Picking up groceries in Hummers.

First things first I found the biggest sombrero I have ever seen. It was in a little store in old town. simply amazing.

I have for the most part figured out my schedule for next semester. Which by the way is a little more challenging than I thought it would be.

OK now on to some other stuff. Like I said in the last post I have been reading a book called Jesus Wants to Save Christians by a guy named Rob Bell.

Here are my thoughts on the book..... and I apologize in advance if this is boring. This book I wouldn't consider Bell's best book, but it is still pretty legit. I think the back cover's description is very good so here that is to give a little context to the book:

“It's a book about faith and fear,wealth and war, poverty, power, safety, terror, Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity. It's about empty empires and the truth that everybody's a priest, it's about oppression, occupation, and what happens when Christians support, animate and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from.

It's about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers.”

This book deals with how we got the place we are at today, instead of trying to fix a massive global issue. I saw this as somewhat refreshing, since most books I have read from Christian authors have either just made the reader feel guilty or upset. It really illustrates how a series of events has caused so much destruction, and how those events of oppression have been relapsing throughout history all the way back to the old testament. This book completely changed my perspective on what poverty means to me, and how I can be more conscious of it. But once again Bell tackles this issue at a completely different context than usual.
He says:

"If the system works for you, it can be quite hard to understand the perspective of people who have the boot of the system on their neck. If you have the power, it can be hard to understand the voice of those who have no power." (p.130)

I can do all the research I want about poverty (or insert any of the global issues) but until I have experienced it and asked the hard questions of why are people going through this? rather than how can I fix it, I simply wont' understand it. Bell really makes me think of what it means on a personal level what it means to be an American, and what kind of impact my life in all of its power of this country means in the global sense. He says that "Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half the world spends on all goods." He follows this by saying America being an empire of accumulation has a rapidly growing rate of depression amongst it citizens......

I really don't mean for this post to have a negative feel to it, but this book really did shape how I view consumerism, patriotism, and what role the church is supposed to have in issues, and how me being a part of such an economy of excess is essentially fueling the system of world injustice.

All in all I would recommend this book, but be aware that it is the kind of book that will probably frustrate you, and its all good if you don't necessarily agree with everything he says.

Until next time, grace and peace.