openswitch

Georgia has become the first state to officially offer Bible classes as an optional part of curriculum offered in public schools. Gov. Sonny Perdue recently signed several bills, one of which also allows courthouses the option to keep the Ten Commandments publicly displayed. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I’m all for offering the elective to take a Bible course in public school. I think it’s great; but there will be a lot of ink (and pixels) spilled over this issue. It’s a sensitive one and it hits close to home for many people, both liberal and conservative. The goal of this bill is to simply present the Bible as a historical and literary work. Or, as State Sen. Tommie Williams says,

“We simply have to teach ‘This is what happened?make your own judgments’,…”

If the goal is indeed to teach the Bible as history and literature in as unbiased a way as possible then I think this bill shows promise. If, however, teachers begin indoctrinating their students into one specific set of denominational beliefs we’ll see trouble…and lots of it.

I say that because indoctrinating students in a public school with a certain denomination or tradition of Christianity is inherently bad. But general, open-ended study and conversation, I believe, can prove fruitful.

What do you think?

[H/T: Lo-Fi Tribe]

Apparently I’m a negligent parent. I say that because according to an article published by Consumer Reports, “8 products not to buy for kids,” the number one thing to not buy a kid is a trampoline and what’s the one toy that Thomas enjoys most? You guessed it, the big, round, bouncy trampoline/death machine we have set up in the backyard.

Maybe we should have known better. After all, as Consumer Reports says,

A trampoline is an accident waiting to happen. In 2003, the latest year for which data are available, some 98,000 trampoline-related injuries resulted in emergency room visits, according to the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission. At least 6 deaths have been reported since 1990. [Emphasis mine]

You know what those statistics tell me? They tell me that there are a lot of dumb people out there. Do you honestly think all (or even most) of those 98,000 injuries happened as a person was simply jumping up and down by himself? No! You know as well as I that they got hurt while doing flips, jumping off of roof-tops onto the trampoline, jumping from a trampoline into a pool or any other number of stupid human tricks. I’m equally sure that each instance of stupidity was preceded by the phrase, “Hey guys, watch THIS!” A good many of them were probably teenage boys trying to impress their friends/girlfriend too.

At any rate, I’m not putting much stock in Consumer Reports’ little list. Why you ask? Well, for starters they say that ATV’s are “dangerous” for kids. Everyone south of the Mason Dixon line knows that ATV’s are like rocking horses; every toddler should have one (I’m kidding of course, but not nearly as much as you hope I am.)

The good news is that Thomas is still at an age where he can’t play outside alone yet so when he’s on the trampoline I’m like, right there with him. Better still, by the time he gets inundated with teenage hormones, suddenly developing a driving desire to do stupid stuff in front of his friends, our trampoline will have been long gone due to its age and the fact that I’ll probably break it one of these days as I see just how far I can jump off of it. All the while, of course, yelling, “Thomas, watch daddy!”

Which brings me to wonder: did you ever do anything stupid as a teenager?

As I speak of music in this post I’ll usually be referring to the general, overarching and abstract concept of music as a whole.

Music is an amazing entity when you stop to think about it. Few things in this life can lift us to the emotional heights and plunge us to the depths as music does. Music spans ages, races, cultures and beliefs. It knows no gender and worships no god. What else but music will befriend you regardless of your past? What else but music will stand by your side, crying, praising, dancing, exploring and contemplating with you as long as you need it to? Nothing can reach into our psyche and our emotional core to pull at our heartstrings as effortlessly as music does.

I’m writing this as I’ve got my cheap Sony MDR-CD180 headphones on, listening to the Indigo Girls’ album Kid Fears. My favorite song off that album is Prince of Darkness. As proud lesbians many Christians won’t listen to them. Personally, their sexual orientation doesn’t affect their ability to reach me. They make gorgeous music that sounds sweet to my soul and even write lyrics that (gasp) bring me closer to God. To me music transcends sexual orientation. It transcends religion, beliefs or anything else. Music is part of us as humans. For some reason music is hard coded into the very fibers of our being; it’s inescapable. Life without music, for me, is not life but mere existence.

In this sense I suppose music is much like poetry. Indeed, a lot of the appeal of modern (i.e. since spoken language has been invented) music is held in the lyrics. But lyrics, if they’re good, can stand apart from the music and vice versa. They don’t depend on but instead build off of each other; they are the perfect couple. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy musicians such the Indigo Girls so much, they’re poets and musicians in almost equal parts. But then how do I explain my addiction to electronic artists like The Chemical Brothers?

Classical, Popular, Local sounds, Blues, Country, Electronic, Folk, Hip hop, Heavy metal, Industrial, Jazz, Punk, Reggae, Pop, Rock, et al. Give them to me! Let me have all or none! And don’t forget to throw in the smaller sub-genres on the side! It’s all music and it all reaches me in different ways, at different levels…with varying results ;).

While I may never understand exactly why music is so adept at taking my mind, emotions and heart, molding them like warm clay I’ll nevertheless continue to sit here with my headphones on, music playing; letting the beat of the ages pulse through my meager frame.

Don’t worry, no spoilers here.

Ben’s rating:

Full review: Excellent, excellent movie. For those of you who’ve seen X-Men parts 1 & 2 you owe it to yourself to see this one. Character plots find resolution, stuff dematerializes left and right, and Hugh Jackman puts on a performance that keeps him at the top of my “favorite actors” list.

I love Hugh Jackman. Let’s face it, anyone who can play a lead role in the musical, “Oklahoma“ (singing his own parts, I might add) and can then turn around and shine in a romantic comedy, only to continue on playing a mutant deserves a good deal of praise.

Halle Berry put on a stellar performance; which really is to be expected. She’s a tremendous actress. On a personal note, however, I really don’t see why so many men find her so attractive. She’s very plain looking to me.

Ian McKellen and Famke Janssen did superbly as well. What more can I say?

This is a great cast that really brings the comic book to life. I highly recommend you see this movie in the theaters if possible because even though the special effects aren’t exactly groundbreaking they are nevertheless seamless and excellent.

In conclusion you really should see this movie. It deserves the PG-13 rating which it earned but it’s better for it.

One last thing, watch all of the credits at the end, you won’t be sorry.

A mother and daughter were sitting at the kitchen table talking about life. The daughter mentioned that she was beginning to experience some hardships since moving out of the house into her own apartment. As she was explaining to her mother the difficulties she was having her mom got up from her seat, went to the fridge and got out an egg and a carrot. She then went to the cupboard and got a coffee bean out of its air-tight container (she knew how to store coffee beans properly.) All the while, of course, she was listening to her daughter’s story.

After placing three pots of water on the stove and bringing them all to a boil she placed the egg in one, the carrot in the other and the coffee bean in the last. She then turned off the heat on the stove and let the items sit for a little while in the hot water. By this point her daughter had finished explaining what was worrying her; obviously distraught.

The mom spoke to her daughter. “You see, each of these items was placed in the same situation, boiling water. But each of them had a different reaction to the environment in which they found themselves.”

“I…I don’t understand” Her daughter said; voice quivering with sadness.

“Well, take the egg for example. When it was placed in the hot water its outer shell, the part we see remained unchanged. The inside, however, became hard; very different from the fluidness that defined it before. Now look at the carrot. When it was placed in the same situation as the egg it became soft, it gave in to the heat and the water, becoming limp…giving up.”

“That makes sense so far, mom, but what about the coffee bean?”

“Ah, yes, the coffee bean. It didn’t change at all. Instead of letting the hot water affect it, it affected the water. You see, the whole pot of water is now coffee. Sweetie, hard times will come your way, that much is a certainty. But when they do you have to decide what your response will be. Will your response be more like the egg, the carrot or the coffee bean?”

The more I’m around teenagers the more I’m convinced that even though they say they don’t want authority figures in their lives, the fact of the matter is they really do. I say this because for the past 5 years I’ve been in full time student ministry and have observed the different ways students respond to me.

When I’m buddy-buddy with the students I find that they tend to disrespect me more readily. They also tend to not attend as many youth group functions. I find that they tend to develop a more passive role in the youth group, like it’s just a place to hang out with friends and therefore don’t come if they don’t feel like it. They have no sense of obligation to attend.

Conversely, when I’m more of a disciplinarian they not only respond to me in a more respectful manner (which is to be expected) but they also tend to develop a stronger sense of obligation to attend youth functions.

It’s an interesting thing. I’m not sure I have the whole picture of this issue though; I’d really like to hear your thoughts on it. Please share in the comments form below.

I love spelling it “Idle” instead of “Idol;” for some reason it just makes me chuckle each time I do it. At any rate, tonight’s the last night of American Idol ’06 and it’s down to Katherine McPhee and Taylor Hicks. If Taylor wins I’m going to view it as a fulfillment of end-time prophecy. Specifically, the first part of Revelation 13:8:

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast…

OK, maybe it won’t be a sign of the end times but it sure will be a sign of something. Perhaps a sign that the American public has been duped. Dang, I must really jaded that Chris got voted off a few weeks ago. Oh well. He was clearly the best singer and performer of them all.

I just found out about this hilarious site called “Vote For The Worst.” I wonder how much of a real impact it has on the vote count of American Idol. It probably has little to no effect; but I like to attribute the fact that Taylor made it past round one to this site because it helps me sleep at night. Actually, if anything it’s all Paula’s fault with her mindless praise, “You’re a star baby!” and “You made it your own.” Blech.

I’m off to txt my vote in for Katherine ‘cause unlike Taylor she doesn’t look like she has to pee when she sings. She’s the lesser of two evils.

Y’all just don’t know how much courage it takes to put this here but I just had to because…well…it’s awesome. Joel is my brother in law and best friend (besides my wife.) This is what happened after Thomas’ 2nd birthday party that evening; hence the bad lighting. Please bear with it. All video and editing by Anna. By the way, I’m the first guy in the video, Joel is the second.

Ahhhhh. The smell of burning plastic permeates the house, mini-me is crabby, and I’m blogging. Yes, it’s a typical day for the Gray family. I get so freakin’ stressed out when we have company over to the house. I completely enjoy having friends over, I just love it; but at the same time I obsessively want everything to be “just right” and thus worry myself a new ulcer each time we throw a party.

Today’s cause for a party is we’re celebrating Thomas’ second birthday. His actual birthday isn’t until the 23rd but generally speaking birthday parties work better on the weekend than midweek. After all, not everyone is a minister and gets take vacation days whenever they need them. <sidenote>Man, I love ministry</sidenote>

What a great day for a shindig! It’s a beautiful 80^o and sunny in Atlanta today. My folks drove down from Chicago for this party which was very cool of them; Thomas just loves having them around considering he only gets to see them twice a year.

We’ll be torching some hotdogs and burgers on the grill in a few hours; that being followed by my son opening all his presents. He’s the first grandchild on both sides of the family so we’re expecting a good haul this year. I’ll post pics of some of his gifts on my flickr gallery so stay tuned to that for gift updates.

Are you still wondering why there’s the smell of burning plastic? Simply because a Nalgene bottle was put in the bottom rack of the dishwasher, its lid slipped between the bars and sizzled its way to oblivion on one of the heater coils at the bottom. Darn it that was a nice bottle.

Shawn has a good post about apocalyptic writings that deserves a read. That’s what got me thinking on this subject.

I just recently finished a several-month study of the book of Revelation with my youth group. They requested the study and I was glad to take them through the book. Boy, talk about a confusing piece of literature. It makes Shakespeare look like he was writing for children. I mean, not only is the book really old, it’s really complicated and written fairly cryptically. You’ve got dragons, beasts, horns, crowns, blood, horses and wine presses all mixing it up in the Middle East while locusts eat everyone’s flesh. It’s a complicated book.

It’s not the only apocalyptic book in the Bible though. As a matter of fact, to correctly interpret Revelation you have to read it side by side with the book of Daniel (another apocalyptic book.) Apocalyptic books are fascinating things really; especially since people in general love the idea of getting a glimpse of the future. But we’ve got to be careful when we read apocalyptic literature.

Often times apocalyptic writing is vague and it’s almost always confusing even to scholars. That’s why brilliant men disagree so starkly concerning the proper interpretation of apocalyptic literature. I tried to keep that in mind and constantly remind the students of that fact as we were going through Revelation. Any time we would get to a point in the book on which scholars disagreed I would tell the students my view of that section, then follow it up with saying something like, “There are men much smarter than me that disagree with me on this. There are also men much smarter than me that agree with me.” I think I frustrated them more than anything. I think they wanted me to tell them, “This is the way it is, I’m positive.” But I couldn’t say that; and that’s OK.

An example of a teaching about which I can’t be positive is the idea of the rapture of all believers in the book of Revelation. Some people believe it will happen before the great tribulation (pre-trib), others believe it will happen in the middle of it (mid-trib), and still others believe it will happen at the end (post-trib). I presented all three arguments to my students and then told them my stance. I’m “pan-trib.” That is, it will all pan out in the end. I couldn’t tell them for sure which way to believe.

Could this be construed as waffling? Sure, I suppose it could. But I think that with non-essential issues such as this it’s OK for me to admit “I don’t know” and move on. This way I not only avoid conflict but I also avoid being wrong. I would rather say, “I don’t know” and discover later in life that I can know than to say, “I do know” and be incorrect; teaching others to be incorrect along the way. But then, that’s just me…and I love waffles.