define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); Furmanifesto http://www.furmanifesto.com Jon Furman Sun, 15 Jun 2014 16:43:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.7.12 Because the Gospel is Unique and Compelling http://www.furmanifesto.com/because-the-gospel-in-unique-and-compelling/ http://www.furmanifesto.com/because-the-gospel-in-unique-and-compelling/#respond Fri, 13 Jun 2014 18:19:13 +0000 http://www.furmanifesto.com/?p=1237

Recently I came across something unique in that it is both socially compelling and Kingdom of God oriented.  I say unique because much of what passes for “Christian Social Endeavor” can often be categorized as awareness raising activities informed by a “get into heaven after death” theology. If you do believe that the life, death, and […]]]>

FFC

Recently I came across something unique in that it is both socially compelling and Kingdom of God oriented.  I say unique because much of what passes for “Christian Social Endeavor” can often be categorized as awareness raising activities informed by a “get into heaven after death” theology.

If you do believe that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplished much more than just your personal salvation and spiritual growth, then you understand that the mission of every Christian is serving God by playing an active role in the redemption and renewal of all things, in everything that we do.

Fly Fishing Collaborative is a group of people using their passion for fly fishing to partner with God as he brings new life to our broken world. By partnering with professional fly fishing outfitters and guides around the world FFC is helping to combat the global child sex trade, a horrific industry that affects over 2 million children annually.

The Fly Fishing Collaborative does this by offering professionally guided fly fishing trips and custom-made products. The money raised is given to orphanages and caregivers in different parts of the developing world. This money isn’t spent simply on advocacy, it goes towards creating sustainable livelihoods and financial resource used to rescue and prevent more children from being sold into the sex slave industry.

I want you to know that I don’t sell ads and I don’t make any money by writing this blog.  When I mention a product or a company, it’s because I believe in the people and the product they produce.

Maybe you love to fly fish?

Maybe you’d like to book a trip to a great spot with a great guide?

Maybe you’d like the money you spend to be donated righteous, ennobling endeavors?

Maybe Father’s day is coming and you don’t know what to get him?

Maybe you’d like to get your dad a handmade fly wallet?

Because FFC is local to PDX.

And it might get to you tomorrow, if you order before noon.

And even if it get’s there a day or two late,

You could show your dad the website video and tell him that you’re living out the Good News.

—

He’ll like the wallet because it’s unique.

He’ll love the idea because it’s compelling.

He’ll love you because he’s your dad.

]]> http://www.furmanifesto.com/because-the-gospel-in-unique-and-compelling/feed/ 0 Seasoned Heroics http://www.furmanifesto.com/well-aged-heroics/ http://www.furmanifesto.com/well-aged-heroics/#comments Fri, 02 May 2014 20:36:14 +0000 http://www.furmanifesto.com/?p=1231

I’m only 40, but I’m seriously looking forward to my retirement. Now that’s not to say that I’m tired or that I don’t like my job, it’s just that I’ve been watching people reach retirement ages and I’ve discovered that many of them enter their next stage of life with the opportunity to deeply invest themselves […]]]>

neeson

I’m only 40, but I’m seriously looking forward to my retirement.

Now that’s not to say that I’m tired or that I don’t like my job, it’s just that I’ve been watching people reach retirement ages and I’ve discovered that many of them enter their next stage of life with the opportunity to deeply invest themselves into their passions.

For some it’s exercise.  The gym I go to is hopping with active seniors who take advantage of their newly flexible schedules to indulge in the life affirming joys that come from 45 minutes of nautilus exercises, a good steam bath, and then engaging in the time-honored ritual of nude locker-room conversation.

For others it’s travel.  I live near Oregon Highway 99W or as I call it, “Gateway to the Casinos”.  It’s not uncommon for me to stop at a service station filled with luxury motor homes and the incredibly friendly men who pilot them.  A retiree operating a mobile housing unit has a passion for talking about cars and building projects and has clearly discovered the gold mine found in combining a love of the open road with his God-given drive for home improvement.

Some find joy in animal husbandry.  Each of these motorhomes features at least two other passengers, the driver’s lovely wife, and her hypo allergenic canine companion.  I’ve found that the natural instinct to nurture does not pass with the graduation of a family’s biological children, rather it flowers anew with the arrival of grandchildren and if these grandchildren do not live within striking distance of a premium model Winnebago, then God will create a poodle or terrier to receive the surplus of love that only a motorhome filled with Grandparents can produce.

Perhaps my favorite AARP pastime is the pronounced vigilantism that rises from the heart of a man with a strong sense of justice and an abundance of time.  It’s not uncommon for a diligent retiree to take to his front porch with a keen eye bent on keeping the uneasy peace that surrounds a cul-de-sac filled with prepubescent boys… especially as spring transitions into summer.  I myself was much reprimanded by our local septuagenarian, especially in regards to my carelessness with lighter fluid, fireworks, and empty tennis ball tubes.

Perhaps the greatest display of late-aged crime fighting was revealed to us this week when a florida man was arrested and fined $48,000 for driving around with a Cell Phone Jamming Device in his car.  That’s right, Jason R. Humphrey’s of Tampa spent the better part of 2 years driving his car along Florida highways intent on making sure that people couldn’t talk on their cell phones and drive at the same time.

I know what you are thinking:

A.) “A Cell Phone Jamming Device! Is that even a thing?” Absolutely it is.  Cell phone jammers were first developed for use by law enforcement and military officials so that police could block phone calls in dangerous situations like a hostage situation or a raid.

2.) “I myself am a retiree, or father of teen girls, where can I purchase one of my own?” Actually federal law prohibits importing, marketing, sale, possession or using these types of wireless signal jamming devices, because it’s unsafe for use around people who might need to make 911 calls.   Which means you can find them quite easily on Craigslist.

As a child I spent countless hours fantasizing about what it would like to be a crime fighter with a hidden identity, but never in my wildest dreams did my fantasy of clandestine culprit catching include me being a retiree when the time came.  It’s probably the result of the hubris that comes with being a young man, but has anybody ever seriously considered that a retiree would actually make the best cover story for a super hero or secret agent?

Retirees will often disappear for up to 6 months and no one suspects anything.  If someone suspects that their retired relative has been secretly spying on the happenings of the Syrian Civil War all it would take to deflect suspicion is to say, “How can you think that? We’ve been in Scottsdale for the last 6 months.”  Either way, they’ll have a tan to prove it.

A network of retiree agents could also be beneficial in case of cyber attack.  If the phones and the email go down what is the best way to get a message from wherever you are standing to wherever it needs to go?  Look around, I guarantee that from where you are you can see at least 1 retiree.  This is an honest and trustworthy person with the experience and people skills to strike up a conversation with anyone. If you ask them to deliver an important message, they will write down the details and pass it down their network of friends to see if anybody can help.  Try that with a 25 year-old dude who plays Settlers of Cataan.

Do I need to try to convince you that our government would save massive amounts of money by employing retirees as agents of justice?  They’ve already got the housing and transpiration angle covered, and their natural instinct to find real value in every dollar would immediately improve the efficiency of our bloated and bureaucratic system.

Maybe you think they couldn’t be hearty enough to deal with the physical challenges of crime fighting?  Well Liam Neeson is 61 people.

Bonus points?

Not even Sean Connery’s Bond could beat a retiree at card games.

–

Whatever our age, we really do enter the next stage of our lives with the opportunity to deeply invest ourselves into our passions.  I’m hoping that we have an awesome over 65 superhero soon because I trust a retiree’s moral compass way more than my own.  Plus it’s actually way more plausible than what we’ve already got:

Name an actual wealthy, young, celebrity who is investing themselves in fighting crime?

When was the last time an extraterrestrial with galactic powers crashed on earth and decided to fight crime through journalism, and it turned out to be a good movie?

I’m holding out for a new kind of hero and I’m hoping it happens in the next 25 years, because I’m not trusting that Aquaman can provide me with the kind of inspiration I’m going to need to develop my own late-aged crime fighting persona.

Late-aged crime fighting persona…

Sounds cool doesn’t it?

Man, I’m really looking forward to my retirement.

]]> http://www.furmanifesto.com/well-aged-heroics/feed/ 3 Idolizing Accuracy http://www.furmanifesto.com/idolizing-accuracy/ http://www.furmanifesto.com/idolizing-accuracy/#comments Fri, 04 Apr 2014 19:40:46 +0000 http://www.furmanifesto.com/?p=1228

For the last week I’ve been hearing just how terrible the movie “Noah” is. The common thread amongst the conversations, Facebook posts, and bloggy tweetings I’ve encountered is that Noah is a bad movie because it’s such a massive departure from the Bible story we have so much reverence for. “Noah was more of a […]]]>

Wide-Noah-2014-Movie-Picture

For the last week I’ve been hearing just how terrible the movie “Noah” is.

The common thread amongst the conversations, Facebook posts, and bloggy tweetings I’ve encountered is that Noah is a bad movie because it’s such a massive departure from the Bible story we have so much reverence for.

“Noah was more of a villain than a hero.”

“I’m sick of environmentalist propaganda.”

“There were no transformers in the Bible.”

“Noah made the animals smoke weed.”

This doesn’t surprise me, because I’m used to hearing Christians describe art based solely on content.  See I grew up in the Church, work as a pastor, and have spent much of my life around Christian depictions of Biblical stories.

In the process I’ve learned that content is really the only thing we care about.

In reality though, liking a movie because you agree with it’s content doesn’t actually have anything to do with whether or not a movie is good or bad, it’s simply the base layer of determining whether or not you enjoyed it.

This means that whether or not Christians enjoy something doesn’t usually have anything to do with whether or not it is of notable effort or prime quality.   Think of a 6 year-old who loves his dinosaur print shirt, he doesn’t love it because of the fit or quality of fabric, he likes it because he likes dinosaurs.

In my experience, evangelical Christians approach storytelling (of almost every kind) in much the same fashion as they approach bumper stickers, “If I agree with the bumper sticker’s message, then it’s a good bumper sticker.”

Very little consideration is given to the design, color scheme, or appropriateness of the bumper sticker because it’s being evaluated solely on the accuracy of its message.

Because the Christian consumer often cares very little about the appropriateness or context of the messages they love, the creative work that goes into “Christian media” tends to be messaging heavy, to the detriment of quality, believability, and ultimately its effectiveness.

When you apply this approach to the bumper sticker analogy it becomes easy to understand why we drive around with jokes about hell and puns about politics on our car.

We don’t care if our message is helpful, we care whether or not it’s “accurate”.

You see we are under the mistaken assumption that if something is true, then it’s always applicable and immediately relevant to every situation.

While 2+2=4 is absolutely true, it can also be completely irrelevant in a conversation about what color red your barn should be painted.

If you really think that “God says it, so I believe it, and that settles it” then you can put that slogan on your bumper sticker, but the only thing that it really accomplishes is communicating that comments about your driving will be disregarded, unless they are mentioned specifically in the Bible… since no one in the history of highways was ever having a conversation about what they think someone in another car might believe about God.

In my experience, most Christian storytelling is made to encourage audiences who already agree with the messaging, while encouraging them to invite their friends to experience “The Truth”.

That truth, while possibly helpful, is generally packaged with very little of the creativity or subtlety that are historically the benchmarks of good art.

This is probably why every six weeks or so someone will come up to me with a “Hollywood quality” videocassette/booklet that I should go through, featuring:

Some kind of hero archetype,

-Fighter Pilot
-Firefighter
-Aspiring Singer/Songwriter
-Milkmaid with Nordic Beauty

With a beautiful love interest:

-Stay at home mother
-Stay at home newlywed
-Stay at home guitarist
-Hardworking 19th century farmer

And a personal problem about:

-Daddy was a worship pastor
-Girlfriend has health secret
-Alcoholism
-Sports Achievement/Virginity

Who “believes in God” and then finds:

-True Love, Self-Actualization, and Eternal Security/Touchdowns
-True Love, Self-Actualization, and Eternal Security/Family Values
-True Love, Self-Actualization, and Eternal Security/Agricultural Success
-True Love, Self-Actualization, and Eternal Security/Record Deals.

I’m pointing this out because Christians tend to get worked up over WHAT happens in a movie, to the detriment of WHY it happened, and whether or not it happened convincingly or believably.  This means that we tend to present idealistic depictions of improbable events, instead of honest portrayals of human interaction.

We deal in “best case scenario” fantasy.

Which is why people who don’t come to church can struggle to relate to us.

Because when was the last time all of your fantasies were fulfilled by one decision?

Hasn’t your entire life been a struggle to carry out a series of righteous decisions?

Isn’t it filled with painful interactions?

Aren’t there massive areas of your heart that you’re struggling to surrender to God?

Because that’s an honest and believable description of my human interaction with God, and it’s one that I haven’t really seen in a theater anyplace outside of say… Darren Aronofsky’s Noah film.

Now I’m not suggesting that the problem of “ham-fisted” preaching to the choir is unique to Christians, just that it’s widespread throughout Christendom.

Everybody wants to present a version of events that casts their own people in the best possible light, and message-driven content is an effective way to reinforce our core beliefs to our constituency…

…for instance people who love the CBS shows already believe that young people are mostly ignorant, undisciplined, tattooed, and unstable.

This makes them “good suspects” and easy to identify “villains” while also allowing them to learn valuable discipline through the mentorship of an awesome and skilled middle-aged team of accurate and logical police/military/science detective investigators.

Sadly, this over focus on “messaging” obscures and diffuses the human element in story telling, and when you remove that kind of subtlety your product becomes obvious propaganda and loses it’s effectiveness with wider audiences.

I’d submit to you that Christians see propaganda in everything because we are both propaganda producers and propaganda connoisseurs.

And what if we don’t actually have the market cornered on accuracy like we think we do?

In the case of “Noah”, many of our beliefs about “the Biblical” story come from our childhood lessons, and Christian depictions of Biblical stories aren’t always as accurate as we think they are.

We don’t have as much “reverence for the Biblical story” as we think we do.

See I haven’t ever heard anybody complaining about any depiction of the Noah story by pointing out that the animals didn’t all arrive two by two.  Because most of us “Accuracy Enthusiasts” don’t know that the animals didn’t come two by two.

The unclean animals came two by two, but the clean animals came in groups of seven.

Is it possible that Noah’s “dangerous environmental message” is actually more Biblical than modern industrial age Christians are comfortable with?  Because both the movie, and the book of Genesis suggest God’s displeasure about how human sin has broken and tainted an earth that “soaks up our blood” and “groans for redemption”.

As for Noah’s righteous vegetarianism, don’t forget that it’s entirely possible that mankind was not intended to eat animals before the flood.  Remember that God gives Noah’s family permission to eat animals after they get off of the ark (possibly explaining why more clean pairs of animals were needed on the ark).

Darren Aronofsky’s Noah is given trees by God and shown using them to build the Ark.  The environmental message of Noah isn’t that trees and animals are sacred, it’s that disobedience, greed, and waste are an affront to Our Creator.

I’m not writing this to defend “Noah”; the movie is certainly a flawed execution of a convoluted vision.  I’m writing this because it’s time to recognize that we aren’t so much complaining about “corrupting the Noah story” and “Hollywood mocking our faith” as we are complaining that someone’s propaganda doesn’t match up with the propaganda we hoped to see.

That’s right, I think that Noah is filled with the kind of believable and realistic interaction that infuses the story with compelling human drama, but it does so at the expense of any meaningful divine interaction.

When God speaks it’s esoteric, confusing, and frustrating to both Noah and the audience.  Aronofsky’s Noah is “righteous” because he does morally good things, but he doesn’t get to know God, and because he can’t understand him, he can only fear him.

Noah has a compelling relationship with everyone BUT the God he worships.

This happens mostly because Aronofsky’s God is distant, perplexing, and like us, loves animals more than people.  This isn’t intended as an insult to God, Aronofsky is always reverent, it’s just the only way someone who doesn’t know God can portray him.

Aren’t we tired of saying, “Noah is a bad movie because it was a factually inaccurate depiction of a Biblical story made by an atheist intent on mocking my religion”?

Because that isn’t true and it isn’t fair.

What about saying, “I didn’t like it because God is supposed to be the Hero of the story, and when the movie becomes about Noah instead of God it can’t have a compelling ending… because the character of Noah ends up a wreck in the Bible story.”

You could offer, “I didn’t like it because it was sad and weird, in fact every movie that guy makes is sad and weird. I wish he could know God like I do.”

Maybe go with, “It was a fantasy movie, and I was hoping for Historical Drama.”

Or how about, “I just didn’t like it.”

 It’s incredibly easy to hate the Noah movie for all the wrong reasons, and really hard to honestly dislike it for all the right ones, but it’s important that we grasp this because:

The wrong reasons really point out what’s wrong with us,

And the right ones push us closer to the loving God we can actually know.

 _

Post Script on the “Rock Transformers” and the “alien” Adam and Eve:

 It’s entirely possible that Aronofsky’s “Watchers” are not simply a blasphemous Hollywood invention meant to spice up the movie.  Immediately preceding the Noah Narrative, Genesis speaks of “Sons of God coming to daughters of men” during a time of “legendary heroes”.

Many evangelical Christians and Jews believe this passage to be speaking about angelic beings that rebelled against God and produced gigantic offspring with humans.  Those who hold this view see the event as precipitating the flood, with God cleansing the earth of the supernatural progeny.

It is also common to meet sincere and believing Christians who understand Adam and Eve to have been spirit beings who were “clothed with skins” by God after their sin.  Clothing the spirit Watchers in “earth” to give them form would be in keeping with many reverent, traditional, and cultural interpretations of Genesis.

…Just not the common, evangelical ones.

While I may not necessarily agree with Aronofsky’s interpretation and on screen presentation of these passages, they are not as far afield as you might think, and they aren’t attempts at mocking of our faith.

If you are interested in understanding what Darren Aronofsky was actually communicating with his movie (Kabbalic Gnosticism) and how it differs from Christianity, I’d recommend you check out this excellent dissection by someone tackling the larger and deeper theological issues that you should have with the movie.


]]> http://www.furmanifesto.com/idolizing-accuracy/feed/ 8 Idolizing Yourself http://www.furmanifesto.com/idolizing-yourself/ http://www.furmanifesto.com/idolizing-yourself/#comments Fri, 14 Mar 2014 19:08:17 +0000 http://www.furmanifesto.com/?p=1225

Matthew McConaughey possesses the rare blend of enviable beauty, charm, and confidence that makes a person undeniably fascinating. As an actor he can either stun you with his ability to dive deeply into a character, or irritate you by kicking back and letting his abs do the work. Either way, you can’t take your eyes […]]]>

McKp

Matthew McConaughey possesses the rare blend of enviable beauty, charm, and confidence that makes a person undeniably fascinating.

As an actor he can either stun you with his ability to dive deeply into a character, or irritate you by kicking back and letting his abs do the work.

Either way, you can’t take your eyes off of him.

This past week the Oscar Winning actor came under scrutiny for comments he made about being his own hero during his acceptance speech.

“… this person comes up and says “who’s your hero?”… You know who it is? It’s me in 10 years.”  …Ten years later, that same person comes to me and says, “So, are you a hero?” And I was like, “not even close. No, no, no.” She said, “Why?” I said, “Because my hero’s me at 35.” So you see every day, every week, every month and every year of my life, my hero’s always 10 years away. I’m never gonna be my hero. I’m not gonna attain that. I know I’m not, and that’s just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing…”

Most critics immediately jumped onto McConaughey’s statement as glaring assertions of self-adoration and blatant narcissism.  While McConaughey may well be a self-centered engine burning a high-octane mixture of pride and sex appeal, when read without prejudice his statements are actually more about self-improvement than they are about self-worship.

A statement of self-worship actually sounds more like pop singer Katy Perry’s massively successful single “Roar”; a declaration of the confidence that comes from believing that you have finally conquered the people who are holding you down:

“Now I’m floating like a butterfly
Stinging like a bee I earned my stripes

I went from zero, to my own hero

You held me down, but I got up
Already brushing off the dust…

…You’re gonna hear me roar!“

Far from actually stating that he worshiped himself because he was awesome, McConaughey simply revealed a system of self-improvement that keeps him striving to achieve a goal he will never reach, which in turn should keep him from making the kind of “I’ve arrived” statements that we see from other high achieving celebrities.

I’d suggest that the sad issue revealed in McConaughey’s statement isn’t self-worship that comes from achievement by way of self-betterment, it’s actually an inability to identify trustworthy, external role models.

It’s important to remember that following yourself as a guide doesn’t simply spring from a natural desire to “go with our gut”, “listen to our heart”, or “trust our instincts”.  Those are adult behaviors that spring from not trusting the voices around us.

A recent fascinating scientific study contrasting chimps and children has revealed that human children expect to be taught by example, while chimp children will ignore instruction and act on natural instinct to get what they want.

It’s humans, not chimps, that primarily learn by monkey see-monkey do.

You see, humans start out trusting our teachers but eventually stop as a result of disillusionment and unmet expectation.

It’s at that point that we begin making the choice to “trust ourselves”.

This kind of “trust” isn’t actual confidence or self-belief, it’s bravado, and it comes from having no other place left to turn. It’s a result of being hurt by people you trusted to guide and train us by faithfully modeling what they consistently told us.

A lack of trust in others to truly care for you leads to a lack of respect, and that lack of respect means that you see them as oppressors instead of role models…

…as seen in the Katy Perry lyric.

It’s really easy to listen to people’s statements and use them to point out how bad they are, but that’s usually the sign of envy isn’t it?

It’s much harder to listen to them to hear how they’ve been hurt, especially when they are beautiful, charming, and confident.

–

There’s a moment in every person’s life where they realize that humans can’t be trusted.  In that moment we are faced with a choice to turn away from people and run to God, or to turn away from people and dive into ourselves.

If you don’t take into account that you are a person just like everybody else, diving into yourself seems like a great option.

Especially when you are easy to look at.

]]> http://www.furmanifesto.com/idolizing-yourself/feed/ 4 A Jihad For A Jihad http://www.furmanifesto.com/a-jihad-for-a-jihad/ http://www.furmanifesto.com/a-jihad-for-a-jihad/#respond Fri, 14 Feb 2014 18:29:35 +0000 http://www.furmanifesto.com/?p=1218

There are many places in the developing world where religious groups come to power and begin the fanatical murder and systematic oppression of the unfaithful. It’s common enough that widespread coverage of religious violence has brought the words “Jihad” and “Infidel” into our common American vocabulary. Infidel is a latin word meaning “faithless”. Jihad is an Arabic […]]]>

car

There are many places in the developing world where religious groups come to power and begin the fanatical murder and systematic oppression of the unfaithful.

It’s common enough that widespread coverage of religious violence has brought the words “Jihad” and “Infidel” into our common American vocabulary.

Infidel is a latin word meaning “faithless”.

Jihad is an Arabic word that means “Holy War”.

When used in conjunction the two words conjure images of bearded men wielding swords and rifles, seemingly bent on establishing self-rule under Islamic law.

These two words have also become common place on Christian radio.  Just a cursory review of your local station will reveal many teachers claiming to expose “the truth” about Islam, and sermons from regional preachers quick to use Muslims to grind their ideological axes against.

This week I listened to a Christian radio station for 20 minutes and heard the words “Jew”, “Arab”, “Muslim”, “Jihad”, “end times”, “Jerusalem”, “beheading” and “Allah”, but never heard “Jesus”.

This isn’t a post about “the Muslims”; we already have enough of that.

As people groups come into conflict, religion also comes into conflict.  Unfortunately the violent struggles between ethnic groups often encompass two of the world’s largest religions, Christianity and Islam.  In the same way that video games and rock music get blamed for school shootings, religions often get credit for ethnic hatred that existed long before Jesus or Muhammad were born.

Since these conflicts generally occur in poor countries with little infrastructure it also means that the majority group can do significant damage to the minority group before reports reach the wider world.  When the cameras can finally arrive to inform western consumers, explanations filled with oversimplifications and generalizations rule the day.

This is a post about the folly of “righteous vengeance”.

One of the places currently degraded into violent ethnic and religious conflict is the Central African Republic.  Here are the necessary stereotypical generalizations:

The C.A.R. is a country formed out of the failure of European colonization.  In the 1800’s the French arrived in the region bringing both Christianity and a desire to exploit the territory’s vegetable and mineral wealth.

Unable to control the volatile indigenous people (Arab and European slave trade had already destabilized the region) France gave up the colony in 1960.  From that point on the country was ruled by despots funded by international commercial interest.

For years The C.A.R. was a group of ethnic clans stitched together by the French language and trade with Islamic countries.  The country limped into the 21st century with a majority population of Christian farmers and a minority of Muslim merchants.

In 2012 the local Government folded when Islamic rebels called “Seleka” came to power.

“In power for nearly 10 months, the Seleka were responsible for massacres, extrajudicial executions, rape, torture, and looting, as well as massive burning and destruction of Christian villages.” – CNN

Seleka claimed to be bringing “justice” on behalf of the oppressed Muslim minority.  To the rest of Africa it looked a lot like revenge; they sent in their armies.

International forces deposed Seleka and in the power vacuum the Christian population took to the streets to avenge themselves.  Today the UN Reports that the widespread violence has become a policy of ethnic cleansing taking place along religious lines.  Unfortunately it’s seen as a just and natural consequence:

“The current violence, hatred, and instability are a direct result of the human rights crisis that began in December 2012, when mostly Muslim Seleka forces launched an armed offensive that culminated in their seizure of power in March 2013.” – Amnesty

Revenge is always presented as justice.

“They started it, but we’ll finish it.”  Words like these attempt to justify retribution regardless of religion, but they become especially offensive when they come from the mouth of a Christian.  Christians are scripturally forbidden from taking revenge because vengeance belongs to God.

It’s easier said than done though isn’t it?  Don’t we all love to get back at the person who’s keeping us down?  In fact, we dream about the day when we can get out from under our enemies thumb.

The problem is that after we “get them back” they simply feel victimized and begin plotting their own “just revenge”.

Each person believes themselves to be unjustly aggrieved, and each person begins a Jihad that begets more Jihad.

The response we have when we get the opportunity to put our boots on the neck of our oppressors is largely determined by whether or not we take the words of Jesus at face value:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” - Matthew 5:43-45

I’m wondering how many people would use, “But they started it!” as an excuse if Jesus were to show up in the midst of their vengeance? Because Jesus  actually commands his followers to suffer injustice, for love’s sake.

Grace and Mercy are an “injustice”.

Our command is not to seek justice for ourselves, rather to seek the Kingdom of God.  This means setting down our “rights” like Jesus did.

Personal retribution reinforces the cycle of violence.  The command of our King is to end the cycle of violence by offering grace and mercy.  Not only does grace and mercy end the cycle of violence, it acknowledges Jesus as King and demonstrates that we are his subjects.

Jesus, through his death on the cross, still offers grace and mercy to us today.  He’s breaking our cycle of violence and rebellion with God.

–

In The C.A.R. the Christians have become the Jihadists and are cleansing their country of Infidels,  it’s an uncomfortable reversal of our old and tired stereotype that religion causes violence.

Truthfully, people cause violence and they simply appeal to their religion to declare their violence as justice.

We can call our revenge “Justice” or we can call it “Jihad”,
we just can’t call it righteous.

]]> http://www.furmanifesto.com/a-jihad-for-a-jihad/feed/ 0 Spice Up That Party! http://www.furmanifesto.com/spice-up-that-party/ http://www.furmanifesto.com/spice-up-that-party/#respond Fri, 31 Jan 2014 21:14:40 +0000 http://www.furmanifesto.com/?p=1215

Fun Things to do during your Super Bowl Party If this Super bowl is a close game I believe the Seahawks will win.  In most cases this will not only be fun for most regional watchers, but the excitement will be entertaining for the national audience. However, if this game turns into another Super Bowl […]]]>

sb

Fun Things to do during your Super Bowl Party

If this Super bowl is a close game I believe the Seahawks will win.  In most cases this will not only be fun for most regional watchers, but the excitement will be entertaining for the national audience.

However, if this game turns into another Super Bowl blowout, not only will the Broncos be on high side, but your Northwest Super Bowl Party is going to need a pick me up before people start heading home.

I’m hoping that you won’t need to use this, but in case Manning’s boys go up big in the 2nd quarter, here are 4 things you can do to keep your party from turning on Michael Crabtree.

IMPROMPTU SPELLING BEE!

Ask watchers to pick a team, then correctly spell these players names:

Seattle:
Breno Giacomini
Steven Hauschka
Lemuel Jeanpierre
Paul McQuistan

Denver:
Demaryus Thomas
Zane Beadles
Duke Ihenacho
Quanterus Smith

TRIVIA GAME:
Know your Shon/Shawn/Shaun!

The Super Bowl features an epic number of Shawns, can you tell them apart? (Click on the question to see the answer)

 Which Shon/Shawn/Shaun loves Skittles?

A.) Knowshon  Moreno

B.) Marshawn Lynch

C.) Shaun Phillips

D.) DeShawn Shead

 

Which Shon/Shawn/Shaun went to Portland State University?

A.) Knowshon  Moreno

B.) Marshawn Lynch

C.) Shaun Phillips

D.) DeShawn Shead

 

Which Shon/Shawn/Shaun cries during National Anthems?

A.) Knowshon  Moreno

B.) Marshawn Lynch

C.) Shaun Phillips

D.) DeShawn Shead

 

Which Shon/Shawn/Shaun caught passes from Drew Brees in college?

A.) Knowshon  Moreno

B.) Marshawn Lynch

C.) Shaun Phillips

D.) DeShawn Shead

PICK ‘EM GAME:
The Super Bowl features a number of Gender ambiguous names.
Guess if the name belongs to a player or a cheerleader? (Click to reveal)

Caylin Hauptmann

Toni Basil

Christine Michael

Britton Colquitt

Sandy Olsson

Kayvon Webster

Quinn Fabray

Percy Harvin

C.J. Anderson

Kelly Kapowski

Sione Fua

Blake Lively

Paris Lenon

Make Your Own Guacamole

Since you never know how the game will go, being prepared for the uncertainties means having something fun to do until the commercials come on.

For me, the only thing certain about this Sunday’s Super Bowl is that I’m going to be seated in front of a television, eating about a gallon and a half of guacamole.

And no, the Guacamole won’t come from the grocer’s cooler.

I grew up in a region where avocados actually do grow on trees and Abuelitas pass out love by passing down recipes.

At an early age I discovered that there are essentially two types of guacamole: The kind that contains everything and the kitchen sink, and the kind that lives and dies on the strength of it’s avocados.

While a multitude of vegetables can go into a lot of admirable and fanciful avocado dips, all truly gorgeous Mexican recipes need very few… wait for it… “ingreeedients”.

In my experience the same people who like to overload their Thanksgiving stuffing with crunchy celery, water chestnuts, chewy giblets, and cranberries also like to pad their avocado mixtures with sour cream, onions, corn, beans, and tomatoes.

Unfortunately, grabbing the Corn Salsa and the Pico De Gallo and blending them into the Guac not only leads to an eventual ‘watery’ consistency, but it’s like mixing all of the options at the Golden Corral salad bar together and hitting it with some ranch dressing to hold it together.

 Green Jello and Garbanzo beans don’t belong in the same dish.

Here’s how to make your own simple yet delicious guac:

Mash a ripe avocado or two,
(Pretend your fork is Marshawn Lynch’s feet and stomp the avocado into the dish)

Hit it with a squeeze of cut lime,
(Yell, “Omaha, Omaha!”)

Stir in a just a pinch of garlic salt and cracked black peppercorns,
(Spin the whisk like Russell Wilson, AWAY from the line of scrimmage)

 Stab it with a sprig of Cilantro
(A small, Wes Welker Sized bunch)

 Dig in with a bag of Juanita’s chips
(If someone asks who was talking about Guacamole, shout “CRABTREE!”)

Have a great Super Bowl.

]]> http://www.furmanifesto.com/spice-up-that-party/feed/ 0 What We Want To Beliebe http://www.furmanifesto.com/what-we-want-to-beliebe/ http://www.furmanifesto.com/what-we-want-to-beliebe/#comments Fri, 24 Jan 2014 20:04:49 +0000 http://www.furmanifesto.com/?p=1211

While migrating geese can’t speak to one another, they can communicate well enough to get the flock south for spring break.  This is often a source of wonderment to humans because we tend to think that non-verbal communication is quite difficult. When you take some time to consider the issue though it becomes apparent that, […]]]>

bieber mug

While migrating geese can’t speak to one another, they can communicate well enough to get the flock south for spring break.  This is often a source of wonderment to humans because we tend to think that non-verbal communication is quite difficult.

When you take some time to consider the issue though it becomes apparent that, non-verbal communication isn’t all that difficult, verbal communication is just very easy.

In fact, talking is so easy that it’s a wonder that humans miscommunicate at all.

But we do don’t we?

It happens a lot doesn’t it?

It’s interesting to me that while humans are the only creatures on earth with developed verbal skills, we are also the creatures that suffer the greatest misunderstandings.  I’d suggest that this isn’t because we don’t have the best tools for communication, it’s because we choose to use them for deception.

Because words are so efficient and effective, they quickly become the primary method we use to conceal the truth and lead people in different directions.

This means that we can’t just listen to what people say to us, we also have to watch what they do.  In many cases body language is just as important as spoken language.

Over the years I’ve learned that if you pay attention to a person long enough, they will tell you exactly who they are.  The key is listening to everything they tell you, not just the words that are coming out of their mouth.

For instance, many people were surprised yesterday when it was announced that Justin Bieber was arrested for driving under the influence, illegal racing, and resisting arrest.

While I can understand that some people would be shocked to learn that the 19 year-old was arrested, I just can’t seem to figure out how people missed the fact that Justin Bieber has been announcing his public meltdown for at least a year.

In the past year the Beib’s has:

Purchased Italian racing cars,

Possessed controlled substances,

And disregarded the law in brothels.

All three of these behaviors are statements that he drives fast and parties hard.

Maybe we failed to pay attention to these things because we’ve been ignoring his actions and focusing on all of the things he has said?

“I think that’s part of the reason I’m here, Not just because I’m talented, but because God had a purpose for me to just help people,”

“With me, girl, is where you belong, Just stay right here, I promise my dear I’ll put nothin above ya.”

While Bieber and his reps have done a fairly good job of putting the right words in front of people, even the quickest Google search brings up more dirt than soap.

Maybe the issue isn’t that Justin has been lying to people… maybe it’s that we keep choosing to believe his words regardless of how they contradict his behavior?

Words are the primary methods we use to conceal the truth about ourselves aren’t they?  Sadly we tend to take the things that people tell us at face value because we want to believe them, not because they add up to truth.

Justin Bieber can get away with singing about faith, hope, and love while cutting a tawdry swath of self-indulgence through South America because WE desperately want to believe that it’s possible to talk one way and live another.

He might be guilty of feeding us lies, but we’ve been guilty of eating them with a spoon.

If it’s a surprise that Justin Bieber was arrested for living like an outlaw it isn’t because he wasn’t doing it all year…

…it’s because we were choosing not to listen to him for our sake, not his.

]]> http://www.furmanifesto.com/what-we-want-to-beliebe/feed/ 2 Where The Wrecking Ball Lands http://www.furmanifesto.com/where-the-wrecking-ball-lands/ http://www.furmanifesto.com/where-the-wrecking-ball-lands/#comments Fri, 10 Jan 2014 18:23:29 +0000 http://www.furmanifesto.com/?p=1208

A lot can happen in 10 years can’t it? It doesn’t seem that long ago that everybody was excited to see what would become of little Destiny Hope Cyrus. Tish and Billy Ray’s little girl was such a joyful prodigy that she eventually adopted the family nickname “sMiley” as her stage name. The exuberance that […]]]>

Picture 2

A lot can happen in 10 years can’t it?

It doesn’t seem that long ago that everybody was excited to see what would become of little Destiny Hope Cyrus.

Tish and Billy Ray’s little girl was such a joyful prodigy that she eventually adopted the family nickname “sMiley” as her stage name. The exuberance that shone through in her precocious singing and dancing brought her to the attention of friendly agents and starmakers.

At 11 she auditioned for what would eventually become Disney’s “Hannah Montana”, a television series about a school girl with a secret life as a pop star. While everybody imagined that she would use her talents to entertain for a time, very few were banking on her becoming a worldwide celebrity.

If it’s hard to get famous, it’s even harder to stay famous.

What nobody imagined (a disposable Disney show going bigger than it’s time slot) happened faster than most people thought it could.

Back then the vocalized concerns over Miley’s astronomical rise were usually squelched by folks who assured us that her dad had “been a star before” and could “keep his eye on her”. The plan seemed to be that she would do what Dad told her to do.

Nobody seemed to point out that Dad hadn’t exactly kept it together when he was famous, and within a few years he would admit that his chief failing would be being a “friend” to his daughter, neglecting his duties as a parent:

“I should have been a better parent, I should have said, ‘Enough is enough–it’s getting dangerous and somebody’s going to get hurt.’ I should have, but I didn’t… Honestly, I didn’t know the ball was out-of-bounds until it was way up in the stands somewhere.”

What no one seemed to anticipate, or prepare against, was Miley’s decision to create a her own path to stardom. It was one that would quickly lead away from promise rings and church choirs and spill out into the strange, bong-smoked haze that was 2013.

At some point during her Disney grooming, Miley stopped doing what was planned for her and started doing what she felt like.

“Things came out that happened – like, you know, bong videos – when I was on Disney,” she said. “But I never wanted to do that to Disney. When I was no longer employed by anyone, that’s when I was like, ‘Ok, I’m going to do my own thing.’ But I waited until I felt like I had respectfully finished out what I was supposed to do, you know?”

By her own admission, trouble started for Miley when there were still people around who were responsible for making sure that she was being cared for.

Whether or not her parents were keeping an eye on her, a pot video on the internet is definitely a red flag to an entire industry that your teen idol is drowning in their own success. Unfortunately, nobody in charge stopped production on the singing and dancing because it was a cash machine that no one was willing to step away from.

It’s a lot like being on the teacups at Disneyland and raising your hand because you’re feeling sick, but the ride operator speeds it up because they need the people in line to see how fun the ride is.

While it is easy, and mostly appropriate, to blame Miley for making dangerous choices, it’s important keep in mind that we all leave established paths when we lose faith in their ability to deliver us safely to our desired destination.

When we fail to see how following a path will get us what we hope for, or we lose faith in the people who set the path for us, don’t we break rank and set out on our own? What assurance should Miley have had that the people responsible for her were more concerned for her well-being than their own bottom line?

Doesn’t the human instinct for self-preservation, working in conjunction with the rejective consequences of betrayal, virtually guarantee the type of behavior we see not only in Miley Cyrus but in most embittered child stars?

Whether you think she’s exploiting a system that exploits her, or agree with her outrageous take on liberated young adulthood, you can’t look at a picture of Miley Cyrus today and see the excited anticipation of a hope-filled 11 year-old anymore.

You can see fun.

You can see defiance.

You can see enthusiasm.

You just can’t see joy or peace.

When we begin using kids to meet our needs or fulfill our dreams we actually leave them exposed to their own whims, and the exploitation of others.

Adults have a moral imperative to work for the well-being of children. This goes far beyond providing, or being nice, and extends into protecting and guiding them into what what’s best for THEM. This means that we don’t simply think in terms of what we offer children, but also in terms of limiting exposure and removing the things from their life that lead to corruption.

–

Ten years ago everybody was excited to see what would become of little Destiny Hope Cyrus.

It seems she became someone known as Miley, the pop star with a secret life as a broken-hearted schoolgirl.

2013 wasn’t the year that Miley came through like a “Wrecking Ball”, it was the sad year that a kid with their hand in air finally barfed…

…and our whirling media machine made sure it covered all of Fantasyland.

“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” -Matthew 18:6

]]> http://www.furmanifesto.com/where-the-wrecking-ball-lands/feed/ 2 Faking It http://www.furmanifesto.com/faking-it/ http://www.furmanifesto.com/faking-it/#comments Fri, 13 Dec 2013 20:01:55 +0000 http://www.furmanifesto.com/?p=1203

If you haven’t yet heard, the celebration of Nelson Mandela’s life was unfortunately upstaged by the unintentionally hilarious presence of a sign language interpreter who appears to have worked the crowd by “making up sign language” as he went along. While this sounds a lot like a Saturday Night Live sketch, and might actually have […]]]>

interpreter

If you haven’t yet heard, the celebration of Nelson Mandela’s life was unfortunately upstaged by the unintentionally hilarious presence of a sign language interpreter who appears to have worked the crowd by “making up sign language” as he went along.

While this sounds a lot like a Saturday Night Live sketch, and might actually have been funnier than some of them, it is more than a little disturbing that many of the world’s most important leaders made their tribute speeches standing just a few feet from a person who was at best a charlatan, and possibly mentally unhinged.

It makes you wonder how a person who was unable to do the job was actually hired to do it?

Or does it?

Incompetence in authority positions is actually much more common than we want to believe isn’t it?

I think we all know, or have actually worked for, someone who clearly had no idea what they were doing.  In fact, you’re probably seeing their face right now because engaging with them was so frustrating that it created indelible memories.

This happens for many reasons, but I feel that two are worth mentioning here:

The first is that regardless of occupation ambitious people get promoted to their level of incompetency.

What I mean by this is that doing good work typically gets you promoted to greater levels of leadership.  Ambitious people accept these promotions until they reach a position that they are incapable of performing in.

When an organization is unwilling to invest in leadership development, or at least demote ineffective leaders back to their last level of success, they will always find themselves with leaders who are unable to motivate their teams… because they spend the majority of their time frustrating them.

The most obvious example of this is The Office’s Michael Scott.

When Dunder-Mifflin promoted their best paper salesman to the role of office manager, they moved him from his highest level of productivity to his lowest.  What made it funny is that we all got to watch it without working there, and the show’s runaway popularity is the sign that we could all identify with it.

If the first reason that incompetency finds it way to large stages is a tragic consequence of success, the second reason is a demonstration of the frightening reality that we are typically forced to hire specialists to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

If I don’t possess a necessary skill, I not only have to hire someone to buttress my personal limitation, but I also have to place my faith in their character based solely on their reputation.

This means that I have opened my doors not just to experts in the skill that I lack, but also to experts in fraud; experts in fraud are not easy to identify are they?

The classic illustration of this is James Bond, a man who appears overnight, gains the confidence of high-level leaders, and then disappears overnight with their girlfriends and secrets.

When we attempt to hasten results by immediately trusting friends of friends, failing to establish qualifying standards, or ignoring those standards in favor of charm, we virtually open up the front door and invite charlatans into the areas of our lives where we are the least prepared to deal with them.

It’s very easy to get fooled by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, when you don’t know what you are doing.

None of the people on the stage at Mandela’s ceremony could point out the faker because none of them knew sign language, and each of them believed that someone they trusted did.

Since incompetence and chicanery get spotted regardless of why they happen, the question is whether they get spotted before or after they embarrass you in front of a global audience.

It was the global audience who alerted the event organizers about the fraud that was being perpetrated on them, it was the global audience that asked for an accounting, and it is the global audience who lost respect for the leadership of the event.

In the end we either take the time to do the hard work of development and the legwork of research, or we get taken advantage of in ways that hurts us and the people that we lead.

Unfortunately Nelson Mandela’s funeral became accidentally humorous and incredibly entertaining in way that detracted from his legacy.  This is because both Michael Scott and James Bond are very entertaining…

…so long as you are just watching them and not working for, or getting worked over, by them.

 

 

]]> http://www.furmanifesto.com/faking-it/feed/ 1 How To Say Thank You http://www.furmanifesto.com/how-to-say-thank-you/ http://www.furmanifesto.com/how-to-say-thank-you/#respond Thu, 28 Nov 2013 19:28:33 +0000 http://www.furmanifesto.com/?p=1198

We didn’t eat out much when I was a kid. As child I thought that this was because we didn’t have a lot of money but as an adult I have been informed that I was fairly hyperactive, especially in new environments. When we did visit a restaurant it was usually on a Sunday night, […]]]>

bobs-big-boy

We didn’t eat out much when I was a kid.

As child I thought that this was because we didn’t have a lot of money but as an adult I have been informed that I was fairly hyperactive, especially in new environments.

When we did visit a restaurant it was usually on a Sunday night, and it was most often a Bob’s Big Boy.  I was always warned that we wouldn’t come back if I didn’t behave properly.

This type of risk/reward scenario did help me behave appropriately, even if it was only for a Sunday night.

–

While I always appreciated going to eat at Bob’s Big Boy, mostly because of the Hot Fudge Cake, I could never seem to beat my brother to the punch when it came to expressing gratefulness.

See my older brother was the master of the “Thank You”.

After we had eaten, paid, bathroomed, and pretended to play the piano on the cigarette machine in the lobby we would wander across the parking lot to our car poring over our complimentary (with purchase) Big Boy comic book.

As we piled in for the drive home, my brother would shame us all, even my mother, by dropping a perfectly timed “Thanks Dad” into the first moment of communal silence.

As a kid this puts you into the awkward place of pitifully hobo-jumping onto the caboose of someone else’s thank you train, or maintaining your silence and looking like a sullen ingrate.

It’s a lose/lose proposition, especially if you are the middle child.

See my baby sister could tag a “Thank You” onto the end of my brother’s gratefulness and it would seem cute… after all, she’s too little to know to say “Thank You” on her own.

On the other hand, the hyperactive middle child is not only old enough to be an unprompted thanker but they’re also typically the one who’s constant chatter immediately precedes the moment of silence that the oldest child’s “thank you” is dropped into.

After years of frustration, I began studying my brother’s technique to determine just how he came to achieve such high levels of success.

Now, on a Thanksgiving Day 30 years later,  I’m proud to not only tell you how he did it, but in doing so to help you become admired for demonstrating the kind of gratefulness that emanates from a 10-year-old who’s just devoured a plate of  *Pappy Parker’s Fried Chicken Dinner.

1.) Never rush a “Thank You”.
After being beaten to the punch with a “Thank You”, you swear to yourself that you won’t let it happen again.  This type of vow unfortunately leads to a premature thanking situation the next time your dad takes you out for a meal.

In that moment when you see that your car is not taking the most direct route from the church to your home, and you ‘casually ask’, “Where are we going?” and your dad says, “You’re mom’s tired, we’re going to Bob’s”, you might think that saying your “Thank You” right then and there accomplishes something.

It doesn’t really.

See as much as your dad might appreciate the early “Thank You”, he hasn’t really even done anything  to be thanked for yet, plus he’s hungry and nothing you do at this point is really going to impress him… unless of course you can produce your own Big Boy Burger from under the seat.  Beyond this, another family member will invariably thank him as you get back into the car, erasing the effect of your early “Thank You” and leaving you right back where you started.

Always save your “thank you” for completion of the project that you are offering thanks for… especially if you haven’t yet discovered if you’re going inside for dinner or just jello at the counter.

2.) Create, don’t wait for, the right moment.
After failing with my initial misfire, I watched my brother to determine exactly how he pulled off his stellar performances.  If patience was what got my brother his audience, initiative is what got our attention.  By not thanking my dad in transit he guaranteed himself an audience, but how did he manage to get the audience’s undivided attention?

During the rush to get out of the cold and into the car, everybody is excitedly chattering away, engaged in seat selection.  Nobody is going to get heard thanking anybody over the din.  My brother would wait patiently outside the car until everybody was settled, then he would slide in next to my sister, slam the door, and in that split second of silence as my mom looked back to see what just happened but before my dad could say something about slamming the door, my brother would give his line, “Thanks for taking us out to dinner dad.”

3.) If you miss the moment, make a new one.
After observing and adopting my brother’s technique as my own I believed that I had finally beaten him at his own game; This was when I learned that the master still had something left to teach me.  As we waited in our bunk beds for my parents to see us off to the land of Nod, my brother waited for Dad to lean over for the tuck in.  That’s when he said, “Thanks again for a great night.”  I felt like asking my dad if he remembered that I had thanked him first, back in the car, but I’m pretty sure I knew how that would end.

—

Thinking back on it, even though I may have said “Thank You” first, I don’t think that I ever really exceeded my brother in gratefulness; His natural gratefulness drew a more studied thankfulness out of me than I would have found on my own.

I wish I had been a more grateful kid, I just don’t think I knew how.

I eventually learned how to be more grateful from watching my older brother’s example.  His gratefulness was spurring me on through competitiveness, but it eventually focused me on thanking my dad for his generosity.

That eventually bled through into more days than just Sunday.

Thanks Dana.

bobs-big-boy-lrg

*Pappy Parker’s Fried Chicken Dinner was my brother Dana’s favorite Menu Item.

 

]]> http://www.furmanifesto.com/how-to-say-thank-you/feed/ 0