bookapalooza

Original List provided from the Burnside Writers Collective blog

One book that changed my life: "The Poisonwood Bible" Barbara Kingsolver...maybe the first "real" book I'd ever read. Also, changed my perception of Christianity and Missionary's completely as it was my first real insight to Missimperialism...the spreading of western ideas through the use of misguided missionaries.

One book that I've read more than once: "Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance" Donald Miller...This was the right book at the right time and a refresher is due every year or so.

One book that I'd want on a desert island: "The Harry Potter Series" J.K. Rowling...I know it's a set, but it'd keep me busy for a while.

One book that made me laugh: "A Walk in the Woods" Bill Bryson

One book that made me cry: I'm not sure a book ever has.

One book that scared the hell out of me: "The Screwtape Letters" C.S. Lewis...man demons are a bugger.

One book I wish had been written: "Left Behind Series from a Post Tribulation Raputurist's perspective" Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins... because really how sweet would another 16 books be :-(

One book I wish had never been written: "Anything after the first three Left Behind books" Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins

Two books I'm currently reading: "The Windup Bird Chronicles" Haruki Murakami. "Fast Food Nation" Eric Schlosser

Books you've been meaning to read:

• The Myth of a Christian Nation: Greg Boyd
• The Importance of Being Foolish: Brennan Manning
• The Catcher in the Rye: J.D. Salinger

Thoughts on Heaven and Hell

I'm tired and this may not be the stellar writing, but I've been stirring around this thought for a while and thought I'd put it out there and see what others thought. A while back a non-Christian friend, Nick, and I were talking about why I believed in God. Nick wasn't sure what he believed, but he always came back to not being able to believe in a God that sent people to hell. He had real problems with Old Testament God.

I was never really sure how to respond to Nick because I felt he had a pretty valid point. Since then I've learned the differences between being Calvinist and Armenian and I guess I'd say I'm a free will believing guy. If I had a do over and could try answering him again I'd probably explain it this way, (though I'm sure it's not theologically sound and it's a pretty lame metaphor);

I like to liken it to God standing outside a house and welcoming people in. His house is on one side of the street and it's decent enough. He's standing out on the porch and when people walk buy he rushes out to ask them how they are and invite them in for dinner and conversation. Some say yes and some say no. It's their choice.

To go on with the metaphor I imagine the house to be a place where no imperfection can enter basically because God digs white carpet. But, there's no way I'm not going to bring dirt in on my feet. So his son Jesus meets me at the door and if I trust that he has never had dirt on his feet and can clean my feet then I can come in too. So I guess it's conditional in such that I'm humble enough to realize I'll taint God's house.

I guess I don't see God as turning me away as long as I want to come in and know that I'll need help to do it I can come in. If his house is all 100% loving and everything outside is less than that then that would be hell and it would be my choice.

I guess I do believe that sometimes there are people who think they know God and try to come on in, but God tells them not so fast. But, yeah, I really think God gives people the choice and even those who believe in Him daily choose not to come in....we all have dirty feet that need cleaning.

I was explaining this to another friend, Jon, who seemed to like it, but he said he imagined that most of want to believe in God, but daily walk on by his house anyways. Jon said that he envisioned it more as God chasing us down the street and hugging us and redirecting us and showing us back...though some of us still choose to go on to something else anyways. I like the way Jon put it because I know I pass on God's choices every day and even when I want to deepen my relationship with him I'm to prideful to except his grace.

I guess if you believe that God predetermines who is chosen and who isn't then this is a pointless argument and I struggle with believing in a God who says you can come, but you can't...but I know I'm routinely guilty of changing God's image into something I'm more comfortable with. Any thoughts?

the e-mail link

On the sidebar you may notice a link for the e-mail letters.to.jesus@hotmail.com. So this may be the stupidest idea I've ever had. My thought was what would happen if people had a place to e-mail anonymous letters to Jesus just to put down their thoughts. Those e-mails could be posted, from time to time, here and then they could be prayed about and other readers could give encouragement.

Anyways, feel free to e-mail away.

Stuff We All Get

1 .swag (according to urban dictionary)

Promotional merchandise for a band, record label, or other entity in the music business, usually distributed at concerts.May include t-shirts, stickers, promo CDs, posters, etc. Often free, but not necessarily; a t-shirt or record purchased at a concert might still be considered swag, especially if it is a design or release that is not readily available in the mass market.

May include t-shirts, stickers, promo CDs, posters, etc. Often free, but not necessarily; a t-shirt or record purchased at a concert might still be considered swag, especially if it is a design or release that is not readily available in the mass market.

Now Christians can get their swag on at christianswag.com. I think it's great that Christians have their own T-shirt line based off of pre-existing logos...but swag? Check out the link and vote for your favorite swag! I'll never drink Yoohoo the same again.

Manifesto

The word manifesto seems arrogant, but everyone has one. There's a manifesto for everything. Go to Amazon.com and check it out.

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So what makes this manifesto any better? Nothing really I think the word manifesto is a fancy way of saying your opinion should count. Imagine Karl one day turning to his buddy Fred and saying, "hey I have this crazy ass thought about sharing everything and booting out 'the man', I'm just gonna toss it out and see if it sticks?". That would have never flown...so they called it a Manifesto and paved the way for James Bond's success. But anyways...here's mine:

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Sometime before Christmas I was going to a White Elephant party with a group of friends from church. After many many hours of deliberation I finally found the right gift. A combination of churchy coolness combined with the appropriate amount of funny...a stuffed Jesus doll. Stuffed Jesus had a wild, hippyish mane atop his head, he had one lazy eye, wore a red and white tunic, and on his left wrist was a WWID bracelet.

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Stuffed Jesus stayed at my flat for a week before the party and occasionaly came out with me as I ran errands. I know it's wierd to carry a stuffed Jesus around, but people would comment on him or talk to him. I would too. I would ask him questions and in a wierd way he allowed me to see Jesus as humorous and easier to talk to. I guess it's because when I sometime after I decided to follow Jesus my Christianity became very legalistic and serious and brought on bouts of mild depression. I've had to learned to relax and it helped me to think that Real Jesus may think that Stuffed Jesus was funny. This is something I've always needed. In fact, my favorite part of the Passion of Christ is where Jesus jokes around with Mary because I need to be reminded that Jesus has a sense of humor and that he wants a relationship not my ability to follow the rules.

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I missed having Stuffed Jesus after giving him away...I wondered what would happen if a blog could be created around Stuffed Jesus as an outlet to post about the things I struggle with where people could post back and it could be done in a humorous way. I also thought a blog would be a great place to post things that are funny within the Christian community such as Jesuswear and Bible Bars. Finally, I thought it would still be fun to carry around Stuffed Jesus from time to time to see if people would still talk to him and collect the stories of what Christians and non-Christians would say to Jesus.

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All in all, I worry that a Stuffed Jesus blog could be sacreligious or blasphemous and if you think it is I'm sorry. I just want it to be a place where you can share your thoughts and I can share mine and maybe through laughter and pain we can grow closer to the Real Jesus.