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In my Tuesday night class, we did a nifty in-class activity. As a result of this activity, I learned that I am longing for more enjoyment in life. I want to celebrate more, to dance spontaneously, to have outbursts of singing, to laugh uncontrollably, etc. Call me weird, but I also find a great deal of pleasure in writing. So, good for you, I will be writing more blogs. Celebration anyone?
If you haven’t seen Inception, watch it. It will blow your mind.
Ever since I watched the movie, I’ve been wanting to write about it, so here it goes:
What’s going on beneath the surface of this action-packed movie? Is it about the subconscious mind? Is it about the power of dreams? Is it about Alzheimer’s? Is it about the theory of relativity? Is it about corporate espionage? Is it about the importance of family? Is it about the possibilities of time travel? Is it about the power of an idea?
I don’t want to ruin the ending for those of you who haven’t watched it (but if you want to know, just watch the movie or read the article on Wikipedia). I guess I will simply ask the question: Was the ending satisfying? Was it enough? Did it get the point across? I know my answers, but I would like to hear yours. The director of the movie said he has never been asked about a part of a movie more than he has been asked about the ending of Inception. He also chuckles about it because, of course, he’s not giving them an answer; nor should he.
I’ll conclude with this: Ideas are powerful things. They are planted in our minds everyday. Pay attention to them. Ponder them. See if they are affecting and/or effecting your life.
“Christianity is not about religion; it’s about a relationship.” If you have run in Christian circles for the past ten years, or even if you have just run into a Christian in the past ten years, you’ve heard this little apothegm. I have grown very weary of hearing it, but I’ve always wondered where it came from and what philosophical thought it is promoting. After all, most pithy sayings are oversimplified attempts at summing up some great philosopher’s thought.
While I would love to set forth some philosophical tome, I realize this is a blog, which means if I don’t say what I want to say in three minutes, I’ve lost you. So, here it goes:
Immanuel Kant, a philosopher of the mid-to-late 1700s, tried to place Christianity in the realm of morality. God is beyond scientific, sense-based experience said Kant; God is to be found in morality. So, in a sense, Christianity is about being a good, ethical person. (Sound familiar?)
G.W.F. Hegel, a philosopher of the late 1700s and early 1800s, is famous for his influence on Karl Marx, which, for most Americans, gives Hegel a bad name. He actually did much more than influence Marx, but just as an aside, Marx fundamentally changed some of Hegel’s teachings to fit his own framework (shifting Hegelian thought from ideas to materials). But back to Hegel, he devised more than the famous dialectic of thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Hegel’s ideas on “Geist” and “truth as a process” are, in my estimation, worth pondering. While his idea that God comes to greater self-knowledge through history might be oddly contrived, his influence in other areas is tremendous. For example, if you think about how the educational system is set up, it operates on a Hegelian model–thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Research this issue, understand the views on both sides, then offer a nuanced third alternative. All of this is in an effort to make “progress” and discover “new knowledge.” (Sound familiar?)
Finally, you have Friedrich Schleiermacher, a favorite of Christians across the board–arguably. Rather than mankind finding God in morality (Kant), or God finding himself in history (Hegel), we all, as humankind, have this God-consciousness (Schleiermacher). We have this feeling, this sense, this awareness, that we are utterly dependent on God. Or, in more condensed vernacular, “we have this God-shaped hole in our heart.” How do solve the problem? In Schleiermacher’s view, experience is supreme; theology is all about experience–experiencing a relationship with God. (Hmm?)
What I see is this: 1. Many of us are living like Kantians–trying to be good, moral people. 2. Many of us are becoming Hegelians–trying to make progress and find new knowledge as we synthesize other people’s views. 3. Many of us are being told, or telling people, that life is about experience–and if you’re a Christian, life is about the experience of living in a relationship with God.
So…If you think you have a new idea, think again. Then, read some history. I say this to myself first, and then, to you.
January 10, 2011:
My friends, it has been a crazy year. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled in the sea. Haiti and Chile have had catastophic earthquakes. The Butler Bulldogs and Indianapolis Colts made it to their respective title games and lost in heartwrenching fashion. Spain won the World Cup. The Prince has married a commoner. The Reddens now live on the other side of the country.
Since we live on the other side of the country, I felt it my duty to give you a recap of how we found ourselves here and what has happened since our move.
First, we have been saving to move ever since we tied the knot in August 2008. Originally, we thought it would be for my grad school, but after submitting applications to schools in Paris, Boston, and San Diego, I was turned down. We reevaluated life, Nathan Traylor moved in with us, and Hannah started looking at cosmetology schools in North Carolina.
In the meantime, we met a lovely couple named Taylor and Marissa, and we became dear friends.
We brainstormed life together, started studying Romans, and began praying about what to do. Everything seemed to be coming together to make a trip down to an island in the Caribbean called St. Kitts. Things fell through, but another couple, the Graysons, decided to make the trip and will be leaving in January.
At this point, with three sets of plans falling through, we reevaluated again. We still knew we were supposed to move, but we weren’t sure where. We helped my cousin detox for two weeks, then we began researching places to live on the west coast. Portland came to the surface because standard of living looked comparable to Indy and the city looked like a place where we might find our niche. It was artsy, green (in both senses of the word), temperatures were slightly warmer, and it had a church that was making a difference in the world (Imago Dei).
I prayed about school again and felt an inclination to check out seminary. There was a school in Portland that would accept my Bible college degree and it had a few professors that I knew of. I applied, and Hannah and I packed up our car with whatever fit, giving the rest away. We visited each of our parents, saw her extended family in Ohio, and it was there, that I learned I was actually accepted to the seminary. We rejoiced, celebrated our one year anniversary as well, and a few days later, left for Portland, with our car packed to the max and our new dog in the front seat with us.
The trip across the country was stunnishing–but it was also taxing. We slept at rest stops in the car, set up our tent at National Parks, and our dog threw up in our car one night.
It was memorable in the highs and the lows, and a full week later, we arrived in Portland. We lived in a hotel for a week, starting freaking out a bit, and then a couple from the seminary came to the rescue, offering us a place to live. The four of us (and each of our dogs) liked the living set-up so much, we decided to make it an indefinite stay.
Now that Hannah is pregnant, we have found another place to live and will be moving in January. Plenty of things have happened in between (which you might find in a book someday), but until then–Cheers!
As the title indicates, this post will not have one cohesive thought. I hope you can still enjoy it.
Yes, it must be that time of year again—my favorite holiday of all. Before I go any further, here is the disclaimer: If you want to enjoy Christmas for the rest of your life, do not read the rest of this post.
Ultimately, there is one reason I don’t like Christmas: the whole thing is a farce, both in its absurdity and its comedy—from a Christian perspective and from a nonreligious perspective.
First, from a Christian perspective, which revolves around Jesus’ birth: Aside from the inaccurate date of December 25, there is a multitude of things wrong with the nativity. For one, it doesn’t smell like manure or have the sounds of animals. As for Joseph, leading up to the birth, he was ready to break off the engagement. Mary must have been the gossip of the community, being labeled either a slut for her apparent unfaithfulness, or a lunatic for her claim that the father of the child was not a human (hardly a saint to be hailed). The two traveled away from their hometown when she was nine months pregnant, which led to Mary going into labor away from home. It’s possible that Joseph had to deliver the baby, and it’s highly unlikely he had proper training as a midwife. After birth, baby Jesus was placed in a watering trough with animal saliva, not a sanitary bed. Herod planned to kill baby Jesus with his “No Child Left Alive Act,” forcing Mary and Joseph to become refugees for a time. All of this to say, if “Jesus is the reason for the season,” then maybe the season should have a more somber and dismal feel.
From a nonreligious perspective, the materialism of the holiday is absurd. People (religious or nonreligious) are willing to trample others to buy gifts that are not really needed. Americans spend over $400 billion on Christmas every year. Mind-boggling. Santa doesn’t exist. If he did, and you switched the order of the letters in his name, he could be satan, which I find hilarious (Dana Carvey as Church Lady on SNL). I already mentioned the idiocy of trees and lights, not to mention hanging socks over fireplaces or wearing red hats with white fuzzy trim and a ball of cotton on top. I don’t know about you, but sitting on a fat stranger’s lap and giving him a list of the things I want, and then giving him my address, seems more frightening than exciting.
Yes, I hate this holiday, but do understand my tone. I am simply marveling and musing over one of our most cherished holidays from a realistic and nonsentimental point of view. Call me Scrooge, or the Grinch, I don’t mind.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/11/26/new.york.shoppers/index.html
Omer Redden 