(e:jim) had a reaction against the Purpose Driven Life, a book by Rick Warren:

This quote was singled out in particular:

This spiritual servitude only has negative connotations in a culture that is obsessed with asserting the rights of the individual. Civil rights, human rights, gay rights, minority rights-we hear about this constantly. Instead of asserting our rights-even if we have the freedom to do so-we are choosing to set them aside for a greater thing: the opportunity to serve the living God. What are you setting aside in order to serve God?

I believe that Rick Warren here is right, but incompletely right, and wrong, but incompletely wrong. I will explain.

Christians are called to put others ahead of themselves, and to put God's will ahead of theirs. Because we are often selfish, this is good for the world, and good for us (when we actually try it, but that's another post).

We get this idea, of course, from Jesus. We believe that Jesus had every authority, every "right" and yet refused to assert those rights violently. He gave up his rights, and suffered, even though he was innocent.

And Christians are called to follow his way.

But that doesn't mean that Christian blacks had to be content with seperate and unequal. When Dr. King organized the Bus Boycott, he asserted the right to ride the bus by NOT riding the bus. Christianity, done right, exposes the selfishness of the systems of this world for what they are. In Selma, that meant that police were trying to FORCE men and women onto the bus.

So we do assert our rights, as individuals and as a group--Warren is wrong when he implies that Christians cannot be involved in standing up for individual/minority rights. But it's NOT about asserting our rights. It's about giving up our rights for others.

The biggest problem with the civil rights movement wasn't the actions of black Christians, it was the silence of white Christians. We stood by (for the most part) and refused to give up our rights for others. Comfortable silence is un-Christian. "That's their problem" is un-Christian.

So Warren is right that it isn't about us. But he removes the speck from the eyes of minority Christians, and (in this quote) forgets to mention the efforts of white (mostly) Christians to protect their rights to put up the 10 commandments, pass laws, avoid taxes, or whatever.

Now Warren, though he is far from perfect. DOES give up much of his rights. He never sees 90% of the money he makes, because it goes straight to Africa. Think about that before you criticize to harshly, because at the very least, the man is committed. How many other New York Times Best Selling Authors live in little houses in the city? While I would love to be able to give as much as he does, I might buy a nice car or cable tv first. Warren puts his money where his mouth is.

So he's right: We are supposed to give up our rights, but incompletely, because he didn't hit the "sacred cows" of the rights of majority Christians.

And he's wrong: We can and do and should assert our rights (Jesus did), but at least he not completely wrong, because the ironic way of claiming our rights is to lose them in public ways that expose the foolishness of those who take them.

I'm done with gentle invites. I'm going with double entendre from here on out.

Lafayette Church
elmwoodjesus.org

Performance enhancing drugs, to be exact.

Of course, it is only the performance of my mind, so it is legal.

After much delay and testing, I finally got a perscription to help me with ADHD. So far, I am happy with it, although I am not sure one day of work and one day off are enough to test it.

Here's what I noticed. First of all, the con:

Yesterday, I took my doses (10mg, twice a day) too close together. That led to a bit of time where I felt like I had too much coffee.

Pros:

Similar to what (e:jim) expressed: I can choose what i pay attention to. This is huge, and I have noticed it already. I stayed on task in a budget meeting, read a book without getting up to check email/walk around/cook/eat (and yes, that has been my normal way of reading) and went to bed when I chose (par for the course is to get REALLY tired as I constantly surf the internet/watch tv).

It's wierd, but really the most amazing thing is my ability to walk away from the computer. The bad thing about web 2.0 is that there is always the possiblity of feedback, and I am a feedback junkie. There is also always something new, but now I am not so desperate as to constantly check back to sites to see if something new has come up.

I think I am going to exercise today, because being able to pay attention and make choices has freed up the time/motivation to do so. We'll see if that keeps up.

Finally, (and this is supposed to be a negative side effect, but for me it is good) I think my appetite is lower. We'll have to see about this, because I really do like food. Also, sometimes I eat out of restlessness, so the meds might help with that anyway.

Another Con: I do feel a little bit different, in a way that is hard to describe. It's like I am not totally out of my head, but I am zoomed out just one more step, and I am observing myself a little bit more instead of just being myself. That probably makes me sound crazy. But there is just a little bit more distance between myself and my reading/typing/conversation/whatever. I'm not sure it is so bad yet, but it feels wierd, and I was hoping that I would feel the same but be able to organize myself and stop losing things.

It will be interesting to see what I am like on Sunday and for a full work week.