\r\nIt is an absolute necessity for women to speak up in their marriages, not only to enrich their relationships but also to benefit their church communities. The church cannot unite as God intended—and as Christ prayed for in the garden—without women rising up to reclaim their roles. If American Christian culture has found that its marriages and churches are broken or struggling, it may serve both institutions well to reevaluate and reform their philosophy of gender roles.\r\n\r\nJust as the church cannot operate effectively without Christ’s initiation, the Holy Spirit cannot carry out God’s perfect will without the church’s participation. The symbiotic relationship between God and His people should be mirrored by husbands and wives.\r\n\r\nRegrettably, churches bent toward legalism often teach that God is angry with His people (never mind the sinners), and to merit entrance into Heaven, Christians must restrict pleasures, separate from mainstream society, and be silent before God’s throne. This is not God’s will. God through Christ invites interaction; He establishes love as the cornerstone of behavior; He speaks to His people through the written word, His Holy Spirit, and revelation. He asks, in return, for them to make their requests known to Him.\r\n\r\nGod created marriage as an earthly reflection of a spiritual dynamic.\r\n\r\nHowever, too many Christian marriages—and churches—have defaulted to Paul’s presumed biblical admonitions to silence women. Instead of looking at the context of Paul’s culture, in which women notoriously overused the gift of speech, we should consider the entirety of the Bible to develop a realistic view of women.\r\n\r\nFor example, just before Pontius Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified, his wife had warned him from her dream not to punish Jesus. Had Pilate regarded his wife’s counsel, not only would the Apostle’s Creed have read differently, but Pilate’s fate would have been one of grace, not shame.\r\n\r\nWith a contrasting outcome in Exodus, the Lord spared Moses’ life because Zipporah interceded to circumcise their sons. She intuited what Moses had not.\r\n\r\nFulfilling Deborah’s prophecy, Jael overrode her husband’s peace agreement, discerning her greater calling, and won Israel’s victory, satisfying God’s will for the Israelites.\r\n\r\nDuring the week of Jesus’ death, a woman poured oil from an alabaster jar over Jesus’ head. Jesus reminded the men who had derided her actions that she was anointing Him for burial. This woman knew of Jesus what His disciples had not perceived—even though Jesus had already alerted them of His impending death.\r\n\r\nDespite these biblical proofs, for too long in church history, women have been relegated to the back of the sanctuary—for food preparation, decorating, childcare. Although many women are gifted, even called, to serve churches in such ways impressively, many others can hear the voice of God, perceive His heart’s desire, and express these revelations boldly to the church.\r\n\r\nThe prophetesses of the Most High God are fulfilling the scripture from Joel 2:28: “Your sons and <em>daughters</em> shall prophesy.” During Pentecost, when the church was united, Peter justified the speaking in tongues and prophesying with this Scripture.\r\n\r\nThe daughters are here and ready. They just need invitations to speak.\r\n\r\nWhen women take their abilities home, families are restored and strengthened. Husbands no longer seize under the pressure of unreasonable expectations, and wives are not bound under an unjust restraining order. A new generation of children will grow up witnessing their parents in full-effect—at home, in the workplace, at church.\r\n\r\nRedefining gender roles in the Christian community may not be as difficult as it would seem. It will be like entering into a world where people are as they were meant to be.','Gender Roles as God Intended','','inherit','open','open','','2508-revision-2','','','2011-11-22 19:45:45','2011-11-23 03:45:45','',2508,'http://provoketive.com/2011/11/22/2508-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),