Post 121--Bieber the Believer

I’ve had the following document on my blog waiting list for a long time, since December 15, 2015.  There have always been reasons, usually good and valid reasons, I pushed it out of the way to make space for other concerns. I decided today to share it with you, old as it is, simply because I think it such an interesting document. I know next to nothing about this Bieber while you probably do. This issue here may be an old one for you, something like “been there, done that” kind of thing. Nevertheless, here it is, straight from the Denision Forum of the above date:

BIEBER THE BELIEVER: THE FAITH OF JUSTIN BIEBER

·                                    Written by Nick Pitts

In Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, a young Lucio observed that "our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we often might win by fearing to attempt." These doubts, Lucio describes, are often silently underscored by the axiom that appearances are deceiving, what you see is not what you get. So it is necessary to proceed with caution—if at all. However, could doubts be more of a hindrance than a help?

In the October/November issue of Complex Magazine, Justin Bieber was an incubator for doubts when he boldly came out with his faith. One person expressed a common sentiment, writing that it was a "publicity stunt, shameless little twerp." The ladies of The View, a daytime television talk show, expressed hesitation over his overt and bold comments. Fox News commentator Juan Williams even skeptically weighed in, saying: "Do you really believe… that he's studying the Bible; that he cares about the Bible; that he cares about anything but Justin Bieber?" 

Williams and company were not alone, joined unexpectedly by Justin himself. "I think that people, as soon as they start hearing me say I'm a Christian, they're like, 'Whoa Justin, back up, take a step back.'" 

Why the doubts and hesitation? Justin has a long history and a longer list of fans affectionately known as 'beliebers' who have followed him through his antics. Who can forget how Bieber first came on to the scene, informing audiences that his end goal would be to make "One Less Lonely Girl"? His primary subject matter interest would be the "Baby," some girl he met "One Time." Singer and rapper Usher joined him for a time as he tried to find "Somebody to Love." He wanted to be that "Boyfriend" that could make her "Smile." However, this litany of chart topping hits may have created reasons to celebrate, but they also caused some problems.

Such problems include those with the police. He has been arrested twice, once for DUI while allegedly drag-racing the streets of Miami and another time for assaulting a limo driver. Then there was the video of a sleeping Bieber, filmed by an alleged prostitute.  But that video was overshadowed to a certain degree by another video in which Justin was heard making racist comments and jokes. 

So how does Justin respond to these individuals and their comparison of his past life with his present direction? "I do not want to shove this down anyone's throat. I just wanna honestly live like Jesus." 

Bieber, like the Apostle Paul to the church at Galatia (1:13-15), is not running away from his past, he is embracing it. In Bieber's words:

"If we can understand that we're all imperfect, let's come to God and come for his help. You're not weak by doing that. I think that's a common misperception of Christians, that you're being weak because you can't handle it. None of us can handle this world, dude! It's eating us alive. But, man, I don't wanna have to do it on my own." 

Instead of dwelling on the past, Bieber is in love in the present and wants to tell everyone about it. Describing his relationship with God like that of a girlfriend, Bieber told Complex: 

"If I have an awesome, bomb girlfriend, I'm gonna wanna show her off and go around and tell people my girl is the sh** [editorial censorship]. I'm not gonna cheat on her because she's the best. It's like with God: The whole thing with religion is you present yourself holy and bring your offerings so that God can bless you, when the whole point of the relationship [should be], 'No, I'm gonna do this because he loves me. I'm gonna do this because he's amazing and not because [I] have to, because [I] want to.'" 

Unconventional in his approach and candid in his appeal, Bieber is raising eyebrows and causing heads to turn. He is offering the world another, albeit unusual, example of Christ. "I think that with Christians, they've left such a bad taste in people's mouths. Just like, overly pushy with the subject, overly churchy and religious." Instead, he is offering a different approach, one in which he is "sharing what I'm going through and what I'm feeling."

What Justin is feeling is something intensely personal and less transactional. Bieber finds, "That's the whole thing with religion that's been throwing off the people. It's not a 'have to.' It should be just like a personal relationship. Like, 'Hey, I love you because you first loved me.'

Post 108--"Slowing Up," A Poem by Joe Veltman

The following is a poem written by Joe Veltman, a retired Christian Reformed pastor living in Madison Wisc.  If you’re a senior like him,  you will totally understand this piece. From the tone of the poem, I judge he’s a few years ahead of me, though I, too, have achieved senior status at 78.  If you haven’t yet reached Joe’s stage, well, I pray you will so that you’re looking at your own, perhaps distant but sure, tomorrow. You may thank Joe for helping you understand what’s awaiting you. Note that Joe does not portray a despondent spirit. He just rests in God in a peaceful, relaxed way.  

As the years quicken, I find

I am rushing from slow to slower…

slow of foot, slow of mind,

slow of hand, slow of art.

I’m no longer up to speed.

The fable of the tortoise and the hare

doesn’t really compensate

for the fact that the opposite

of quick

is dead.

Still,

there is restfulness in the notion

of slow food and slow motion,

or not being on the go at all.

Maybe God invented turtles

to remind us

that He is often slow…

slow to anger,

and, to my surprise

…and dismay…

slow to speak.

He needs, I surmise

to keep that pace

to stay with His flock.

But for all that,

God, the first responder,

made the rabbit too.

Quick to listen

and swift to keep His promises,

He holds fast to His word.

Lord, be my pacemaker

that I, neither

hasty, nor slow of heart,

may be quick

to follow.

Enjoy and ponder.

Blog 60--Contradictions and Inconsistencies: The Stuff of Life

I’ve been gone for a week, camping with daughter Cynthia and her family and some other friends. The group was great for socialization and the river-side facility was great—and free for us!  But in the latter half of July, you can expect warm weather, not so cold that you shiver and have to put on layer upon layer, especially when there is a camp fire ban due to extreme drought. We broke up camp and returned disappointed to the coast at Kent, near Seattle. But there the heat was so intense that camping was just as uncomfortable. We broke up camp again and returned home in Vancouver, disappointed, not to say disgusted. All of which is to explain the extra long time between posts.  

Blog 59 is full of contradictions and inconsistencies. I know these terms are not exactly synonyms, but I will kind of use them as such in this blog. Notice how imprecise that last sentence is?  When I wrote this post, it was Monday morning and I didn’t feel like forcing too much precision on myself. So our topic for today is just right—for me and, I hope you can live with it. 

It happens quite frequently that my wife (Fran) and I catch each other in contradictions, the term now including inconsistencies as well. We usually acknowledge it, but the conversation often leans toward a negative attitude towards such things. It seems more virtuous to be consistent, even though as years have taken their toll, we are becoming increasingly tolerant of contradiction. Is that natural with age?  Or is it the effect of post-

modernism on us? That we’re veering away from the demands of strict logic?

At any rate, the previous blog was full of it. I agree and disagree with Pete McMartin; same for the VS editorial. And then I reject both of their approaches for not going to the heart of the matter. I was fully aware of it and was good for letting it all stand. Sloppy thinking could be another reason I could add to the above paragraph. Combining “sloppy thinking” with “reason” is surely an example of the very thing I am talking about.

I am a graduate of Calvin Theological Seminary (CTS) in Grand Rapids (MI, USA). It is a good seminary and I am proud of having graduated there (1965). I have given quite a detailed report on my three years there in our memoirs (Every Square Inch: A Missionary Memoir, vol. 1, chapter 12-- <www.Social Theology. com >. Once there,turn to the first entry on the Boeriana page.)

In terms of our subject for today, I wrote about how bored I would occasionally be in Systematic Theology (ST) classes. Systems are usually logically coherent entities. So, in these ST lectures the point was to fit the Bible and theology into neat logically consistent boxes. The result gave a static feeling. Everything stood still. Even God came out as a static being that is fully consistent with Himself, including even that most “illogical” construct of the Trinity. Sometimes I would get so tired of it, I would play hooky for a few days and spend my time reading other theologians. I especially liked the writings of professor Gerrit Berkouwer of the Free University of Amsterdam for the contrast between him and my CTS profs precisely because Berkhouwer did not construct such tight logical boxes; he was more open. 

Neither does God fit into our logical boxes. The profs did  acknowledge that when it came to issues of election/reprobation vs human responsibility. They had inherited that difficult conundrum from childhood and had grown up being comfortable with it. But somehow that mostly static view of God did not cut it for me.  Of course, I am talking the 1960s. I suspect that the atmosphere at CTS has changed like everything else in this world.

The emphasis at that time at least was on a God who tolerates only truth, truth being at least partially defined as logically consistent statements and intolerance for what we might call “gray” statements over against the plain black and white stuff.  I loved and still love the stories in the Bible that challenge that kind of static God in favour of a more fluid one. There is the story of the midwives who lied to Pharaoh in order to save the baby boys of the Israelites, but whom God blessed because of their courage (Exodus 1:15-22). Then there is the story of Samuel’s anointing David to be the next king. Samuel objected to God that Saul, the current king, would kill him for what amounted to a coup. Then God instructed Samuel to give a false reason for his coming to David’s town (I Samuel 16:1-3). God is described as repenting or regretting things He had done (Genesis 6:6-7; Exodus 32:14; Judges 2:18; I Samuel 15:11, etc.). At the same time, we also read in I Samuel 15:29 that God “does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” So, a very fluid picture of God under certain circumstances, though still faithful and trustworthy with respect to His people. 

So, I do not apologize for the occasional contradiction in my own life, including those in Blog 59.

The French philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650) coined the famous Latin phrase “Cogito, ergo sum,” meaning, “I think; therefore I am.”  It expressed the idea current among philosophers at that time—and still for some ordinary folk even today—that the essence of a human being lay in his rationality, his mind. If you know something—and that means you are thinking, you have a mind-- well, then you must be a human being. Something like the touristy trend of thought, “It’s three p.m.; hence this must be Victoria.” Taking off from there and following a radically dangerous step into the almost forgotten country of Latin, I would like to suggest, “Contradicio; ergo sum,” hopefully meaning something like “I contradict; therefore I am.” It does not define my essence, but it does make me feel just a bit more comfortable. At least, it gives me a vague permission to contradict myself—of sorts.