**RE-POSTING** Christianity as a Verb

 The other day, I got one of those notices from LinkedIn about "someone I might know".

I know the person and I'm familiar with the title they had given themselves. The title is an honorary one allowed for mature females in a congregation or denomination.

Don't know who she is, but Navonne Johns got this right

This person is someone I knew very well when I was a child and who I had the chance to be around again a few year ago. Though they have this honorary title and speak the "language" of the denomination well, my direct experience with them is what brings me to this blog post.

I'm not going to speak on this person as an individual, but I do want to talk about how so many of us are more proficient at looking and acting like Christians than we are at living the Christian faith.

Recently, our pastor spoke about Jesus's words from Matthew 25:

I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was alone and away from home, and you invited me into your house.  I was without clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

“Then the good people will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you food, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you alone and away from home and invite you into our house? When did we see you without clothes and give you something to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and care for you?’

“Then the King will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, anything you did for even the least of my people here, you also did for me.’ (Matthew 25:35-40 NCV)

This is a passage I was always fortunate to use from the viewpoint of the one giving food, drink, and shelter. It's when I went through a period of being on the end of need that I learned what it really means.

source

When I found myself physically sick and emotionally lost and in almost complete despair, I learned what true Christianity is. I also saw what dead faith is.

source
You can do both!

Their were two women who cared for me with unconditional love and, literally, saved my life. One is a woman who is not even Christian. She's more of a Humanist than anything else. She is my best friend and has been with me when I was at the "top of my game" as well as when I fell hard.

My friend does not attend church. She does not yet embrace Jesus as her Savior. But my friend has never acted toward people in a way that makes me question human kindness. She's never acted in a way to make me question my own belief in Jesus. She's never been anything but good and decent to me and anyone else she meets.

In my own time of need, my friend gave me a safe place to stay. She fed me, clothed me, and even nursed me - and I didn't even know how physically sick I was at the time. She let my family know that they didn't need to worry at all about me because I was with her and would be taken care of. She didn't criticize me for any of the bad choices I had made that had brought me to the point I was at. She just loved me and cared for me. Period.

I keep loving my friend and living my life as a Christian in such a way that she sees the Christ in me that she says she doesn't see in other believers.

The other woman is my aunt.My aunt is a Christian. She's not the one you'll see at church every time the doors open. She's not the one singing at every state meeting. Her name isn't known throughout the denomination she belongs to. There are no honorary titles before or after her name.

My aunt praises God without a microphone or without wearing bright, pretty clothes and big Kentucky Derby style hats.

My aunt is the woman who, when you call to wish her a Happy Thanksgiving, reminds you that every day is a day of thanksgiving. She'll say something like, "The Lord woke you up yesterday morning, didn't He? Then be thankful and praise His name for each day."

My aunt was there for me just as my friend was. She gave me mother-love and motherly advice. She prayed for me. She sat with me while I cried and wrestled with hard decisions. She was my comfort when I felt deserted and abused and orphaned. I was away from home and family, but I was pulled into her home and into her protection. She would have put her life at risk for mine.

To this day, of all the people in this world that I know - family, friends, Christians, former co-workers - these are the two women I can count on unconditionally. I can pick up the phone at any time of day or night and just say, "I need you", and they will be there. I know that God loves me because He put into my life two people who know what love means. One of those women may not yet understand why love means what it does, but I'm still praying for her.

The woman with the honorary title is well-known in her denomination. She is a beautiful and gifted with specific talents. She speaks in tongues and "shouts" in praise and worship. She spends a lot of time attending church services, evangelical meetings and regional and national conventions. She knows the Bible. None of that meant anything to me when I needed to be loved.

I'm not ashamed (now) to say that I was teetering on the edge of suicide when I went through that dark period of my life. If not physical suicide, then spiritual suicide. I had decided that if I was meant to live, God would give me a reason. My reason was that I had two people who loved me deeply.

The two women who were there for me taught me something important about life: Goodness, holiness, kindness and mercy matter most as verbs. Where would any of us be if God kept all His goodness and mercy to Himself?

When I look back now on those days, I don't think too much about the titles of people I was around. I no longer look at how well someone can recite the Bible or sing the praise songs. I don't even care about denominations. What I will always remember - and use in my own life - is that some people did as Jesus taught while some people didn't.

Peace
--Free

**REPOSTED** Lulled by Shadows

 This was originally published on one of my other blogs, Free & Faith. I thought it fit this blog as well.

*****************

Like a lot of people, when I am down sick, I tend to binge-watch television shows. I am down at least 2 days a week so I love my niece for providing me with a Netflix subscription. A couple of weeks ago, I started watching (for the first time ever) Grey's Anatomy. It has been a decent distraction - which is going to be part of my point here in a moment. While I was watching the show a few days ago, I had two thoughts that stay with me. First, Ellen Pompeo who plays Meredith Grey is probably a really nice lady but she has a voice that drives me bonkers. It's got a whiny I'm-a-cute-wittle-gurl quality that grates on my last good nerve. Second, the show is addictive enough that I keep watching even when I wish someone would dub over Pompeo's voice.

Something else occurred to me (and not for the first time ever) is probably not news to anyone: TV shows and movies seem to be socially programming us. And before you stop reading because you think I am riding my theory horse named Conspiracy, let me try to explain what I mean.

social-programming
Noun  (uncountable) 1. The process by which the ideas, concepts and beliefs of the society in which we live are ingrained into our psyche. The process is usually by authoritative decree or by assimilation. 2. The ideas, concepts and beliefs of our social environment that become ingrained in our psyche. (from yourdictionary.com)

Usually, when I watch television shows, I'm not in thoughtful mode. I watch TV when I don't feel well or want to be distracted from serious thought. One evening though, I was paying attention to how a particular episode of Grey's Anatomy made me feel.

What I realized is that I was equating the actors' real selves with the characters they play. As if I just knew that the actor portraying the doctor with the great hair and nicely twinkling eyes must be as sweet and charming in his own real life. And the same with the other actors portraying the smart, on-the-ball surgeons. They must all be just as smart and on-the-ball in their real and everyday lives, right?

I realized that we are being lulled into blurring the lines between entertainment and reality. This is why we have people who are obsessed with being Instagram-famous. This is why so many people who have real and ordinary lives don't think that it's enough to have real and ordinary lives. There are people portraying themselves online as being more "attractive", wealthier, and more well-traveled than they actually are.

By the way, I found this video interesting and thought some comic book fans might want to see it

Entertainment focuses on the "X" or the mysterious "it" factor of certain people. TV shows and music - any visual media - will make us feel that we should want to be more like the people we are watching.

One thing that pulled me out of being hypnotized by Grey's Anatomy is that I noticed that as smart and accomplished as all the characters are, they have the same shortcomings as real people who try emulating them. Most of them are sexually confused or loose with their bodies. Some of them are - in spite of all their career success and material wealth - lonely and unhappy.

Why wouldn't the writers just show these people as a little more perfect? They could still have some good plotlines without exposing these kinds of flaws to the extent they do. I think that this is done on purpose. Maybe the writers leave in all the misery so that the viewers connect with the characters' flaws enough that they don't see the rest of how they are being programmed to want all the perfect stuff. I don't know if that made sense, but I'm sure that most of you can see what I am trying to say. If we were trying to be as perfect as the characters but were feeling the loneliness and pain in our own lives, we might realize that no one is meant to be like the characters.

I know some people who get so involved in fictional characters and storylines that they lose track of what's going on in their own lives. Entertainment, in general, is training us to base our real-life goals on fictional people. We are starting to get our ideas about intelligence, beauty, morals, and other things based on scripted situations.

Former Facebook Exec
see what he says

We have people living their lives - or trying or pretending to - based on something they have seen onscreen. Entertainment is a powerful hypnotist. We take our cues about current fashion and trends from what we see celebrities doing - in real life or onscreen. Even our emotions are being hijacked and re-trained.

In TV shows and movies, there are all kinds of cinematic tricks to keep us focused on imaginary worlds and made-up lives. Camera movements and music - swelling or ominous or era-specific - to cue out tears or laughter or nostalgia. We can get so emotionally moved by these scripted stories while our real-life suffers.

In real life, we forget to check in on people off-line. We give more emoti-hugs, emoti-smiles, and emoti-waves instead of the real thing. We make hash-tagged trends and share our social media "thoughts and prayers" instead of taking time to actually spare a real thought or prayer for the people in our real lives.

I guess the thing we have forgotten - or been brainwashed out of remembering - is the important rule of "everything in moderation". Media doesn't want us to remember that because entertainment is designed to addict us into a distraction from real lives and real people and real issues.

There has been this trend in my very own family that I despise. Most of my family is on Facebook. That's fine because that is a great platform to share photos. The problem I have is that Facebook has replaced that occasional hey-how-are-you kind of phone call. It's replaced the keepsake wedding invitations and birth announcements. It has even replaced those little printed obituaries that my mother used to keep in her Bible.

So my problem is not with Facebook - or any other social media platform. My problem is with the people who have let them replace parts of life. When you don't make the phone calls, how can you pick up clues in someone's voice that they might not be "fine"? Without those paper invitations and announcements, how do we sit around one day and start looking over those memories? And what do I fold up to keep in my Bible to remember the dead?

There are even executives from some social media brands who see problems in these platforms.

So, I guess I just want to ramble on here about how we have let things get out of control with media. We are losing ourselves and our daily reality. We are becoming programmed by the things we created to enjoy. With all the talk of developing advanced AI, maybe we ought not to be worried about AI or robots taking over because we've already given in to something else.

Before I go, while I was searching for images to post here, I found this article on this blog. The photo of addiction that the blogger posted is perfect.

Another rabbit hole you might want to go down has to do with something called "priming" as it relates to people as consumers. You can start here if you want.


Peace
--Free

**REPOST** Idle Idol Worship

 Do you ever think about the people you "idolized" before you came to Christ? Do you remember why it is that you did consider yourself a fan of those people?

I was music crazy for a long time. My favorite performers were the same as anyone growing up when I did: most Motown artists, especially The Jackson 5, and then, of course, Michael; my rock/pop faves were INXS, Prince, Earth, Wind and Fire; and I had my collections of James Taylor.

When I did stop focusing on music for the sake of entertaining my emotions or living and loving vicariously through the medium, I still thought about the entertainers.

Can you remember being a "teeny bopper" and deciding that you just had to somehow, someday meet your favorite singer? I do. I recall plotting on how I'd somehow get backstage at a concert and get to finally see one of my idols up close. It was different with Michael Jackson. I wasn't just going to meet him; we were going to be married and I had the wedding all planned out.

Now that I am past all those things of my physical and spiritual youth, I have to shake my head when I think back on it. Those entertainers - complete strangers to me, basically - had a huge impact on my life. I tried to emulate them in dress and attitude. I looked up to them in a way. I would have loved to have been included in their lives. I was a true fan - or fanatic.

If those strangers that I only knew via their songs and performances (and published gossip) impacted my life when I was part of the world, why am I not returning the favor now that I am saved?

I always wonder if Christians ever happen to meet one of their former idols and, if they do, do they share the Gospel with them.

It makes me very sad to think that people who amass millions of "fans" who love and adore them, often end up alone and sad and in despair.

• Michael Hutchence - singer for INXS who lived a full and fast life with lots of fans and lots of lovers. Died alone in a hotel room, hung from the door with a belt. 
• Marvin Gaye - Iconically famous and talented. Depressed and out of control at the end of his life.
• Amy Winehouse - talented and fragile, and alone at the end of her life.
• Steve Clarke - Guitarist with Def Leppard, died alcoholic and, apparently, helpless and hopeless.
• Whitney Houston - her story and that of her daughter's is still so new and tragic I don't have to say anything.

The list goes on and on. 

These are people who proved that having everything and anything that the world can give is never enough to fulfill the soul.

How many fans did these people have? How many people all over the world claimed to "love" them? How many autographs did they sign? How many fans were lucky enough to get a photograph snapped with them? Hundreds or thousands?

Couldn't one person who got close enough to get a photo or autograph just mention God's love?

I don't know about the religious upbringing of the others, but Gaye and Houston were raised in church and heard the Gospel. But maybe someone could have reminded them of God's love just one more time.

Maybe none of it would have made a difference, but it would be nice to know that someone tried.

Maybe the next time you are on a social networking site and see one of your former idols you can share a Bible verse with them.

Peace

--Free

**REPOSTED** Lulled by Shadows

This was originally published on one of my other blogs, Free & Faith. I thought it fit this blog as well.

*****************

Like a lot of people, when I am down sick, I tend to binge-watch television shows. I am down at least 2 days a week so I love my niece for providing me with a Netflix subscription. A couple of weeks ago, I started watching (for the first time ever) Grey's Anatomy. It has been a decent distraction - which is going to be part of my point here in a moment. While I was watching the show a few days ago, I had two thoughts that stay with me. First, Ellen Pompeo who plays Meredith Grey is probably a really nice lady but she has a voice that drives me bonkers. It's got a whiny I'm-a-cute-wittle-gurl quality that grates on my last good nerve. Second, the show is addictive enough that I keep watching even when I wish someone would dub over Pompeo's voice.

Something else occurred to me (and not for the first time ever) is probably not news to anyone: TV shows and movies seem to be socially programming us. And before you stop reading because you think I am riding my theory horse named Conspiracy, let me try to explain what I mean.

social-programming
Noun  (uncountable) 1. The process by which the ideas, concepts and beliefs of the society in which we live are ingrained into our psyche. The process is usually by authoritative decree or by assimilation. 2. The ideas, concepts and beliefs of our social environment that become ingrained in our psyche. (from yourdictionary.com)

Usually, when I watch television shows, I'm not in thoughtful mode. I watch TV when I don't feel well or want to be distracted from serious thought. One evening though, I was paying attention to how a particular episode of Grey's Anatomy made me feel.

What I realized is that I was equating the actors' real selves with the characters they play. As if I just knew that the actor portraying the doctor with the great hair and nicely twinkling eyes must be as sweet and charming in his own real life. And the same with the other actors portraying the smart, on-the-ball surgeons. They must all be just as smart and on-the-ball in their real and everyday lives, right?

I realized that we are being lulled into blurring the lines between entertainment and reality. This is why we have people who are obsessed with being Instagram-famous. This is why so many people who have real and ordinary lives don't think that it's enough to have real and ordinary lives. There are people portraying themselves online as being more "attractive", wealthier, and more well-traveled than they actually are.

By the way, I found this video interesting and thought some comic book fans might want to see it

Entertainment focuses on the "X" or the mysterious "it" factor of certain people. TV shows and music - any visual media - will make us feel that we should want to be more like the people we are watching.

One thing that pulled me out of being hypnotized by Grey's Anatomy is that I noticed that as smart and accomplished as all the characters are, they have the same shortcomings as real people who try emulating them. Most of them are sexually confused or loose with their bodies. Some of them are - in spite of all their career success and material wealth - lonely and unhappy.

Why wouldn't the writers just show these people as a little more perfect? They could still have some good plotlines without exposing these kinds of flaws to the extent they do. I think that this is done on purpose. Maybe the writers leave in all the misery so that the viewers connect with the characters' flaws enough that they don't see the rest of how they are being programmed to want all the perfect stuff. I don't know if that made sense, but I'm sure that most of you can see what I am trying to say. If we were trying to be as perfect as the characters but were feeling the loneliness and pain in our own lives, we might realize that no one is meant to be like the characters.

I know some people who get so involved in fictional characters and storylines that they lose track of what's going on in their own lives. Entertainment, in general, is training us to base our real-life goals on fictional people. We are starting to get our ideas about intelligence, beauty, morals, and other things based on scripted situations.

Former Facebook Exec
see what he says

We have people living their lives - or trying or pretending to - based on something they have seen onscreen. Entertainment is a powerful hypnotist. We take our cues about current fashion and trends from what we see celebrities doing - in real life or onscreen. Even our emotions are being hijacked and re-trained.

In TV shows and movies, there are all kinds of cinematic tricks to keep us focused on imaginary worlds and made-up lives. Camera movements and music - swelling or ominous or era-specific - to cue out tears or laughter or nostalgia. We can get so emotionally moved by these scripted stories while our real-life suffers.

In real life, we forget to check in on people off-line. We give more emoti-hugs, emoti-smiles, and emoti-waves instead of the real thing. We make hash-tagged trends and share our social media "thoughts and prayers" instead of taking time to actually spare a real thought or prayer for the people in our real lives.

I guess the thing we have forgotten - or been brainwashed out of remembering - is the important rule of "everything in moderation". Media doesn't want us to remember that because entertainment is designed to addict us into a distraction from real lives and real people and real issues.

There has been this trend in my very own family that I despise. Most of my family is on Facebook. That's fine because that is a great platform to share photos. The problem I have is that Facebook has replaced that occasional hey-how-are-you kind of phone call. It's replaced the keepsake wedding invitations and birth announcements. It has even replaced those little printed obituaries that my mother used to keep in her Bible.

So my problem is not with Facebook - or any other social media platform. My problem is with the people who have let them replace parts of life. When you don't make the phone calls, how can you pick up clues in someone's voice that they might not be "fine"? Without those paper invitations and announcements, how do we sit around one day and start looking over those memories? And what do I fold up to keep in my Bible to remember the dead?

There are even executives from some social media brands who see problems in these platforms.

So, I guess I just want to ramble on here about how we have let things get out of control with media. We are losing ourselves and our daily reality. We are becoming programmed by the things we created to enjoy. With all the talk of developing advanced AI, maybe we ought not to be worried about AI or robots taking over because we've already given in to something else.

Before I go, while I was searching for images to post here, I found this article on this blog. The photo of addiction that the blogger posted is perfect.

Another rabbit hole you might want to go down has to do with something called "priming" as it relates to people as consumers. You can start here if you want.


Peace
--Free