The Power of an Idea

      I had a long conversation with a good friend yesterday - the core of the conversation was about whether an idea can hurt someone.  We were discussing a book recently released ("The Idolatry of God" by Peter Rollins) and whether reading the book can do damage to someone.  I know my friend reads this blog on occasion, so hey!  

     Anyway, afterwards, I was tired (I am guessing he was too) but that didn't make me stop thinking about our conversation.  I started thinking about the resistance to ideas throughout history.  Standing at a distance, I am sure we can all name some negative events in history where resistance to ideas were a central theme (Dark Ages, Nazis, etc,), but my question is a deeper one - what is it we are actually fearing when we fear an idea?  My friend compared the reading of materials that he disagreed with to intentionally cutting oneself and understood it not as a fear, but more as wisdom.  To me,  the expression conveys that the exposure to the material is a very painful experience.  Like the "fear" of heights.  Some would say it is healthy, but I would say that the fear of heights is actually the fear of death......and that fear is not a healthy thing, though the preservation of life is.  But I think the two stand opposed to one another.  I would love to have some discussion on this - leave a comment if you have thoughts on this.  

Do we need fear?

 

A Word on the Seahawks

     When I was a kid, I heard a lot of sermons that tried to guilt me for being a sports fan.  The basic idea was that if people will pack stadiums and scream and yell and cheer for (name your team), then how much more should we be excited about church.  No kidding - this was a frequently spoken sermon in the small church I was in for the majority of my childhood.  Even then, I was thinking, "this is just stupid".
     When the Hawks went down in shockingly quick flames yesterday, I thought about the pursuit of the idol. I've been reading Peter Rollins' new book, "The Idolatry of God - Breaking Our Addiction to Certainty and Satisfaction" (actually on my second run through in two weeks - it's that good) and the endless pursuit of a championship winning team in Seattle (in any sport) fit nicely into my thought processes.  I asked some friends, "What if we won the Superbowl?  What we do then?"  I asked them, and later posted a video I found on Youtube about this, "What if the Coyote caught the Roadrunner?  The illusion that it ever had any meaning at all would be gone.  And so it would be with the Hawks.  The movie would end, the credits would roll with Seattle in a dizzy blur of ecstacy, and then two days later, we would be left with the immediate need for next season to start - please, oh please let the illusion of meaning ensue again.
     I say this as a sports fan - meaningless, meaningless.....it's all so friggin meaningless.  Is it any wonder that Football and Church compete for the same time slot?  Are they not addressing the same thing? And are we not seeking to fulfill the exact same desire in the pursuit of them both?  This is why most of us, if we're honest, can identify with Homer Simpson's never-ending struggle to not have that radio headphone in his ear while sitting in the pews.  It feels so dang similar.  Just my two cents....

Seth