ethics

Emergent Christians know that godliness doesn’t mean boring, depressing or futile expressions of truth. And we need to find ways to make journalism reflect fun, life and hope in the midst of reporting truthfully on heartwrenching situations. Who watches the news to be inspired? Nobody. At the end of a long day, people turn on the TV, and if they choose to watch the news its either out of habit, addiction to bad news or voyeristic curiosity about Jon Benet, Michael Jackson or Sara Evans. If we want to be inspired we watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition, or even Gray’s Anatomy. Brian Mclaren has blogged about our desperate need for ethical journalism so that we can know enough about our neighbor’s plight to care, and he’s right. But ethical journalism is not enough. We need ethical journalism than is smart, sexy and inspiring.

hi all.

i’m not sure if anyone else has watched any "nooma" productions. i watched one at home group last night called "Rain" and it was unlike anything i’ve seen before. check out their site at http://www.nooma.com because for me, given that it can be tricky to articulate exactly what emergent is, i think that nooma have created something emergent - a piece of media that really touched me and is credible and feisty enough to show my non-christian friends.

check them out & go well meantime.

mutant (penguin in bondage)

It seems to me that since the dominant image of Christianity in the US media is of right-wing Christians who predominantly vote Republican, one would think that this group would generally be in support of the current military operations in Iraq. On the other hand, I personally find that I cannot count myself as a follower of a Jesus who always practiced non-violence himself, and support violent actions of my state. Another view of the issue is that a Christian ought to support war if and only if every other possibility has been exhausted. So, perhaps this would make the Second World War justifiable, but one would want to let the inspections process finish before finally coming out in support of military action in Iraq. I have heard this called “Just War Theory.”

Must a Christian be a pacifist? Must a Christian support war in some cases? Is Just War Theory a workable solution to the problem? Are there other possibilities?

Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, reportedly pointed out that the tsunami could well test people’s faith in God. This theme was picked up in an interesting online BBC magazine article, which represented the views of a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Muslim and an Atheist, (why not a Jewish viewpoint, however?) “coming to terms with events in SE Asia.” Appropriately enough, in our supposedly postmodern, pluralistic age, the final and probably most balanced comment was by a pagan, urging people of all faiths and beliefs to continue in them as well as in the strength of the human spirit.

Greetings, What am I doing here? Is our nation imposing suffering due to a potential problem to distract us from dealing with the actual problem? Is this one of the crucifixion’s messages? Are good and evil only symbols applied to human actions when one takes life as something one has the right to judge? I have been taught there is no greater violation than to impose one’s will upon another for only one bit of matter can be present at the same time and place.I invite others to offer their understandings.

Imagine if you called for help and no one came.

Imagine further that no one even knew what you meant when you asked for “help”, that when you said the word “compassion” all you got was a blank stare or when you said “justice” people just scratched their heads.