The NFL is having a bad week, no more Dalai Lamas, and Bill Maher goes on a pro-Christian rant?!? Truly the end of western civilization is at our door!
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The NFL is having a bad week, no more Dalai Lamas, and Bill Maher goes on a pro-Christian rant?!? Truly the end of western civilization is at our door!
Listen to the episode | Download to the episode | Find this episode on iTunes
Hey Mr. Vischer and company!
I enjoyed the podcast, but I’d like interject with a point of information regarding the crusades. I studied Christendom last year and I highly recommend reading God’s Battalions by Rodney Stark. It’s a fascinating book that provides a whole new perspective on the christian crusades. Stark’s thesis is as follows and I quote “The Crusades were not unprovoked. They were not the first round of European colonialism. They were not conducted for land, loot, or converts. The crusaders were not barbarians who victimized the cultivated Muslims. They sincerely believed that they served in God’s battalions.” Sounds crazy, huh? The text pretty much goes against everything that’s been taught about the crusades for the past few centuries, but it’s surprisingly well defended. I found Stark’s arguments both convincing and fairly enlightening (and what’s more, many critics agree). Much of his defense revolves around historical context. In other words, our way of life now (our modern understanding of right and wrong, violence, etc.) is in many ways different from that of the people who lived in the 12th-13th centuries. We tend to ignore historical context and pass judgments based on our current understanding. Anyhow, enough smart talk from me, but I hope you’ll consider reading the book!
-Ian
Great show.
It strikes me that race is a significant part of the both the VMA but show, buttock implant & Adrian Peterson stories.
What seems to be happening in our culture is that ethnic beauty is starting to be valued and desired. This is a good thing with unintended consequences. However, for years, African-American women have lightened skinned & straightened hair to meet white standards of beauty…this is an angle on the story that doesn’t have to be ignored for those of us who believe that all are made in the image of God.
Same with the Peterson story and Charles Barkley comments…there are significant angles of race as it pertains to faith & culture. We don’t need to ignore that the reason many African-American families have their children pick their switch is precisely because of their perception of what the Bible says about discipline.
Keep pushing the envelope! Race doesn’t have to be something you only reference when it comes to Phil’s voices or Skye’s ethnic ambiguity. Dive in!
npr.orgnpr.orgAfter hearing your discussion on the Dalai Lama, I immediately recalled an extraordinary story I heard on NPR 3 years ago:
Nineteen years ago, “Tenzin Dhongha had just learned that he would soon be sent to a monastery in India to study and fulfill his destiny to become a Tibetan spiritual leader. Tenzin became a monk — Gomo Tulku, as he is now known — and settled in Italy among a community of his followers. He spent 12 years in a monastery, and finished the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree.” “He had been proclaimed by Tibet’s spiritual and temporal leader, the Dalai Lama himself, as a tulku, a miracle being — the reincarnation of his grandfather, the high Tibetan Buddhist lama Goma Rimpoche.”
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/23/138618241/gomo-tulku-the-rapping-lama
“But now, there’s been a detour in Gomo Tulku’s spiritual journey. He’s about to release his first rap recording.”
This NPR story is definitely worth listening to and would provide some interesting and humorous follow-up discussion on the Dalai Lama’s recent decision to remain the last of the Dalai Lama’s.
youtube.comyoutube.comNice flashback to Alice Cooper in Wayne’s World! Here’s the scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRCTc6stICc
On the subject of football/sports as a religion, I’ve been getting more interested in the fervor around fantasy football. Its popularity is bigger than ever, and consumes a lot of people’s time, money, and attention. A couple weeks ago I was walking into one of our buildings for a meeting, and there was an employee standing just outside the front door talking on his cell phone. From a distance, I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but it was obviously a very passionate conversation with lots of pacing, flailing arms, etc. I’m thinking, “Uh-oh, this guy just got fired or had a deal fall apart.” Once I got close enough, I could hear him yelling into his phone and what I heard was, “I’ve told them again and again, but they’re not listening! I don’t NEED another running back! I need a wide receiver!!” Hoo-boy…lotsa calories being burned there, and for what?
So back to football as a religion. What if we reversed things? What would your Fantasy Christianity team look like? We’ll do a draft where we can pick our pastors, worship leaders, elders/deacons, Sunday school superintendents, etc. We’ll have a scoring system involving point values for number of scripture references in the weekly sermon, number of people responding to altar calls, the ratio of traditional hymns divided by Chris Tomlin songs, and whether anyone on your team has a book deal. There are bonus points to be earned for how your worship leader scores on the SCL Metro Test (see Jon Acuff’s test and score sheet at stuffchristianslike.net). I think we should start a league. This just might go somewhere…
Hi Phil, Christian and Skye,
Regarding the NFL and idolizing players, my husband and I are careful about which jerseys we let our boys wear. We talk to them about how a player’s performance on the field is not indicative of that person’s character. There are a few athletes that are worth looking up to: Drew Brees in the NFL, Albert Pujols in the MLB and Tim Duncan in the NBA, but they are only human just like the rest of us. Some athletes like to claim “I’m not a role model.” My answer to that is “with great power comes great responsibility.” The NFL has an amazing opportunity to do something positive right now by publicly addressing this issue and instituting a zero tolerance policy for their players that is consistently enforced when it comes to domestic abuse, violence, etc.