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Eminem and Jesus...[read the article] To everyone who writes for this d**n (and good) newsletter: I wish you would stop using the word "postmodern". If you didn’t know (us Christians tending to be proudly behind the times and out of style), the term has become an academic fad that makes you sound smart without saying much. Try to put into the articles the sense of what you are saying when you say that word without using the word and it will mean a lot more. It makes you sound contemporary but it’s shorthand for such a huge idea that it’s nearly meaningless. It makes you seem like dorky Christians trying to be cool instead of people speaking their minds, which is what Christians should be anyway. In response to the article about Eminem’s "Marshall MathersLP": God did send Eminem to piss the world off, just like he sent Jesus. Jesus wasn’t nice, don’t forget. If there’s one quality that Jesus and Eminem have that many of their followers do not, it’s an ability to speak their mind. Hitler, on the other hand, was a marketer and tried to say whatever would make him powerful. He liked people to tell him he was right and nice and smart. Neither Jesus nor Eminem wanted to be powerful, so they say what they see. Eminem did probably want to be rich. But they both trample on what is sacred in an attempt to get at what is real. For many people, Jesus was a hero; to many more, he was a big d***head who was trying to mess everything up. I’m not saying Eminem is Jesus; Jesus didn’t live in an amoral consumer wasteland where the virtue of heroism has been completely parasitized by the virtue of jerking it until you die while hooked up to machines including television sets. Eminem has a much more difficult time challenging people’s comfort. "Oh, now it happens in middle america it’s a tragedy" is ironic because the violence of Columbine happens in poor neighborhoods all the time and no middle class white devils shed any tears over those people because they don’t live there and it doesn’t affect them (that’s me, I’m a white devil). People trapped in schools relate to violence because that’s what they feel when their desire to learn about life is suffocated by education. The danger of Eminem is that, as always with radicals, including Jesus, he will push the borders of what can be sold and used to control people further and further. His extremism sells, just like Christ's and will in the end create less freedom because more and more of life can be commodified and sold and marketed and the circle of true living gets smaller. Jesus said a lot of stuff and a lot of it has been used in stupid and wrong ways, in fact, most people who go around quoting Jesus are in the business of making life miserable for others for their own benefit. If you’re happy with your life being as small as a sparrow’s and as big as a worm’s, then you’ll find a place where God’s gifts will bring you closer to him and other people, and you might become a hero. If you want to be a hero, to sell and make the big-time, then you’’ll never be happy because, unless you are already saleable and therefore do not have to sell out to get there (i.e. Madonna, to whom God gave the gift of star-power), you will have to sell out to get there. Which means you will have to compromise the reason you were originally doing something (because it is what you believe is true) to fit with the world’’s expectations (because you want people to tell you they like you). Jesus is popular for the same reason Eminem is: because he says what he sees, clearly and without bowing to the rules about what can be said, about which languages are legitimate, about who and what you can talk about how. In this way they can speak directly to people's hearts and not just to their masks of privilege and social propriety. Eminem is also the opposite: he legitimatizes the appropriation of suffering as entertainment by those who are comfortable, who then get the frisson of 'real life' without ever living it or suffering through it or doing anything about it. They can be 'down' without walking through the actual desert; they can have the pleasures of heroism without any sacrifice. This is me, too. Anyway, them’s the 'thoughts out of school' of a worldly Christian. Keep up the good work, matt fontaine Sex and the Postmodern Man...[read the article] This was a wonderful article. I admire straight up & open conversation. The author is right. We need to let our guards down & deal with our struggles. This is something that becomes more apparent to me everyday that I live. Thanx. Jamie Kucinski Experiencing Ancient Spirituality...[read the article] Although I have never gone to a convent I have had the opportunity to schedule what I would refer to as "Solitude." It is somewhat of a spiritual retreat, a time of renewal. What I find fascinating with this article is that it proves to me that there are plenty of people out there that would welcome a sense of form in spirituality. As an Evangelical I must admit that we have separated ourselves from what some would describe as mystical experiences for far to long. By this I do not mean in the charismatic sense but rather in the formal structured sense that the author of the article described. I would argue that there are structures that act as boundaries within Scripture but that there is also a freedom to approach God within those parameters. Timothy Castillo Nehemiah...rebuilding [read the article] Wow! I'd been searching for a new way to preach Nehemiah, and your article lighted my way! This is my first, but not my last visit to your website. Thanks for helping spread the Good News! Ric Walters The Matrix...[read the article] I was really interested in the issue that had the articles based on the movie "Matrix". That was really interesting because I remember seeing that movie all the way through once after having started to watch it quite a few times. It was a really inspiring movie once I saw it all the way through and got to really look at the message. I talked with a few of my friends about it. Thanks for adding to my discussion.
Chris Cooper
Ministry and Marriage...[read the article] Thanks so much for a "kick in the head" in this article about the need to put our marriages first our lives. Many young leaders have been either modeled or told by the preceding generations that we need to "put the ministry first" and "go - go - go!!" and "Success by being a work-a-holic!! Your article talked about living out the Great Commandment in our marriage and playing together; it caused some good pondering for my own marriage. I did find it amusing that you used a quote from someone who was "on the road" and traveling with Billy Graham for many years to make your point on having God center in our marriage. Billy himself has said that one of the things he would do different if he had to live his life again would be NOT to travel so much because it caused problems in his own family ... I grinned. Dan King, College Drive youth ministries Dear Springer, I am a born again Christian, 32 years and just got married in September this year to a very beautiful 28 years old born again lady. I am currently in Japan for a short time and meanwhile my young wife is back in Kenya. We attend services in an Anglican Church in Nairobi called "All Saints Cathedral Church". The principles you have outlined in the issue are very important to us as a young couple and very encouraging too. As the man of the house I would like to know what my role is to the family and how I can keep me wife always happy. I have declared just like Joshua that "me and my house we shall serve the Lord". This has no compromise whatsoever. I would like you to especially elaborate further on the issues of finances regarding marriage. I also do research in medicine on the line of HIV/AIDS and I believe it is a good idea for couples to undergo tests before they get married to avert disasters. We did undergo one. I would like to be a shining example in our marriage and hence you constant advice is vital. May the Lord bless your ministry and the good works that you are doing. The Lord be exalted especially as we approach Christmas. In His Service, Njoroge, Wilfred James Kenya Medical Research Institute
Next-Wave Why in the world would you have links to such anti-postmodern churches such as Willow Creek?!?! just thought i'd vent - it bugs me! :*) Dan King i am really blessed...almost everything in it, rest assured i'll be praying for your ministry... Bernie Sicat BG Waves Church Profile [read the article] This church is doing a very valid ministry by reaching to this unchurched people group in the greater Vancouver area. I am awed amazed by God's mighty movement at waves church. Noel Pantoja Hope to You community church
Sylvia, Beautiful article about a beautiful community of people. Reading this piece touched my heart in a way few things do. Thank you. David Hopkins
great to have an "on fire" asian / chinese american church more concerned about christ than they are about being chinese jeffrey lee asian american artistry
The Truth in Fight Club [read the article] Man, I think you nailed it. Fight club is definitely the best movie of the year, because it dealt with the desperate need for truth in the rubble of modern society. I think that you were right to address the two main themes in your article that you chose, however, I'm sure you felt there were more you could have included. I think this movie takes a hard look at post-modern male identity. This ain't no chickflick. These guys need to do something real and lose the fear that comes with possessions. As Chriitians we affirm (very weakly) that consumerism is bad, and perfect love drives out fear. We could take the bit of truth right out the mouth of this movie and place it back among the people of God if we really lived the gospel. Jesus taught us to live radically different than we do: money, possessions, relationships, motives, all 'conform' way to much to this sick and dying world. We have failed to be the life of Christ on planet rock, instead we have colluded with the Canaanites right here in N. America. As someone wrestling with these issues, I was surprised the movie used some techniques at community and identity building that I've been experimenting with. I've become convinced that the irrelevance of Sunday morning services are damnable---sending more people to eternal damnation than any other un-done mission in the history of the church. Fight Club showed that Cells and House Churches can quickly accomplish community, get real truth flowing, and multiply at an astonishing rate. This is the future for the church. A church that lives the life of Christ in brotherhoods: families of men and women, and babies all helping each other wake up from their dream world in the power of the Holy Spirit. Sweet, Kip Mor The God of Chaos Theory [read the article] Hello David. Very interesting article. God bless you! Flemming Moelhede Copenhagen Vineyard Very helpful connection between post-modern thought, Chaos science and the challenge of today's church. We're working with these ideas at Windsor Crossing Community Church in St. Louis. We are determined to understand our culture, and be ruthless in remaining relevant to it for the sake of the Gospel. This article helped. Steve Krause
It’s all about Jesus [read the article] Kim, Thank you for your reviews. I've read the ones you have posted for the past 3 months. And I really appreciate the work you are contributing to Next-Wave. I hope to see more of your work in the future. David Hopkins
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