The Pursuit

A Historical Church Building

Friday, August 22nd, 2008 | boycott, church, government, humor, philosophy, tradition | 3 Comments

I have become a big fan of NPR (National Public Radio). I get the benefits of talk radio (over crappy music), it is very enlightening, usually pretty balanced, and when it leans to the left I get a glimpse of their point-of-view.

Yesterday, as I was riding home from work I heard a piece on a historic church building in Washington, D.C. - that is, it is historic according to Historical Society standards. You see, this building was designed according to Brutalism. Brutalism was a very popular architectural style in the 1950s and ’60s. It’s ugly nature has left church desiring to tear it down and build a new, more functional building. However, there is a hitch. In 1991 a Historical Society applied to have The Third Church, Scientist designated as a historical landmark. So what does this mean? Simple, the church no longer has the right to tear down their building!

The piece was quite hilarious, I laughed out loud more than once. I think this was my favorite quote:

“Nothing expresses a church’s religious exercise more than its architecture. And this architecture does not express our theology and our exercise. Brutalism is not our religious expression,” he says.

I don’t know much about the “Christian Science” movement and it appears that this group is somehow aligned with the Church of Christ. But we all know what Christ said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, the architectural style of your buildings.” (John 13:35)

Anyways if you want to read the article you can find it here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93844919

Holiday vs. Christmas

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 | Thanksgiving, boycott, christmas, holidays, just for fun, philosophy, tradition | 2 Comments

I always thought how silly it was that people got so upset at other people who would rather say Happy Holiday instead of Merry Christmas. Until the other day when I was listening to the all Christmas Music station on my way home (some of my favorite music is Christmas music). An ad came on for Home Depot. They wanted you to shop there for your Holiday Gifts, Holiday Tree, Holiday everything. For some reason when I heard the word “Holiday” instead of “Christmas” I realized how completely retarded it sounded. I had never noticed before, and frankly I still don’t care if they decide to use it. But seriously, it just doesn’t “fit.”

The reason why I think it sounds so stupid is because of what the word Holiday actually means and how it is being used. In this case Holiday is being used as the name of a specific day, December 25th. Regardless of it’s origin, December 25th in todays society is traditionally named, Christmas - or at least it was. The word “Holiday,” according to the dictionary means, “a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.” There are actually nine definitions but they are all pretty much the same. You see the problem I have with people saying Happy Holiday in reference to December 25, is not the fact that they are trying to remove Christmas, its the fact that they want to name a holiday - Holiday.

Basically what they want, is for people to say, “Are you coming over for Holiday?” or “Hey, what are you doing on Holiday?” And then they want people to associate that use with December 25th. Instead of the more specific term “Christmas.” But what about all the other holidays that America celebrates? They celebrate Valentines Day, The 4th of July, Thanksgiving, etc. Should we name them all “Holiday”? How would we know which one we are refering to?

You also have to contend with the etymology of the word of holiday. It is made of two words, Holy and Day. So, in order to not offend all the atheists and non-Christians in America, the big wigs have decided to stop calling December 25 “Christmas” in favor of calling it a “Holy Day.” Granted most of those people probably don’t know the etymology. But isn’t it just as “offensive” to call something Holy for someone who doesn’t believe in Holy things? Or to call a particular day Holy, if the atheist and non-Christian does not think the day is Holy?

I call for all companies who do not want to use the word “Christmas” to pick a new word. I’ll let them decide, but some possibilities might be, Gift Day, Giving Day, and Wonder Day (I think Giving Day would be perfect, since we just celebrated Thanksgiving). I know a lot of you might be thinking, “that’ll never work.” But if you look back in history, you’ll find that the Christmas day did just that. It swooped down and took over a whole different holiday on December 25th.

Why am I such a heretic?

Thursday, October 25th, 2007 | AFA, American Family Association, boycott, homosexuality, testimony | 2 Comments

I know I’ve complained about the AFA (American Family Association) before but I still get their emails and they still grate on my nerves. I like their emails because I get a sense of what is happening in the Christian world. You know, those things that I don’t care enough about to study all day long, but am interested in how Christians are reacting. Yesterday I received an email telling me that the “Employment Non-Discrimination Act” is about to be debated and voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives (as early as Wednesday October 24, 2007). The problem? Apparently this act will treat homosexuals as if they were real people. Currently we have laws in place that force employers to hire a certain percentages of ethnic groups and minorities. Well this act will force employers to hire a certain percentage of sexually oriented people. There is supposedly a religious clause in the act, but the AFA lawyers seem to think it is bogus.

Frankly I think it is a waste of time to have any equal opportunity clauses, sexual or ethnic or whatever. But if we’re going to live in this country, we’re going to have to deal with the rules. Is homosexuality a sin? Yes. Is a business equal to the church? I am not sure… I mean the church exists in business, but I still talk with all my co-workers, even the ones who claim to be non-Christian. Some of them are pretty decent people too.

When thinking about this Act, I just keep thinking that we should not be unequally yoked and I wonder… are “Christian” businesses unequally yoked with the government? I dunno.

Anyways, the other day I was annoyed with them because of their lame boycott against Ford. So I replied to one of their emails. This is what I wrote (by the way, no one has responded yet and it has been 3 weeks):

Hello,

I have been getting your emails for quite some time. Frankly, I have also been disappointed for quite some time. I do not quite understand this Christian Strong-Arm theme that most of your emails encourage. Why would we want a non-Christian organization to submit to Christian morals? What benefit is it to Ford to stop promoting the Homosexual agenda if they do not first believe the Gospel? Why would we be proud that we are harming lost people by reducing their sales? I just do not get it. This attitude is antithetical to the Gospel.

Christ did not come to condemn people, but to save people. How can we share the gospel with these people if we are boycotting them?

Titus 3:1-7 - “Remind them to be . . . ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

God’s Glory,
Lew A