Jeffrey Davis

This question was raised by one of a few friends who stayed with us this weekend and I wanted to throw it out for some feedback? Are the following perspectives a matter of relativity or are they capable of existing apart from one another? Better yet, are they interdependent on each other or is one the shadow of the other, whereas that from which the shadow is cast truly exists while the same is not true of the shadow itself? Can we know what good is without evil? Can we know love without hate? Can we know what is moral without the immoral? Can we know truth without lies?

If the answers to the above questions are yes, then what ramifications does that have on your beliefs about God? About what you may call “Heaven”? Whether you believe that Heaven is a place that you go when you die or whether it be an alternate reality in which one can presently live where all things are truly real, can it exist in either case as the proverbial yin without the yang?

Conversely, what might it mean if the answers are no?

Technorati Tags: good, evil, yin yang, heaven, God, Jeffrey Davis

I am trying desperately this morning to NOT rant on the subject of a pastor from Bellevue Baptist Church, in Memphis, being [wrongfully, imho] fired last week after admitting he sexually abused his son seventeen years ago. I saw that story on News 2 this morning while fixing my breakfast, and nearly through the skillet at the TV. That situation has angered me to the point that I shant even put pen to paper fingers to keyboard regarding my specific thoughts on the wrongness of it.

In it’s stead, let me take a second to give some more props to Hugh Laurie, who took home the Male Actor in a Drama Series SAG award last night for his performance as Dr. Greg House on Fox’s hit TV show House. Hugh is having a great run so far this year with the SAG award last night and the Golden Globe award for that same role two weeks ago. Catch the all new episode of House tomorrow night on Fox! [I also believe that my wife and I are semi-responsible for Hugh's winning of these two awards, being that during the announcement of the nominees on both the Golden Globes and SAGs, we have performed the "House dance" that we do to the theme song of the show every Tuesday night. Were it not for that dance, I'm convinced Hugh would not have won...well maybe he'd have won one of them, but surely not both.]

Lastly, Sam Davidson has the first post in a short series of posts on “Theology and the Body” up at his place. This post deals with our application of the apostle Paul’s thoughts on virginity to the Corinthians as scare tactics and false truth to our teenagers today. Here’s an excerpt of his post:

“For years, teenagers are told of the dangers, both physical and emotional, of engaging in sexual intercourse before being legally married. Scare tactics are often used and horrible analogies are employed in order to encourage conformity. By paralleling one’s premarital sexual life to bruised fruit, plucked roses, or disappointed husbands, young women are taught an unhealthy view of human sexuality.”

Go check out the rest at Sam’s place. Also, keep a watch for Sam’s guest post here, coming up in the near future.

Technorati Tags: Hugh Laurie, House, SAG awards, Bellevue Baptist Church, Sam Davidson, virginity

What if we were all as much “God” as Jesus was? How would that change life and how we lived it? I suspect most people would immediately think, “if that were true, then I could do anything I want!“…but I’m not talking about that. What I am talking about, many of you already believe, I’m just phrasing it in a way that, for some reason that presently escapes you, makes you uncomfortable.

Perhaps I should first submit some other thoughts for consideration. What makes Jesus so different than us? He was a man. He was born, he was killed, then he kind of rose from the dead (I’ll explain that last part in a second). If Jesus was God, then the aforementioned would mean that God could be killed. Does that ring true to you? He did come back from the dead, but was it Jesus that came back from the dead or the eternal Christ within the human, Jesus of Nazareth’s body, that made it come alive? Regardless, it was not the same old regular Jesus of Nazareth who had lived and walked for the previous thirty three years, for his closest friends and followers did not even recognize him after his “resurrection”.

Ok, take a deep breath. We’re ok. I know that’s a lot of big questions in succession, but I promise, we’re ok. My wife and another friend’s wife call this type of questioning a “drive by shooting”. You get to experience thought processes that have been going on in my head for weeks and months, but unlike me, you’re faced with them all at once, not gradually over time. I know, it’s rough, you can bail if you’d like, I probably would.

Did that breather feel good? Ok, so here’s the point. Perhaps Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t anything more than a man. It was the life of Christ within Jesus, i.e. Jesus the Christ, that made him “God, God’s son, the Savior, etc”. Maybe you’ve already beaten me to the final question, if not, here it is. Doesn’t that make you the same thing? If you’re a “christian”/church person/whatever, you probably already believe that Christ’s life lives within you. Doesn’t that make you “[insert name here] the Christ”. Doesn’t that make me “Jeffrey the Christ”, and my wife “Shaunna the Christ”, etc? Feels uncomfortable to say it that way doesn’t it? I wonder why. I wrote a post earlier this month about this fairly obscure (from my perspective) verse in the Bible that kind of deals with the same thing. It was from Colossians and said, “…the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints…is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Maybe Jesus of Nazareth was the vessel used to show us humans that there there is no separation between us and God. It’s a lie. It’s a myth. Maybe he was to show the life of the Christ is within us all, we just have to become aware of it. Maybe you call this your moment of “salvation”. Everything after this point is learning how to continually cease the life of Jeffrey, and continually increase the life of Christ through (or maybe even “as”) Jeffrey. We are all just physical containers of the spiritual.

So if all this is true, what does a life lived out by Christ through us look like? Conversely, if it’s not true, what does life look like then?

Technorati Tags: Jesus, Christ, spirituality, Jeffrey Davis, philosophy

Via TideSports.com:

“Whether the reputation is deserved or not, University of Alabama football has entered a new period reflective of its coach, who has described himself as no-nonsense and process-oriented, and comes across like a hard-nosed CEO.[...]

In many ways, the new staff is similar to what Saban had previously pieced together, and each new coach could have a one-word nickname as telling as his eventual titles:

The Master: Kevin Steele, former executive head coach and linebackers coach at Florida State, and named the 2005 National Recruiter of the Year by Rivals.com. In describing him, Saban used words like “fantastic” and “terrific.”

The Veteran: Joe Pendry, who has told recruits that he’s the offensive coordinator. Pendry has nearly 20 years of NFL experience, most recently as the offensive coordinator of the Houston Texas under Dom Capers.

“I’ve always liked to have, I’m going to refer to it as an old hand on staff,” Saban said.

The Prodigy: Last season, Major Applewhite coached a spread attack at Rice, which scored the most points (350) and amassed the third-most yards (4,486) in school history.

The Ace: Burton Burns, former running backs coach at Clemson. When Alabama will be looking to sign a prize recruit out of Louisiana, he’ll be the closer.

The Post: Kirby Smart coached defensive backs for Saban at LSU and with the Miami Dolphins, and is one the coach can lean on since he’s familiar with the system.”

Visit TideSports.com to read more.

[UPDATE: In light of Bill Parcells resigning from the Dallas Cowboys and from the coaching career (maybe for more than eight days this time), I sure hope Saban's statement that he is not interested in the Cowboys job is more trustworthy than his statements regarding his interest in the 'Bama job while at Miami. Yikes.]

Technorati Tags: Nick Saban, Alabama, Crimson Tide, TideSports.com, Jeffrey Davis

My buddy Jim Palmer, author of Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God, has a great post about the lies you probably believe. Some of them include:

you are a sinner.

God basically doesn’t like you.

at least you’ve got your fire insurance policy, be thankful, you’re one of the lucky ones.

fall in line, be good, follow the rules, check the boxes, play church.

listen to them; they are smarter, they are holier, they are…well, just trust me.

you can’t be like Jesus; he is God and you’re not.

Go check out his post for some more truths lies.

Technorati Tags: Jim Palmer, Divine Nobodies, religion, spirituality, lies, church, Jeffrey Davis

Just wanted to take a little poll here to see what you think about the little site preview window from Snap Preview Anywhere that appears when you roll your pointer over a link for more than half a second.

Convenience is one of those paradoxical elements of life. On one hand, it can make life easier and time more productive. On the other, it can lead to the demise of values and discipline. I realized this last night as I pulled away from Starbucks with my sugar-free, non-fat vanilla latte (that was the best one I’ve ever had, btw) in hand. You see, I tend to be an anti-franchise, pro local business, noob fair trade kind of guy, but I sacrifice those things, among others, on the altar of convenience on a regular basis.

I was on my way to meet with a lady interested in more information regarding the specifics of starting her own Arbonne business last night when the combination of a cold I seem to be getting and a few late nights began to catch up with me. The meeting was in an area of town I hadn’t been around in a while and no sooner did I think how tired I was, a brand new Starbucks came into view (of course, it could have been there for months, but I wouldn’t have been the wiser). Almost on reflex, I swing through the drive through, whip out the debit card (violating another value) and proceed with my indulgence of frothy vanilla goodness.

I’ve heard many differing things regarding the “fair trade-ness” of Starbucks, and to be honest, don’t really know what is the truth. Regardless, they aren’t as fair as they could be and they are surely a big booming franchise business. Yet there I was, running back to the beast I loathe. For what reason? it was convenient. Why am I so unable to find a healthy balance amidst that cycle? (Cue Rick’s comment: “because you’re so Mediated“, lol.)

Technorati Tags: Starbucks, coffee, Arbonne, Jeffrey Davis

Last night on the golden globes I only really cared about one award, the Best Actor in a TV Drama, and my favorite drug addicted doctor, Hugh Laurie, took home the award for the second straight year for his role as Dr. House on Fox’s TV show, House. Incidentally, Hugh was speechless upon receiving the award…no really, he was, in his own words, “literally, without a speech.” It makes me happy when I see that a quick and witty TV character really is, in real life, quick and witty.

On a completely unrelated note, if you ever find yourself in the Mile High City with a reduced cash flow, you may want to check out the SAME Cafe, a unique restaurant that operates on donations, not a menu price! However, if your cash flow is great, it’d be nice if you payed a little bit more at the same place to compensate for the aforementioned scenario.

SAME Cafe is an acronym for So All May Eat, and opened in metro Denver in October of last year. The owners have retained their day jobs, not taking a salary from the Cafe itself. Thus the restaurant has so far been able to break even in monthly expenses. In addition, the customer chooses their portion sizes, as to minimalize the wasting of uneaten food. Cool stuff [Via TreeHugger].

Technorati Tags: Golden Globes, House, Hugh Laurie, Fox, TreeHugger, SAME Cafe, So All May Eat, Jeffrey Davis

Recently I’ve been reading The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis. I find myself conflicted regarding my belief as to how necessary, if at all, pain is to life. Being a personal trainer and having been an athlete all my life, physical pain (both good and bad) is something I’m quite accustom to. My high school football coach must have said, “men, pain is just weakness leaving the body”, four times every practice. For the record, that statement makes a lot of sense to me. However, perhaps it’s possible that such a view of pain is actually a dull reflection of true reality, and not reality itself.

Viewing physical pain in this way assumes that it is an inevitability in life, and as such, can either be detrimental to positive growth or be the catalyst to it. The problem occurs when you consider the possibility that perfect reality exists in the fullness of perfect Love, and hence, is void of pain. I know what you’re thinking, “but what about tough love? That causes pain.” True, but in perfect reality no such chastening is required, thus it is quite irrelevant.

C.S. Lewis’s latter life thesis could probably be his famous, “Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world” quote–and there was a time when I believed that–but I’m just not so sure I do any longer. Love just seems a much greater megaphone than pain, don’t you think? At any rate, this is something I’d love some feedback on. What do you think about pain and about Love?

Technorati Tags: C.S. Lewis, the Problem of Pain, love, reality, Jeffrey Davis

*Warning: Slight ranting and hasty generalization ahead*

Two steps forward, one step back. That is the way it seems to be as I truly attempt to allow my perspective of truth to be transformed from dogmatic to more fluid. Specifically, over the last three years I’ve swung all the way from the, “you’re wrong if you don’t go to church” extreme, to the opposite, “you’re wrong if you do go to church” extreme. Now, I’m seeking to live on a whole other pendulum, if you will, altogether. This new plane of awareness is one where there is no “right” or “wrong” way to follow Christ, but to see the Love, Truth, and beauty in all expressions therein.

However, I often find myself irritated and perturbed by “pastors”, as I encounter them in daily life, be it right or not (whoa, huge internal conflict in this post thus far). Two specific and recent occasions come to mind, one having occurred this morning as I was getting some work done at one of my favorite local coffee houses. A small group of men walk into the coffee house and immediately I think to myself, “church people”…and not with a pleasant connotation. I don’t know why I thought this, it was just an air about them.

Sure enough, the men walk to the counter and are greeted by the staff. The pleasantries went something like this:

staff 1: “Good morning guys, are you the ones using our conference room this morning?”
man 1: [in his best "pastor voice"] “Yup, I’m _______, the senior pastor of _______ church, we’ve been meeting for _______ years down at _______…”

Wham! Right out of the bat. The staffer didn’t even have time to ask this gentleman’s name and he’s already dropping the “senior pastor” bomb, et al. What is the compulsion by so many “pastors” to do this? Let me take an aside to admit that sadly, at one point in my life, I too resorted to similar tactics.

So I guess here’s the point–I couldn’t help thinking, as I watched this interaction occur, why do so many “pastors” come across as cheesy, sketchy, shady, salesmen? Do you know what I mean? It’s that aforementioned “pastor voice”, the smile that seems fake, the freaky stare through you gaze, and just a seemingly overall persona that accompanies so many in that profession.

I don’t have an answer…and I’m not even sure that there’s a question of any value here. I guess, as mentioned at the top of the post, I’m just kind of ranting about something that I feel distracts people from the awareness of Christ’s Love and the freedom that it brings. It’s not that I have a problem with people who “go to church” or “pastors” of churches themselves (refer to the first paragraph of this post), but rather the appearance of inauthenticity and the feeling of being thrown a sales pitch for a certain church, leading me to question the motives behind such pleasantries completely.

Sorry if I’ve offended anyone with this post, I normally work this stuff out internally, but just felt like posting it. I don’t know why. Just be yourself, let the Christ within you live out through you and don’t worry about a sales pitch or looking a certain way. The Love of Christ is obvious and contagious, it is all we need…and I’m not really even sure what that totally means.

Technorati Tags: pastor, church, love, jeffrey davis