Jesus Vs. McDonald's Advertising

From "Inherit the Mirth"

Casting Castanets

Pancake Breakfast

Book Review: COFFEE WITH JESUS

Like many readers, I first became acquainted with David Wilkie's "Coffee with Jesus" via a Facebook post that someone had forwarded. I don't remember which strip it exactly was at the time, but I liked how succinct and pithy it was. When I had heard that the comics of "Coffee with Jesus" had been compiled into book form, I had to get a copy.

The book COFFEE WITH JESUS is a collection of most of the "Coffee with Jesus" strips that have been published to date so far. I'm not sure if it contains all of the strips, but it seems to have most of the strips that can currently be found on the Radio Free Babylon website. There also seems to be a few strips in the book that haven't been published on the Internet, yet. The strips in the book are separated into seven thematic chapters. Each of these chapters has a short introduction. In addition, at the end of the first six chapters there is a short character biography about one of the re-occurring characters in the strip: Kevin, Carl, Ann, Lisa, Joe, and Satan. The book also has a well written introduction from the author about how the strip came to be and how it has slowly evolved since its inception. At the end of the book, there are some discussion questions; COFFEE WITH JESUS would actually make a pretty decent, albeit unusual Bible study.

The artwork is quite simple and that's part of the charm of the strip. There are no ongoing story lines and although there are reoccurring characters, you don't have to be familiar with any of them to understand the strip. If you do read all of the strips, you can see some slow character development with the characters. Some might find Jesus' comments in the strip to be a bit too snarky or satirical. Personally, I think that (for the most part) they hit close to the truth about our lives and help shed some much needed light into the darkness or shatter some illusions and idols that we all have. If nothing else, it really makes me think what Jesus would say to me if I was to meet with him on a weekly basis and share a cup of coffee.

Jesus Isn't Against Religion

There's a new video that's spreading around the Internet like wildfire on a hot summer day during a drought in the Plains. The video was posted on January 10, 2012 and as of today, January 15, 2012, it already has 11,000,000 views on Youtube. The creator/author of the poem is a young man named Jefferson Bethke. You can watch the video below.

There are a lot of good things that the author says in this poem. However, there are some things that just aren't true that could lead some astray. The intent and motive of Bethke is pure. That's not questionable. However, there are issues in the poem that need and should be addressed, not because, as Kevin DeYoung points out, "this video will launch a worldwide revolution. I want to spend some time on this because Bethke perfectly captures the mood, and in my mind the confusion, of a lot of earnest, young Christians."

DeYoung has already parsed this poem far more clearly than I could. You can read his entire assessment here. But here are a few key points:


"More important is Bethke’s opening line: “Jesus came to abolish religion.” That’s the whole point of the poem. The argument—and most poems are arguing for something—rests on the sharp distinction between religion on one side and Jesus on the other. Whether this argument is fair depends on your definition of religion. Bethke sees religion as a man made attempt to earn God’s favor. Religion equals self-righteousness, moral preening, and hypocrisy. Religion is all law and no gospel. If that’s religion, then Jesus is certainly against it.

"But that’s not what religion is. We can say that’s what is has become for some people or what we understand it to be. But words still matter and we shouldn’t just define them however we want. “Jesus hates religion” communicates something that “Jesus hates self-righteousness” doesn’t. To say that Jesus hates pride and hypocrisy is old news. To say he hates religion—now, that has a kick to it. People hear “religion” and think of rules, rituals, dogma, pastors, priests, institutions. People love Oprah and the Shack and “spiritual, not religious” bumper stickers because the mood of our country is one that wants God without the strictures that come with traditional Christianity. We love the Jesus that hates religion.

"The only problem is, he didn’t. Jesus was a Jew. He went to services at the synagogue. He observed Jewish holy days. He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17). He founded the church (Matt. 16:18). He established church discipline (Matt. 18:15-20). He instituted a ritual meal (Matt. 26:26-28). He told his disciples to baptize people and to teach others to obey everything he commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). He insisted that people believe in him and believe certain things about him (John 3:16-18; 8:24). If religion is characterized by doctrine, commands, rituals, and structure, then Jesus is not your go-to guy for hating religion. This was the central point behind the book Ted Kluck and I wrote a few years ago....

"...Christians need to stop perpetuating the myth that we’ve basically been huge failures in the world. That may win us an audience with non-Christians, but it’s not true. We are sinners like everyone else, so our record is mixed. We’ve been stupid and selfish over the years. But we’ve also been the salt of the earth. The evangelical awakening in England in the eighteenth century is widely credited for preventing the sort of bloodbath that swept over France in the “enlightened” French Revolution. Christians (and conservatives in general) give more to charitable causes than their secular counterparts. Christians run countless shelters, pregnancy centers, rescue missions, and food pantries. Christians operate orphanages, staff clinics, dig wells, raise crops, teach children, and fight AIDS around the globe. While we can always do more and may be blind to the needs around us at times, there is no group of people on the planet that do more for the poor than Christians. If you know of a church with a dozen escalators and no money and no heart for the hurting, then blast that church. But we have to stop the self-flagellation and the slander that says Christians do nothing for the poor.

"Thanks for reminding us about Jesus. But try to be more careful when talking about religion. After all, there is one religion whose aim is to worship, serve, know, proclaim, believe, obey, and organize around this Jesus. And without all those verbs, there’s not much Jesus left."

The Gospel and the World Series

Jonathan Parnell has an interesting article about World Series 2011 and the Gospel. You can read it here:

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-cross-and-the-st-louis-cardinals

If Facebook Had Existed During Jesus' Birth

Don't Forget the Real Reason for Christmas

Where's the Line to Jesus Music Video

The Point of the Gospel

What's the point of the Gospel?

Jesus Was a Community Organizer?

On my blogs, I try to avoid writing about politics as much as possible. Politics is way, way too divisive. People pick a person, side, or issue and will say or do anything for what they have chosen without thinking one moment about what they are saying or doing. All the partisan bickering has divided this country so far down the middle that I don’t know if it will ever be possible to return to an era when most politicians were actually real statesmen concerned about the welfare of the country and its citizens instead of their own personal power. I know that politics has always been a game between those who were in it for the betterment of humankind and those who were in it just for their own ego and power trips. But, looking back through history it seems that there used to be, at least in the U.S., a time when there were more people in politics for the right reasons. Now it seems like the majority of the people in politics are power-hungry idiots.

Take for instance this recent statement made in Congress by Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee. “I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that the parties have differences. But if you want change, you want the Democratic Party. Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus, who our minister prayed about. Pontius Pilate was a governor. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.”

There are two fallacies about that statement. The first is so obvious and ludicrous that I’m not even going to discuss it. You can figure it out on your own.

The second is a bit more subtle and it is the assertion that Jesus was a community organizer. Reading through the New Testament, I find it incredible that someone would describe Jesus as a “community organizer”, at least in the way most people view what a community is. It is true that Jesus was and is all about community, but it is a completely different type of community. The community Jesus was about was unearthly, not-of-this-world. It was a community that could only exist when each of its members were right with God, living in agape, and working together for a common purpose. But, when Jesus walked the Earth no one understood that. Instead of organization, wherever Jesus went there was chaos. Jesus said things that people didn’t like to hear, such as that if they truly wanted to be his disciple they would have to hate their family and even their own life. He promised people trials and tribulations. He drove away very profitable businesses out of the temple. He spent over three years of his life living as a homeless person and told a young, respectable, and wealthy citizen that the only way he could follow him was if he sold all of his possessions. True, people followed Jesus, but most did so out of curiosity. He had his disciples, but even his innermost circle and closest friends abandoned him during his trial. No one testified on his behalf and his most trusted friend denounced him three times and in doing so condemned him to die. On the day of his death no one was comforted. That really doesn’t seem much of a “community organizer” to me.