In hindsight, this is probably not the best way to express myself. I’m sorry for anyone who was hurt by the whole “never enter the kingdom of heaven” bit. That’s just an figure of speech for “the best way to live!” And I apologize if the righteousness piece felt legalistic. When I talk about hungering after righteousness or pursuing righteousness I’m thinking more on a cosmic level, not so much about your personal holiness. The only righteousness I expect to see from you is being right enough to know you are wrong. Look, the last thing I want is for people to get uptight with the Bible and start freaking out about doing everything by the book.
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were super cool with his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had a realistic understanding of the Bible and helped the disciples feel better about themselves.
My “Aha” Moment and Those Who Don’t Get It
But I do think that the way the story is related in Mark 2 is at variance with what is presented in 1 Samuel 21. And that is where the major difference lies between me and some others. I am able to accept a Bible that doesn’t act the way I wish it did. I can accept a Bible that doesn’t always lineup with history or even itself. And when I encounter a difficulty like Mark 2:26 my impulse is not to conclude that it’s wrong. But I also don’t feel the need to explain it to fit my modern understanding of history. Sometimes I find a very reasonable explanation and other times I realize there isn’t one. At least not one that “fixes” the Bible to fit into the paradigm I have constructed.
On Piles of Sand and Eating Babies
But the difference is that I don’t feel condescended about these things. And yet I do feel that often there is quite an air of condescension that comes from those of us who might be called civilized about the practices of those who are uncivilized.
Ugh. Ouch. Amy, we don’t use words like civilized and uncivilized anymore. That was back in the days of imperialism. This is the 21st Century and we are enlightened.
Except, when I see that 13 million people are laughing at two African guys who are shoveling sand, it does make me wonder how enlightened we really are.
We must ask ourselves, Why do we assume these guys don’t have a reason for what they are doing? Why do we assume they are just being idiots?
The better way to 360-degree feedback
So on a retreat, we wrote a covenant together, and at every subsequent staff meeting we read a portion of the covenant and asked, “How are we doing?” In the covenant we explicitly said that we strive for excellence in ministry, that we desire to share a common vision and that we need to ask for and offer feedback, “in private when appropriate.”
The covenant acknowledged not only the need for honest feedback but also the need to give feedback at appropriate times and places and in appropriate ways.
With this framework in place, we no longer had to resort to the promise of anonymity or water-cooler conversations to learn the truth. Neither did we fear that feedback would be offered in ways that would wound the very relationships so central to working toward a shared vision.
Why You Need More Art in Your Life
But the truth is, art is indispensable. Art gives us meaning. There are things that cannot be understood with pure reason—like love and beauty, to name two. Art helps us understand our world.
Why We Keep Playing the Lottery
In the conceptual vacuum created by incomprehensible odds, people are likely to experience magical thinking or superstition, play a hunch, or simply throw reason out the window all together, says George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon. “Most of the weird stuff that you see with decision-making and risk happens with small probabilities,” he says.
Pennsylvania police’s pot plot: Ask owners to call
Police in Pennsylvania are asking the owners of marijuana plants discovered in a public area to come forward and “claim them” if they can “prove ownership.”
“These marijuana plants were harvested near Colonial Rd. If they are yours and you can prove ownership, please call,” the Northern York County Regional Police posted on Twitter.