I have two more blogs to post in my pre-Christmas series, but have gotten distracted by boxes named gray zipper, blue zipper, black zipper, box 1 and box 2. They look very similar if not the same, but FedEx recommends they not be made out of ticky tacky. Anyway, I hope to return to the four-part Christmas blog series at some point. You're supposed to be keeping the spirit of Christmas alive in your hearts year-round anyway, so just work with me.
One requirement of shipping internationally with FedEx is that a Commercial Invoice must be completed for each box listing each item in the box, the country of manufacture, quantity, unit price, and total price. Imagine condensing your life down to 5-7 boxes, 62 linear inches each, and then inventorying each one in this way. What would you find?
The most interesting thing to me is the various locations our clothing came from. My wardrobe is vastly more well-traveled than I am. So far women's tank tops have provided the most exotic locales, including Macau and Lesotho. A few items are made in the USA but most are not. This begs the following question: What exactly do we do all day? This must be why the economy is tanking.
I am disappointed to see that I only have one item of clothing from Cambodia, as I have heard they have strict laws against sweat shops there. I tried once to look for information about where to buy clothes manufactured in a way that provided good working conditions for the people who made them. What I found was (at that time) there wasn't a good way to pay attention to only one social issue. I couldn't just care about people without caring about animals and environmental issues, too. Those things are ok, but I think I'll only try to save the world one issue at a time.
Merry Christmas everyone! "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Do-over
Note: Read previous post “The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fall” before this one if you haven’t already.
Ok, so it could be argued that Adam and Eve did not know what they were doing and could not have guessed what effect their actions would have on their family, let alone the rest of the world. In their perfect environment they were likely not acquainted with anything even closely resembling deceit. How could they have been expected to recognize it and see it for what it was?
So what if we take another man, made in the image of God, well aware of what can happen if he rebels, and let him try again? Even better, let’s pick someone who lived in the awful conditions that came after the Fall (“every inclination of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil all the time”) but still managed to be righteous in the eyes of God. Someone like this would be aware of the evils of the world and would also be experienced in avoiding them. Sounds like a plan. God thought so, too.
“When Lamech had lived 182 years he had a son. He named him Noah and said, ‘He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.’”
This, like all do-overs, could not exactly duplicate all the conditions before the Fall, but it was best shot we had. We could remember what was at stake, right? Having experienced firsthand and perhaps participated in deceit we would be able to identify and avoid it. After seeing the disastrous results of the previous mistake, we would know what we were in for if we didn’t maintain relationship with God. Fool me once, shame on the snake. Fool me twice…doh!
The slate is wiped clean in Genesis chapter 7, waters recede in chapter 8, covenant is established between God and man in chapter 9, and we are good to go all the way through chapter 11. At this time men were apparently united with one another. We might think of that as peace. But apparently after the Fall, peace among men was not the Utopia we picture when we talk of world peace, but rather all men agreeing to rebel against God. Not such a great plan. Back to the drawing board.
Ok, so it could be argued that Adam and Eve did not know what they were doing and could not have guessed what effect their actions would have on their family, let alone the rest of the world. In their perfect environment they were likely not acquainted with anything even closely resembling deceit. How could they have been expected to recognize it and see it for what it was?
So what if we take another man, made in the image of God, well aware of what can happen if he rebels, and let him try again? Even better, let’s pick someone who lived in the awful conditions that came after the Fall (“every inclination of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil all the time”) but still managed to be righteous in the eyes of God. Someone like this would be aware of the evils of the world and would also be experienced in avoiding them. Sounds like a plan. God thought so, too.
“When Lamech had lived 182 years he had a son. He named him Noah and said, ‘He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.’”
This, like all do-overs, could not exactly duplicate all the conditions before the Fall, but it was best shot we had. We could remember what was at stake, right? Having experienced firsthand and perhaps participated in deceit we would be able to identify and avoid it. After seeing the disastrous results of the previous mistake, we would know what we were in for if we didn’t maintain relationship with God. Fool me once, shame on the snake. Fool me twice…doh!
The slate is wiped clean in Genesis chapter 7, waters recede in chapter 8, covenant is established between God and man in chapter 9, and we are good to go all the way through chapter 11. At this time men were apparently united with one another. We might think of that as peace. But apparently after the Fall, peace among men was not the Utopia we picture when we talk of world peace, but rather all men agreeing to rebel against God. Not such a great plan. Back to the drawing board.
Monday, November 24, 2008
The Grass Is Always Greener On the Other Side of the Fall
John Lennon said,
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
"Imagine" has been played at opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games, at Times Square as part of the New Year’s Eve festivities, and is the official song of the human rights organization Amnesty International. According to these and other tidbits of information on Wikipedia, the world in general closely associates “Imagine” with the idea of world peace. In the minds of many, conditions like this would solve the world’s problems. This song is just one example of humans placing the blame for everything bad in our world on religion or on God. “If God is so great, why does he allow bad things to happen to innocent people? If He is so loving, why does he allow such evil in the world?”
The majority of my life has been spent around conservative Christians, many of whom do not have positive things to say about this song. I suppose they don’t agree with the “no heaven,” “no hell” and “no religion” parts. They might be right to have these negative feelings towards “Imagine.” Lennon himself said that it was "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted." Christians are none too friendly to any of these “antis,” especially if they’re snuck by with sugar-coating.
When I hear “Imagine” I try to be offended like a good Christian should, but I just can’t muster it. I think Lennon was correct in writing “You may say that I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one.” He is not even the first one to come up with most of these ideas. God beat him to the punch. The reason Lennon’s words do not offend me is that they remind me of the Garden of Eden, even the parts about no heaven, hell, or religion. These things, or at least our awareness of them, only became necessary after the Fall. Now reread the lyrics. What do you think?
I am not going to attempt to describe the perfection of Eden or delve deeply into what was lost there. If you are interested in reading more on those topics I highly recommend you check out Donald Miller’s Searching For God Knows What, especially the chapters “Why Nudity Is the Point” and “Children of Chernobyl.” Suffice it to say that in Eden we (or at least our representatives, Adam and Eve) encountered a peaceful world, a perfect relationship with God, a place where all our needs were met (AKA no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man). We chose to reject it and have wanted it back ever since. And “Imagine,” in seeking to offer a resolution to everything that is wrong with this world, describes everything good we had and discarded in the first place. Given the choice, we preferred knowledge of good and evil over world peace.
As we head toward Christmas I have been thinking a lot about this and other ideas people have about how to fix the world. Several months ago it occurred to me that many of these ideas can be found in the Old Testament. As we move through Advent I hope to keep sharing my thoughts about some of the other been-there-done-that ways to a brighter future.
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
"Imagine" has been played at opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games, at Times Square as part of the New Year’s Eve festivities, and is the official song of the human rights organization Amnesty International. According to these and other tidbits of information on Wikipedia, the world in general closely associates “Imagine” with the idea of world peace. In the minds of many, conditions like this would solve the world’s problems. This song is just one example of humans placing the blame for everything bad in our world on religion or on God. “If God is so great, why does he allow bad things to happen to innocent people? If He is so loving, why does he allow such evil in the world?”
The majority of my life has been spent around conservative Christians, many of whom do not have positive things to say about this song. I suppose they don’t agree with the “no heaven,” “no hell” and “no religion” parts. They might be right to have these negative feelings towards “Imagine.” Lennon himself said that it was "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted." Christians are none too friendly to any of these “antis,” especially if they’re snuck by with sugar-coating.
When I hear “Imagine” I try to be offended like a good Christian should, but I just can’t muster it. I think Lennon was correct in writing “You may say that I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one.” He is not even the first one to come up with most of these ideas. God beat him to the punch. The reason Lennon’s words do not offend me is that they remind me of the Garden of Eden, even the parts about no heaven, hell, or religion. These things, or at least our awareness of them, only became necessary after the Fall. Now reread the lyrics. What do you think?
I am not going to attempt to describe the perfection of Eden or delve deeply into what was lost there. If you are interested in reading more on those topics I highly recommend you check out Donald Miller’s Searching For God Knows What, especially the chapters “Why Nudity Is the Point” and “Children of Chernobyl.” Suffice it to say that in Eden we (or at least our representatives, Adam and Eve) encountered a peaceful world, a perfect relationship with God, a place where all our needs were met (AKA no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man). We chose to reject it and have wanted it back ever since. And “Imagine,” in seeking to offer a resolution to everything that is wrong with this world, describes everything good we had and discarded in the first place. Given the choice, we preferred knowledge of good and evil over world peace.
As we head toward Christmas I have been thinking a lot about this and other ideas people have about how to fix the world. Several months ago it occurred to me that many of these ideas can be found in the Old Testament. As we move through Advent I hope to keep sharing my thoughts about some of the other been-there-done-that ways to a brighter future.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Coming Attractions
Hey Everyone!
Thanks for following me from MySpace! I'm following Aaron's suggestion and moving my blog here so everyone can comment. Let the smart-alecky free-for-all begin!
Over the next few weeks I hope to record some thoughts here in preparation for Christmas. We'll see how that goes since we're also going to be heading to Mongolia within a (very) few weeks. My experience with moving to the Philippines tells me I'm not going to have time to think, let alone blog, but I guess we'll see what happens. I might at least be recording some of our first experiences/impressions upon entering Mongolia as residents.
If anyone reading this is unaware of my previous blog, it's at http://blog.myspace.com/tksumpter if you're interested.
Tiff
Thanks for following me from MySpace! I'm following Aaron's suggestion and moving my blog here so everyone can comment. Let the smart-alecky free-for-all begin!
Over the next few weeks I hope to record some thoughts here in preparation for Christmas. We'll see how that goes since we're also going to be heading to Mongolia within a (very) few weeks. My experience with moving to the Philippines tells me I'm not going to have time to think, let alone blog, but I guess we'll see what happens. I might at least be recording some of our first experiences/impressions upon entering Mongolia as residents.
If anyone reading this is unaware of my previous blog, it's at http://blog.myspace.com/tksumpter if you're interested.
Tiff
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