???????Speeding????????

So one of the thoughts that has troubled my mind over the past couple of years, and that has caused much friction at various times. The issue is that of speeding. (when one exceeds the posted limit to speed on a given road). I know that I have been accused of being legalistic or of being a fundamentalist because of the view that I have taken. This is an unfortunate insult to me, but I guess it'll happen.

Personally I have and still think that knowingly willingly exceeding the posted speed limit is wrong and I would venture to say sinful.

I would really appreciate each of you leaving your thoughts and reactions to the proposition stated above. I will then respond with an additional post hopefully giving further insight to where I am coming from.

********Hermeneutic of Humility**********

So I have noticed (Me being an observer, thinker and analyser) that those of my friends, or those that i simply know about, that are of the postmodern/emergent persuasion (what ever that means?) have an almost smothering emphasis on a hermeneutic of humilty. What i mean is that life is not simple, perspectives and the sociological environment have a huge impact on what one does and believes, sees or thinks. For example for one to say that the issue of say... homosexuality is just wrong, and the answer is simple, would be an overt act of arogance. The word arrogance seems to be the vice to the virtue, to the point that arrogance is almost the greatest sin, and openmindedness is the highest virtue.

Now obviously I really resonate with this way of thinking. However as I have observed this way of thinking has not been characteristicly a life virtue but only a conversational or verbal one. From my perspective a glaring example of this is at sporting events. Go to any MVNU basketball game and sit with out fans and you will notice a complete change of character. Listen to the attitudes towards the referees, and observee the things said to and about them. Suddenly there is no such thing as a hermeneutic of humility, but instead there is a clear, absolute, objective, and final decision on every play, and the fans of course can see and know exactly what it is. But for some reason the referees suddenly become incapable of seeing and knowing what is so obviously true. Therefore the referees are obviously ignorant and are obviously maliciously biased.

But the thing is the referees job is inherantly subjective, and they inherantely have the more accurate persepective.

I guess that I just dont know what to think when I or others are attacked for our supposed arrogance and narrow mindedness, but then when real life situations come, suddenly things change dramatically.

So what is wrong with this picture????

Which one is better to have hermeneutic of humility that is lived out in actions, and example but at times seems absent in intellectual conversation..................or to have a hermeneutic of humility that is blatently present in conversation, but seems to be absent in ones life???????????

++++++Ashamed+++++++

I have two notable experiences to share from my trip to California that resonate the same theme in my heart.
First while we were in San Diego we took a day off and traveled down to the border town of Tiawana. I was excited because I had never been to Mexico, so my first visit would be a memorable one. Now of course this is a border town so it is different then a normal Mexican city. As we walked through the streets, I meditated on what I was experiencing, and I couldn't help but feel and deepening sense of shame. I realized that this entire city or subculture formed because of us (America). More specifically because of out consumerism/materialism. As I observed the lives that these people were living I was disgusted, not of them but of myself and my people. Here we are the wealthiest people in the world (6% world population with and using 50% of worlds wealth and resources), and we are more than content to let these people live at a sub-standard, while we pursue our lusts in obtaining more and more stuff. Instead of helping them we enslave them. The worst was when we were leaving and and we came upon 3 of the most beautiful little Latino children. As I observed I realized that their parents had forced them to work the street trying to sell "stuff", while prostituting themselves (using there innocence as a selling tool), and my group treated them like stray animals, teasing and laughing. No child should ever have to live like that! But what is there for them, Americans always want to buy something more. I want to cry, and I wanted to scream and curse!
My second experience was when we stopped at a Native American museum in Arizona. As we walked through the halls that depicted what America had done to the Native Americans, and to there children, especially with the "boarding schools", I was overwhelmed. I wanted to cry, and I wanted scream and cuss!

I've experienced shame before over things that I have dont, but this is the first time that I have felt a physcially painful shame over something that we have done.

What evil we have done, and what evil we continue too do. But we some how still live in ignorance, and complacency. I grew up hearing about how great America is, and about all the great things we do, and how we a "Blessed", "Christian" nation. Well to hell with that!!! We have so much and we use it all on ourselves, while so many go without.

When will we wake up? When will we repent for the evil we have done, and the great evils that we continue to do? When will we finally realize that we are no different than any other empire that had dominated the world past???????

:::::::::::::Inviting:::::::::::::

So while I was on my trip in California I had a lot of time to think while I was riding down the coast. I think that one of the more profound thoughts that I had came from "a generous Orthodoxy" by Brian Mclaren. It really wasn't one of his main points but this line struck me.

"always inviting, never coercing"

I wasn't expecting it to be all that profound but it was, and the more I thought about it the more real it became in my mind.

What significance does this line have for our faith? Do we live this? When we "share the gospel" which side do we land on? Meditate on this line, and please share some of your thoughts with me. How does it hit you??????????

-Steb-