Husband to Liza, Father to Story, Friend to the Missy Dog, thinker, writer, speaker, procrastinator, lover of God and people and the Content Creator at Student Life. I also like canoeing and carpentry and reading and traveling. That's pretty much it, I guess.
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Thanks for reading!
I work at Student Life. We’re a para-church youth ministry organization that primarily focuses on summer events and Bible study resources. My job title at Student Life is Content Creator.
When it comes to my job I’m often asked (even by people I work with on a daily basis) what exactly that means. I’ve decided to take a few posts and try to explain.
Let me inform you right off the bat that there are a lot of things I do around here. In fact, there’s a new project we’re working on that I’m getting to kinda lead (at least for right now), and it’s pretty big. But the main responsibility of my job is thematic development.
So, what is “thematic development.” Well, it’s basically developing the general message that whatever we’re doing is going to present to its audience. So, whether we’re doing a book, a Bible study, an event, a video, whatever, for the most part, they’re going to hopefully “say” something. I’m responsible for giving the direction for what they’re going to say. Thankfully I don’t have to do this all by myself, but I’ve got to at least drive that particular bus.
So, let’s take a for instance… our summer events. Generally, all of our summer events carry the same message. Now it will be presented in all kinds of different ways, video, stage, design, Bible study, magazine, etc, and each of these different mediums might not all present the whole of the message, but they will at least focus on a part. There are other people in charge of each of these specific areas. What I provide them is the overall content for the overall message. That’s what I create, hence me being a “Content Creator.”
So, for next summer our theme is “Re,” and it’s all built around the verse Micah 6:8. So, how did we get here? Well, in order to answer that, let’s go back to the beginning of the process.
The first event that is focused around the message of “Re” won’t begin until May 29, 2010. However, we traditionally release our dates for the next year on May 1 of the previous year. That means we released information about 2010 summer events on May 1, 2009. We always try to have the theme solidified by then. What we mean is that on May 1 we try to have the word or phrase that’s “going to appear on the t-shirt” and at least the verse or passage of Scripture that is providing the focus for that word or phrase.
In order to have that content for May 1, the process usually begins no later than around March 1. The beginnings of the process often involves me doing one of two things, and possibly both. Those are a) having a meeting with a big group of people to brainstorm ideas and/or b) emailing a big group of people to ask for those ideas. Remarkably, few people actually offer many ideas. We sometimes have a culture around here that is much more prone to react/evaluate/critique than to… well, let’s just leave it at that.
The next thing I do is to begin to trim down those ideas and begin to try to hone in on three or four that I believe would work well for what we’re doing. Some factors I consider when trying to do so are…
What does the Bible say – It’s actually pretty easy to just come up with some “theme” that sounds cool or trendy or relevant or whatever. But if it’s not first coming out of Scripture and serving to teach Truth and reveal who God is, then it’s really not worth much.
What have we said before – We like to be original, at least we try to be. We don’t really like repeating ourselves too much (we’ve only done so twice, and both instances, I believe, were justified). So, it’s important to remember what we’ve said in our past, even all the way back to when SL first began.
What have we said recently – This is similar to the previous factor, but here’s how it differs. Often we can get stuck in the realm of one particular message. Maybe we’re not saying the exact same thing and repeating ourselves, but we’re stuck in orbit around some central idea, expounding on various aspects of it. Whenever I find that to be the case I have to consider whether a) we’re stuck and need to move on, possibly in a drastically different direction or b) God might have us here for a reason so we can make sure we cover something He’s wanting to say fully. It’s not always easy to make the call about which is the case.
What do teenagers need to hear – While we market our “product” (events and resources) to adults that work with teenagers (youth ministers, youth workers, Bible study teachers, parents, etc.), we create the “product” for teenagers. There’s a lot we can tell them, but, honestly, they don’t need to hear all of it. Hopefully they’re going to walk with Christ their entire lives, so they’ve got that long to learn everything they need to know. We have to answer what we discern they need in the now. That doesn’t mean that we don’t speak to the past or the future. Sometimes what they need in the now is to hear about those things as well.
What can we say well – We at Student Life have a certain personality and a certain culture. It’s not always easily definable, but we’ve got to know who we are. When we do we can more readily understand what we are in a position to say.
What are other people saying – We don’t always know this, at least what other people are going to be saying in a year. But we can look at what others are currently saying or have said recently. By others, I of course mean our friends and partners in youth ministry who do similar things to what we do. We consider them less out of competition’s sake and more from trying to avoid repeating their same message or invading their “turf.” That is, unless we believe they’re getting it wrong and we need to do something in order to rectify that wrong. This latter case has yet to happen.
Where is the Spirit leading – Ultimately this consideration is first and foremost and helps us answer the other factors. Regardless of how cool it might seem or how great of an idea it might be, if the Spirit’s not in it, we don’t do it. That’s not always the easiest to discern, but the more we listen, the easier it becomes.
That’s basically how the whole thing begins… Stay tuned to hear (or, rather, read) about what happens next.
I’ve got some updating to do to the old site here and might get to it this weekend (hopefully). One of the (many) things I have to do is to add to my ever-increasing blogroll. I’ve gone ahead and started, though, with today’s Friend Friday Feature.
As you’ll notice (if you’re a careful observer), I’ve added a new category to the blogroll. “Family Ties.” As you might guess, this will be a place to bring special attention to blogs that belong to members of my family. The only two I’m reading (and am aware of) right now are Liza’s and (my brother) Craig’s.
Craig just entered into the blogosphere this week. So, please, welcome him and make him feel at home. If you’re one of those people who likes to bring cookies to the new neighbors, Craig likes chocolate chip. You can find him over at “Freeing My Mind.”
Since Craig just started blogging there’s not a lot to read, but what is there is good. He’s an excellent writer, and you’ll probably discover that we have similar voices when it comes to that kind of stuff. Also, once you’re done with the blog, you can head on over to his ministry site and check out some of the articles he’s written. He also has a podcast that’s relaunching soon, and I’m supposed to be a part of at least one of them. I’ll definitely link to those when they’re up, but you can always check out his other ones too.
From time to time someone will ask me what Craig does, and I never really know how to adequately answer them. He’s in ministry (Awake International) , for sure, and he ministers primarily in a sector of the Church that most visitors to this site probably don’t encounter very much. I think Craig would say he’s a reformer, or at least those are his aspirations. At any rate, he’s a teacher and preacher and prophet and budding writer and mentor to various people every year through his AwakeU program. The churches and events where Craig is are often marked by a working of the Spirit that many of us don’t get to experience very often. To be honest, Craig operates in a world that I don’t always understand but I need to and that challenges me consistently.
If nothing else I can say that I have personally witnessed no other greater work of God than what He’s done in Craig’s life. Maybe one day I’ll write more about here, but for today, I’ll encourage you to get to know him and find out for yourself.
Come on. Don’t play dumb. You know him. Take another look.
Still don’t recognize him?
Okay. Imagine that this entire page is blank save him. He’s just sitting there in his spot. And he’s blinking at you… at regular intervals.
He’s quiet, I know… but believe me… he’s taunting you.
Got it yet?
Yes! That’s him.
Cursor (though his name is spelled |).
See how “curse” is even in his name? He’s the Cursor!
Every day… often multiple times a day… I sit at my computer, open a new document, and he’s there. He’s always there. So patient. So persistent. Waiting. Blinking. Mocking me and my lack of creativity, talent or inspiration. If he had a voice, I think he would sound like Steve Buscemi, and he’d chatter to me non-stop while I tried to think of a good idea to write about.
He’s my nemesis for sure.
But he’s not my archenemy. Not at all.
Chuck Klosterman wrote an essay for Esquire that was then republished in his book IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideasthat was entitled “The Importance of Being Hated” (in IV it’s called “Nemesis”). You can read the whole thing here. In it he argues that what ever human needs to succeed in life isn’t really a bunch of friends and lovers, but rather one nemesis and one archenemy. “What’s the difference?” you ask. Well in Klosterman’s own words:
We measure ourselves against our nemeses, and we long to destroy our archenemies.
He says, “Nemeses and archenemies are the catalysts for everything.”
Basically… you don’t really like your nemesis. You don’t get along. But he pushes you on. Your effort to overcome and conquer him drives a lot of what you do. However, in all of this competition and disdain is a certain level of respect and even fondness. After all, your nemesis makes you a better person. Your archenmy on the other hand has no redeeming qualities and should be eliminated at all costs.
Here are some of the examples Klosterman gives.
Person Nemesis Archenemy
Larry Bird Magic Johnson Isaiah Thomas
Bill Gates Steve Jobs David Boies
Jack White Jason Stollsteimer Ryan Adams
George W. Bush John McCain Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton Barack Obama Paris Hilton*
Klosterman sums it up pretty nicely like this, “The Joker was Batman’s nemesis, but–ironically–his archenemy was Superman, since Superman made Batman seem entirely mortal and generally nonessential. Nobody likes to admit this, but Batman hated Superman; Superman is the reason Batman became an alcoholic.” (He admits this last statement is speculative)
So, you see? | is most certainly my nemesis, though I have to personify him in order for him to be so. But I’m a writer. That’s part of what I do.
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering how you can identify and distinguish between your own nemesis and archenemy so that you might live a more fulfilling life. Well, thankfully, Klosterman helps us out again…
RECOGNIZING YOUR NEMESIS
At some point in the past, this person was (arguably) your best friend.
You have punched this person in the face.
If invited, you would go to this person’s wedding and give him a spice rack, but you would secretly hope that his marriage ends in a bitter, public divorce.
People who barely know both of you assume you are close friends; people who know both of you intimately suspect that you profoundly dislike each other.
If your archenemy tried to kill you, this person would attempt to stop him.
RECOGNIZING YOUR ARCHENEMY
Every time you talk to this person, you lie.
If you meet someone who has the same first name as this person, you immediately like him less.
The satisfaction you feel from your own success pales in comparison to the despair you feel at this person’s triumphs, even if those triumphs are completely unrelated to your life.
If this person slept with your girlfriend, she would never be attractive to you again.
Even if this person’s girlfriend was a hateful @#$%&, you would sleep with her out of spite. (I’ll admit this is a bit strong.)
I hope this post has been both insightful and helpful.
As far as who is my archenemy… well, wouldn’t you like to know.
Nope. I’m not telling.
Okay, okay. You wore me down.
It’s Oprah.
*This one is my own and might require some thought.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
1 Corinthians 13:11
Yesterday I was on Facebook (as I’m often am during the day, especially when procrastinating the actual things I need to do; I have a real problem) and realized that out of the 12 items in my highlight feed (you know; the one over on the right) 8 of them featured kids under the age of six. Each of the kids featured belong to friends of mine. I’m sure that in their highlight feed some item featuring the Storykins pops up pretty regularly (especially if they’re also friends with Liza). Anyway, a year ago my highlight feed would most certainly not have featured so many items about children.
Also the other day I began having a bit of a health issue. I won’t go in to details about it, at least not yet, because right now I don’t know that it is anything. But it made me immediately progress down the line of thought to where I pictured myself being wheeled around in a wheelchair hooked up to various tubes and bags.
My back hurts. Regularly. So does my left elbow.
I’ve been losing my hair for awhile now but it’s only recently that I realized it was past the point of no return. There is no amount of therapy that can help. My hair has simply given up on life. It’s sad to watch, really.
I was reading someone’s blog last night who was named one of the top 30 people under 30 in her city. I thought, “I can never be named one of the top 30 under 30 anymore.”
All of this (and some other stuff) made me feel very… not old… but… grown up, I guess. Like for years being “grown up” is this ethereal phase of life that’s out there and that you want to achieve but never really see coming. That is until… BOOM! POW!! ZAP!!! It’s happened. And when I had that thought… “I guess this is it… I’m grown up… I don’t necessarily feel grown up… is this what grown up really is… or did I blow it somehow… (sigh)…” I realized that “grown up” definitely now had a negative connotation for me. No longer was it something to be looked forward to, to strive for and achieve. It had now become something to be mourned.
Or is it?
Late last week I was having a conversation with some friends in which the phrase “junior high sucks” was uttered. And we were all like, “Yeah! Junior high does suck.” And we sat around for awhile telling embarrassing stories from our own junior high experiences and laughing about how much it sucked.
Now, I know that some of you work with junior high students in schools or churches and that you love them and think the world of them and don’t want to work with anyone else. I get that, completely. Notice that I am not saying “junior highers suck” because they don’t. But junior high? It most certainly does. Even those junior highers (or middle schoolers) you know who love life and everything about it right now will one day look back and realize that junior high actually, in all reality, kinda sucked (at least a little bit).
So, I was lying awake thinking last night (as I’m prone to do) and realized that though I’m “grown up” I guess. I’ve still got a lot of growing to do, and, from my perspective, I definitely consider that a good thing. Not only that, but I love where I am right now. Not everything about my life is how I expected it to be or would possibly even want it to be, but if my parts of my life weren’t as they are now, would the others be. To put it differently, would I have to lose the parts of my current life I want to keep in order to alter the ones I want to change?
Besides, junior high sucked (well, I didn’t go to junior high; I attended a middle school; but middle school sucked; so did ninth grade; so, yeah, junior high sucked). High school, in a lot of ways, sucked. College was okay, but school was still involved, so that gains it at least a few notches on the suck-0-meter. Now, I make my own decisions and live my own life. Nothing is laid out for me if I don’t want it to be (at least not so much as it might be pre-ordained by God). I sure don’t get it right all the time (as many of you can attest to), but I own it.
Why would I want it any different?
If I did, I’d be like those people the writer of Hebrews is addressing. You know the ones… they want to stay on milk ’cause it’s easy instead of putting in the effort and work to move on and embrace solid food (it’s a metaphor for the Word of God; check it out in Hebrews 5-6).
A few years ago I kinda became obsessed with Barnabas. You know… the guy in the New Testament (particularly the book of Acts) who’s best known for seemingly tagging along with Paul on his first missionary journey.
The more I looked into just who Barnabas was, the more impressed I was with him. I mean, his influence had huge, HUGE lasting impact on the Church.
In Reverb (our new study from SLBS), we have a course called “Living Loud” that’s basically a bunch of character studies of people who lived out the mission of God in the World. We end it with Barnabas. So I made this simple video to go along with it (give me a break; ok; I’m no animator/graphic designer).
Shlog is the blog of Shaun Groves (get it? “Shaun” – “aun” + “blog” – “b” = “Shlog”. that concludes our math lesson for the day). If you look in the various blogroll categories I have listed on the right, you’ll notice that I have Shaun listed under “Some People I Know (Kinda).” That “(Kinda)” is there for a reason. To be honest, I don’t really know Shaun hardly at all. I mean, I read his blog, obviously. So, I know a some stuff about him, things he does, thinks, feels, says, in so far as he writes them down and publishes them there. And we’ve communicated to one another a handful of times on Twitter. Other than that, we’ve only actually met two or three times. I can only recall two for sure, though I could swear there was a third time. Both of the times I can remember involved a mutual passion we share, seeking the release of children around the world from poverty in Jesus’ name through Compassion International (for more info on Compassion click my category to the left or the add on the right; if you’d like to sponsor a child then simply click here).
The first was during our Clairty tour here at Student Life. During that tour we were honored to have a graduate of Compassion’s program travel with us to be an advocate for the million children with whom they work. Her name was Jackie and her story is awesome. Compassion had randomly chosen to begin filming her when she was a young girl in their program in Uganda. Their pick couldn’t have been more provident. They’ve been able to follow her all the way through their program, and she is a real success story. I had the privilege of meeting her mother while I was in Uganda that year. It was obvious to me that not only had Compassion made a difference in Jackie’s life but in that of her entire family as well. But I digress. While Jackie was here in the States travelling with us, Shaun (who’s a Compassion advocate, himself, and even directs their Compassion Bloggers program) came down from Nashvile to just sit down with Jackie and interview her a little bit. Taylor, Eric and I filmed their time together. Now that I’m writing this I’m wondering what ever happened to that footage and if it was used at all. I should ask him.
The second time we met was at an appreciation dinner hosted by Compassion during GMA week. Shaun had recently traveled with Compassion on their first ever vision trip for bloggers. I think they went to Uganda, coincidentally enough. Following that trip he was then tapped to lead their effort. Maybe that was the plan all along. I don’t know. I just remember them announcing it at that dinner.
So, that’s it, really, as far as me knowing him personally, which, again, isn’t really at all. What I do know is that Shaun is a lot of things as far as labels go. Musician. Songwriter. Preacher. Husband. Father. Writer. Thinker. From what I can tell he’s not one to be comfortable with the status quo. It seems to me that he seeks Jesus with a devoted passion and is willing to literally follow Him wherever He leads. Unfortunatley, that makes him a real radical in the American church that challenges and at least afflicts any of us who get too content in our pews (or padded stadium seats) for an hour on Sunday.
But that’s not really why I wanted to feature him and his Shlog for this edition of “Friend Friday.” Here’s the real reason.
Shaun recently had a bout with depression. I know this not because of any real connection we have but because once he came out of it he began writing about it on the Shlog. You can find the posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here (or just click here). He writes about this time openly, honestly and forthrightly. I know that a lot of you don’t like posts that have much length at all (it’s a wonder you stop by here at all), and these posts aren’t short, but they’re worth reading. I don’t know. I wonder how much you will get out of them. For me, though, they were a Godsend, literally. From the moment the first post popped up in my Google Reader I was captivated, eagerly waiting (often not patiently) for the next installment.
The reason why is because I struggle with depression, too. I have for years. Many of you may not know that. I don’t really talk about it that much. It’s hard for me to do so, not because I don’t want to or am not willing to, but because I often can’t find the words for it. It’s something I live with and experience deeply but when I’m not gripped by it I have trouble thinking about it and contemplating it. It’s like that depressed version of me is someone I don’t know, a stranger (or at least unwelcomed visitor) that I have no idea how to interact with. Shaun, however, found the words, and through them I found I could relate so much.
Depression is a tricky topic in the Church. After all, we have the “joy of the Lord,” what’s there to be depressed about? That’s a great question with no easy answers, but in his posts, Shaun takes them on and does so beautifully.
I don’t know, maybe this Friend Friday is one that’s just too personal. You might not have any interest in reading those posts whatsoever. But even if you don’t, Shaun’s got a lot to say, and it’s usually not easy. So, I think he’s worth listening to and getting to know (at least as much as you can).
Again, you can read the Shlog or follow Shaun on Twitter. His next trip with Compassion Bloggers is in November. His lates post is about putting that group together. Be sure to follow that and let anyone and everyone know about it. It could save a child’s life, quite literally.
I won’t write a long post here about all the ways my life has changed since becoming a father. A lot of you aren’t fathers yourselves and often get sick of hearing us parents talk about it. Instead, I’ll just tell you one way.
Life is often measured for us in milestones, significant events along the way. Some of these milestones we work towards, others simply happen by chance. Most of us, though, don’t have a lot of them, usually because the ones we really hang on to are the biggies. First day of school. First car. First date. First kiss. Graduation. Proposal. Marriage. Buying a house. Etc.
Well, since the entrance of the Storykins into our lives, the way we measure things has changed a bit. We still measure in milestones, but they’ve become much smaller (at least in comparison to the ones mentioned above) and, for the time being anyway, have become more frequent. First poop. Rolling over. First noises. First time to sleep through the night. First laugh. First bottle. Eating “real” food for the first time. Etc. (I’m realizing that other than a couple of things, these kinda sound like the milestones for a dog).
Well, Story has recently hit another milestone and we (Liza especially) wanted to share it with all of you, hence the videos below. In the first one let me say that I’m laying on the floor while filming. That’s why my fat face looks like a gelatinous blob.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Deuteronomy 5:11
Ok, bear with me on this one.
When I was a kid we were taught the ten commandments (I grew up in a Christian family that attended a Southern Baptist church, traditional and conservative; what we were taught was the actual list of commandments, not the Charlton Heston movie). It was mostly assumed that we wouldn’t be killing anyone (at least not anytime soon) and that adultery and coveting our neighbor’s wife were at the least a long ways off. So, attention was normally focused elsewhere. Things like “do not steal,” “do not lie” (bear false witness) and “honor your father and mother” normally received special regular attention. When it came to the commandments about God, again, there wasn’t much concern about us worshipping idols, and our parents usually saw to it that we observed the Sabbath (in so far as it involved going to church on Sundays), and we were being taught all the time that there was just one God and that His name was Jesus (they didn’t get too much into the concept of the Trinity; I guess they thought we’d be confused; whatever would give them that idea?). So, from those first four commandments (you can find the whole list here or here), we were mainly taught to not take the name of the LORD our God in vain.
In those years, as my fellow young Christians-in-training and I wrestled with the concepts of sin and depravity we were led to understand that taking God’s name in vain was a really big deal. Of course we were left with the question of what exactly it meant to take His name in vain. The way we basically understood it was this: if you use God’s name in any way other than in talking directly to Him or about Him then you’re taking it in vain. The most common way in which we had seen this sin committed was when people would use His name in either shock, anger or frustration. You know what I mean. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe Susan cheated on Rick with him!” (maybe it would have been okay if Susan had cheated on Rick with someone else, I don’t know) or “Jesus Christ! Get the hell out of here!” Something like that. Of course, God has so many names in the Bible, but it never occurred to us to consider any of those. We were only worried about the names we knew Him by: “God” and “Jesus” (we didn’t really count the Holy Spirit; for one thing, no one ever talked about Him much; for another, His name had an awful lot of syllables and didn’t really roll of the tongue in a way that made His name an adequate exclamation). The worst you could do though was to combine His name with one of the dreaded curse words like “dammit.”
Below is a short bit from Bill Cosby: Himself that illustrates a bit what I’m talking about.
So, anyway, as a child we already knew that when it came to the ten commandments, at least the ones “they” really seemed to harp on, we weren’t doing too good. Lying seemed to be a part of our DNA (though we were completely unaware of the existence of DNA at the time). We regularly committed acts both big and small that not only didn’t honor our father and other but often outright dishonored them. In fact, most of us had already stolen something, even if it was just the special edition Snake Eyes figure our friends had but we didn’t.
Well, since we weren’t doing too good with the rest, we all somehow collectively resigned that we would at least avoid taking our Lord’s name in vain. It seemed pretty easy, after all. Why? Because we’d still say the same things. We’d just alter them ever so slightly. Therefore new phrases entered our regular repertoire of expressions, phrases like “oh, my gosh/goodness/gah” and “jeez” and the ever-so-popular “gosh darnit!”
This compromise worked well for us for awhile. We were able to “sound adult” (after all, they were the ones we heard using His name in vain, not us) and yet keep a gold star beside one of the big ten and consider ourselves good Christians (or at least better than the heathens around us). Our idyllic gosh darn life of sin-free expression fell apart, though, once we became teenagers. It’s not because we just gave up and started talking like drunken sailors come in to port (though some of us did). Instead it was because we became aware of a sin that had yet to have been revealed to us yet: substitute cursing. Let me explain.
You see, for years in Christian youth ministry there was a huge emphasis on changing our behavior. We couldn’t be like all of the other teenagers at our schools who were basically junior hedonists according to the adults. We had to be different from them. After all, Jesus was different from the world. However, the weird thing is that instead of focusing on what we should do or how we should be in order to be different, the focus was instead on what all of these “lost” teenagers were doing so that we would know what we shouldn’t be doing. We shouldn’t drink. We shouldn’t smoke. We shouldn’t do drugs. We shouldn’t have sex. We really shouldn’t make out even (dating was often up for debate too). We shouldn’t cheat. We shouldn’t break curfew. We shouldn’t go to wild parties. Etc. Of course, included in this list was that we shouldn’t curse (or cuss, as we knew it in the South), and evidently taking the Lord’s name in vain was cursing.
However, it wasn’t enough to simply not curse. The compromises that had kept our speech sin free for so long were now put on trial. The reason being that just because we didn’t actually say the curse words themselves didn’t mean we weren’t cursing. Even though we were using different words, we were still committing the same sins.
“Oh, shoot,” we thought and then realized we had just sinned by thinking “shoot” instead of what we really meant. “What are we going to do now?”
In response to that question, a split occurred in the youth of the American Church. Some adhered to these new guidelines. They embraced them with the hope that they too, along with all the other rules by which we were to live, would keep them from Satan’s clutches and ensure that they stayed in God’s will and came to dwell with Him one day in Heaven for all eternity. Others gave up completely and decided the whole church/God/Jesus/commandment thing wasn’t for them. Many were never heard from again (others grew up, got married, had kids, and decided their kids needed all those rules they were taught and are now back in churches all over the place).
The rest of us rebelled. This doesn’t mean that we abandoned our faith. We didn’t. We just saw through the bull-honkey and became cynical about almost everything we’d been taught. You see, we realized that drinking underage was not only not a good idea but was also illegal, but the arguement that the wine Jesus and His disciples drank in their day was just grape juice didn’t hold water for us anymore. After all, how did people get drunk on it? Those of us who adopted the “everything but” strategy of waiting on true love realized that our sexuality was pretty awesome, but we had been led to believe that it was pretty bad, possibly evil even, and something to be avoided all together because it was flat out wrong. We began to think that words were just words and that useage is what gave them their meaning. Plus we weren’t too convinced that the Bibles teaching’s against cursing involved specific words that began with “F” and “S.”
Therefore, there were a lot of those rules and commandments that we kinda just stopped worrying about. We still wanted to know God and Jesus (and even the Spirit). We just mistrusted that we had really been taught who He was up to that point. We believed we were somewhat on our own and, also, that we were right. We began emerging (wink, wink).
A lot of us have grown up, though, and matured a bit. We’ve let go of (at least some of) the bitterness we’ve carried around with us. We’ve realized that in some instances we tossed out the baby with the bathwater and have since come around to re-exploring what really is important and sometimes being surprised at what we find.
This al now brings me back to the commandment to not take the Lord’s name in vain. I’m no Hebrew scholar by any means, but I’ve got a couple of degrees in the Christian religion, and during my time “earning” those degrees I’ve had four full semesters devoted to the Old Testament and three to studying Hebrew. So, I’ve looked at the Law a little bit. One of the things I’ve learned is that when dealing with the Law there is a letter and a spirit. In other words, there is a strict literal applicaiton of what the Law (or a law) says and then the general sense that it may more imply rather than explicitly state.
Let’s take a couple for instance: 1. “Do not murder.” Pretty straightforward. The letter is that you shouldn’t kill. The spirit is that life is valuable, yours as much as mine, and that it shouldn’t be deliberately denied one of us by the other (this is a gross over-simplification for the sake of illustration; I fully acknowledge the complex nature of what I’m talking about, this comand in particular with how it relates to circumstances of war, captial punishment, self-defense, etc.). As followers of Christ we have been set free from the Law (Romans 8:2), but that doesn’t mean that we are not called to still adhere to its spirit (Hebrews 10, for example). With regard to this command, though, in order to keep the spirit of the law I must adhere to the letter of the law. 2. For this one, let’s use one personal to me: Leviticus 19:28. “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves.” Now the letter of this law, again, is pretty straightforward, but what’s the spirit? Well, when you study it in context you realize that the entire block of verses in which this falls is about the people of God distinguishing themselves from the nations who worshiped other gods. As part of that worship and devotion they would often carve markings into their skin or tattoo themselves with various symbols. Now, the spirit we are to adhere to, then, is to be about the things of God and not the things of this world or of other false gods. Not getting a tattoo can certainly be a way in which that happens, but is it essential? I sure don’t see that it is.
So, let’s take Deuteronomy 5:11. In order to know the letter we have to ask what it means to take the Lord’s name in vain. What this verse is specifically addressing is the swearing by God in the taking of an oath or the making of a vow. The idea was that by invoking the name of a god in an agreement or promise, there would be this magical seal. It was a way for people to assure others or persuade others. God doesn’t like to be used like that. In fact, one of the things God has continuously proved is that He will not be “used” or manipulated at all, hence the forbidding of trying to do so. Okay. So, what’s the spirit? Well, as I see it, the spirit of this law is to treat God with the reverence He deserves. This seems to concern itself with doing this by reserving His name for its proper use (in prayer, praise, etc.) by not having it tainted through improper use.
Now, there’s never a moment when I use His name (whether seriously or flippantly) or hear it used that I don’t think of Him, however brief that thought might be. Even when I hear His name used in a manner in which I deem it inappropriate, I’m not tainted. Rather I think of Him and how it must pain Him. Even if I exclaim, “oh, my God,” in shock at some situation or cry out, “Jesus, that hurt,” when stubbing my toe, my thoughts actually go to Him, though I didn’t really intend for it to be so. Therefore the spirit and letter of this law can crossover a lot but also contain many more shades of gray than black and white.
I’ve brought this up because of the common uses of “OMG” and “OMFG” (you can figure out what “F” is, can’t you?) and other abbreviations that have become so commonplace. Yes, it’s an example of what some pastors from my young adult years would call “substitue cursing” and I do think it’s legalistic to start nit-picking on stuff like that. I just wonder how many people use an abbreviation like that and enver give one though to God whatsoever.
I have no prescription here, no firm stance. The ancient Hebrews took it so seriously that they refused to even write the name of God (Yahweh) for fear of using it inappropriately (of course we haven’t even addressed the issue of which name of God we should be most concerned about; if it’s Yahweh, then nearly all of us are pretty safe). I think that’s extreme, but I wonder if it’s not closer to the right thing than we currently are. I don’t know. I guess I’m just interested in sparking thought and contemplation in anyone who reads this. Why? Because I think it’s important. Even if we don’t really think it is, if our cynicism or anger over legalistic rules still abounds, if we don’t see what the big deal is and wonder whether or not it really matters, I can’t help but realize one of the big ten is devoted to the issue, which I believe means that it at least matters to Him.
*I think everyone is creative. Some embrace it more than others. Some believe in it more than others. Some cultivate it more than others. But we all have it, at least a little bit.
