Sunday, January 22, 2006

Nietzsche rode a Harley

Riding is a great deal of fun. I've put 133 miles on it so far, in two 60+ mile trips. I'm still exploring the more lonely roads of Pima County without venturing too far into the wilderness. I could venture much further afield if I wished to go out on the interstate. But I'm not much of a fan of riding on the freeway ... it's a bit boring and the big trucks are a bit disconcerting.

I discovered that northern Pima County, Arizona has lots of cotton fields. If you've ever seen or heard of "Pima Cotton," it was first developed here. Acres and acres of it.

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It's been my experience that there's a good many people who call themselves "Christians" without any real understanding of what that means or implies. My guess is the Greek grandmaster was raised Eastern Orthodox, probably treats the faith as many Catholics do -- that is, "It's just something we do" -- and that's about it. He likely considers "being Christian" to be a kind of societal distinction; something that differentiates him from "Muslim" or "Jewish."

I've been wondering of late why I allow myself to get so bent out of shape over other people and their behavior. If we boil the Christian faith down to the nub, it's about the sincerity of our own heart and our relationship with Christ. If an army of people who call themselves "Christian" don't behave like one, why should it affect how I relate to Jesus? I honestly don't know why it does ... but it certainly does.

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Some churches do serve real wine. I've read that they consider it to be a violation of the sacrament to serve juice. I think that's taking things a bit far. I can see why offering the sacraments with Pepsi and Tostitos might be questionable -- mostly because it would be hard to explain away the mocking tone of using Pepsi and Tostitos -- but I think the distinction between real wine and juice is stretching the point a bit. If I were in the mood to make trouble, I'd ask if they're certain the wine they serve is exactly the same as the wine in Jesus' day.

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