Unfinished Christianity

I, Toaster: Anti-capitalist experiment proves capitalism

In an ironic turn of events, a British artist's attempt to condemn trade and free markets seems to be proving that free markets are the only thing which liberate mankind from oppression.

Radley Balko from Reason Online has a great write up on the experiment of British artist Thomas Thwaites called "The Toaster Project," in which Thwaites is trying to build a toaster from scratch by mining the necessary materials, creating the plastics from oil, and all the other parts necessary for an operational toaster. However, the artist has encountered some roadblocks in the project: "The point at which it stopped being possible for us to make the things that surround us is long past...This faintly ridiculous quest to make a toaster from the 'ground up' serves as a vehicle through which questions about economics, helplessness and life as a consumer can be investigated."

Balko concludes: "It's a peculiar kind of "helplessness" that enables us to benefit from the shared labor of millions of workers and the collected knowledge of millions of people accumulated over hundreds of years by merely traveling to the nearest Wal-Mart or appliance store, or, better yet, by merely clicking the mouse on a computer a few times and having the toaster (or, for that matter, groceries, or clothing, or medicine) brought directly to our homes."

You can read the entire piece here - it's well worth your time.

24 Jun, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 1 -

Milton Freedman on Greed

I love Freedman's answers to Donahue (who is asking stupid questions to begin with) but where does the Kingdom of God come into the picture? (Thanks to Jack Scott for the video)

17 Jun, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 5 -

Work, buy, consume, die

Yesterday I just happened to run across a picture on Ariah Fine's Facebook profile, so I included it below -- I hope it's not copyrighted, so if it is, Ariah let me know and I'll take it down; and then there is this Wired entry titled Eat, Sleep, Work, Consume, Die -- Tony Long concludes that "Just because technology makes it possible for us to work 10 times faster than we used to doesn't mean we should do it. The body may be able to withstand the strain -- for a while -- but the spirit isn't meant to flail away uselessly on the commercial gerbil wheel. The boys in corporate don't want you to hear this because the more they can suck out of you, the lower their costs and the higher their profit margin. And profit is god, after all. (Genuflect here, if you must.)

But what's good for them isn't necessarily good for you, no matter how much filthy lucre they throw your way."

It also happens that I just started reading Jennifer Government by Max Barry -- what a great book; I've been reading a chapter here and there during lunch break. Some of you may not agree with some of the language used, but boy, what a take Max has on the world run by multi-national corporations and greed-driven economies.

We always hear people on both sides of the issue arguing for, or against private "anything" (you name it), but I went ahead and reproduced a page from the book (I hope Max won't put out a contract on me) to ask the question "Where does altruism enter into a private economy, and can such economies even survive without Christianity?"

The scene below is unfolding after a shooting in a shopping mall, where a young girl was shot for a pair of her brand new Nike shoes.

The dealer wrung his hands. "Excitement."

"I think I'm going to take a look," Buy said.

"You should leave it to mall security," the dealer said.

"I know first aid." Not many people did; there was too much risk of being sued. Buy caught the escalator up. On the fourth floor there were a lot of teenagers standing around, dazed; some were cowering inside shops. Glass sparkled outside the Barnes & Nobles and a line of jagged holes in the floor marked a path toward Toys "R" Us. On the ground outside the Nike Town, a girl was bleeding to death. He said, "Hayley?"

Her neck was exposed. He ran to her, tore off his jacket, and tried to staunch the flow of blood. Her eyes rolled. "Someone call an ambulance!" he roared. "Does someone have--"

"I have a cellphone," a kid said, handing it to him. Buy dialed 911 and tucked it under his ear. Hayley was looking at him; he realized she wanted him to take her hand. He squeezed it tightly.

"Nine-eleven Emergency, how can I help you?"

"I need an ambulance. Quickly, a girl has been shot at the Chadstone Wal-Mart mall."

"Certainly, sir. Can you tell me the girl's name?"

"Hayley. Hayley something. Please come straight away."

"Sir, I need to know if the victim is part of our register," the operator said. "If she's one of our clients, we'll be there within a few minutes. Otherwise I'm happy to recommend --"

"I need an ambulance!" he shouted, and it was only when water splashed on his hand that he realized he had started to cry. "I'll pay for it, I don't care, just come!"

"Do you have a credit card, sir?"

"Yes! Send someone now!"

"As soon as I confirm your ability to pay, sir. This will only take a few seconds."

He looked at the faces around him. "Someone help her. Help her!" The kid who had loaned Buy his cellular knelt down and held the jacket over the wound. A girl began stroking Hayley's hair. Buy dragged his wallet from his back pocket and retrieved his credit card. Hayley's eyes were fixed on him. I promise, he told her. I promise. "I have American Express --"

"That's fine, sir. Could you read your card number to me, please?"

"Nine seven one four, oh three --"

Two shots rang out from somewhere below them, close. The people around him shrieked and fled; only the kid stayed, crouching lower.

" --six six--"

People were screaming. Something hit the ground--or one of the Mercedes?--with a deafening boom.

"Sir? Are you there? I didn't catch the number, sir."

"Nine, seven--"

The kid put his hand over Buy's. "Mister...I don't think it matters."

Hayley was no longer looking at him. Her eyes were turned upward, at the Nike Town sign, at the fluorescent light. Her face was white.

"Oh, no," Buy said. "No, please."

"Sir?" the operator said. "an you please repeat your credit card number for me, sir? Are you there? Sir? Sir?"

16 Jun, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 5 -

Quotables

"Well, you know me...I am a huge environmentalist, I like going in it, especially when it's nice out"
- Jamie Lissow

"...I'd buy that car and waterboard it..."
- Greg Gutfeld on Dick Cheney's car-advertisement voice

"I'm an aged steak virgin!"
- My wife commenting on the aged ribeyes I got for dinner

"...amen! WHERE IS MY STEAK??"
- My daughter wrapping up dinner prayer and demanding her steak

"Cock fighting is like celery fighting...they are not particularly smart."
- Greg Gutfeld on Red Eye

"Martin I of Aragon died from a lethal combination of indigestion and uncontrollable laughing."
- Wikipedia description of Martin I

"Why is it that managers, even if they consider themselves capitalist, still use a command-economy mentality?"
- Marcel Popescu

"Dave Taylor, who leases the farm, said he got a phone call from his father who was driving along the motorway, telling him his cows were exploding."
- Exploding cows in NZ

"Obama calls for new beginning between the US and Muslims, because if there's one thing the Muslim world does best it's let bygones be bygones"
- Headline on Fark.com

"Choose your enemies carefully ‘cos they will define you
Make them interesting ‘cos in some ways they will mind you
They’re not there in the beginning but when your story ends
Gonna last with you longer than your friends"
- U2

"I guess for me, death was the wake up call"
- George, Dead Like Me

10 Jun, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 0 -

Death of Emergent

There is a new round of blogs and comments from folks claiming that Emergent is dead; Tony has compiled a list of "Death of Emergent Roundup" with interesting comments from all kinds of people. My favorite: Martin Luther King didn't coach t-ball; neither did Ghandi. Start a revolution if you want, but that's not a price that I'm willing to pay.

08 Jun, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 8 -

60 % of U.S. personal bankruptcies are due to medical bills

Jamie and I can actually relate to this closely. Since my car accident more than two years ago and since Jamie's miscarriage last year, we have been virtually unable to get back on our feet financially, with medical bills eating through my income on a monthly basis. Two years later, we are still paying on medical bills - and yes we HAVE insurance! I can't imagine what people with lower income must go through when they experience serious illness or accidents.

Medical bills are behind more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday in a report they said demonstrates that healthcare reform is on the wrong track.

More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts, the team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University reported in the American Journal of Medicine.

"Unless you're Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," Harvard's Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate for a single-payer health insurance program for the United States, said in a statement.

"For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection," he added.

Read the entire article here.

04 Jun, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 26 -

Tank Man Lives On

Today and tomorrow is the anniversary of the Tienanmen massacre and the student demonstrations from June, 1989 in Beijing. In a way they were the catalyst for what happened just a few months later in Romania and Eastern Europe.

So please, remember the Tank Man - say a prayer for China and for the Christians living in that country.

You can watch a short video here to get the history of the footage behind the Tank Man.

03 Jun, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 5 -

Rob Bell Mondays: Swing me Over Hell on a Cornstalk

Another song from the self-titled album of Big Fil, Swing me Over Hell on a Cornstalk, circa 1995, with Rob Bell on vocals:

This text will be replaced by the flash music player.

01 Jun, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 0 -

The Rub of Love

I've been listening to Chagall Guevara a lot while moving over the last few days; their song The Rub of Love is particularly striking for everyone whose parents and relatives went off the deep end while in marriage relationships, especially ignoring the effect their selfish actions have on their children. This is why I love Steve Taylor:

The Rub of Love (1991)

Dad said he wanted a boy
Held me like a bundle of joy
These days he don't even smile
Like I'm cramping his style

"Son, it's not true
Of course I love you
But the pressure thing's building again"

Dad's gone AWOL...
Absent without leaving

The rub of love
The rub of love

Dad's not talking at all
Everything's making him mad
I used to come running to him
Now I'm learning to crawl

"Son, get used to the cold
You'll soon have to face it alone
And please stop holding my hand
You're getting too old"

Heard him last night
Say "the boy's alright
But the father thing still doesn't fit
Gotta get away for a while
Gotta find out who I am"

The rub of love... what was that vow you made?
The rub of love... what about the girl you wed?
She's working double shifts to keep us fed
And that's the rub

Dad says he sorted it out
Got himself a better career
Had himself a new baby boy
Another bundle of joy

Every other week on visiting day
I get tolerated by his new wife
I swear, if he ever really held me
They'd have to pry me off with the jaws of life

The rub of love
The rub of love

The rub of love... what was that vow you made?
The rub of love... was that too much to bear?
Dad, do you even, even care?
That is the rub

The rub of love... what was that vow you made?
The rub of love... was that too much to bear?
Dad, do you even, even care?
That is the rub

The rub of love... what was that vow you made?
The rub of love... was that too much to bear?
Dad, do you even, even care?
That is the rub

01 Jun, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 3 -

A Response to Andrew Perriman on Resurrection

Jack Scott, Jeremy Lile and I worked together to create a somewhat hurried response to Andrew Perriman's questions on the resurrection (based on 1 Thes 4 and 1 Cor 1).

I decided to post the article exclusively on Open Source Theology and just link to it from other places. Feel free to give feedback or criticism - I don't think either one of us minds it.

29 May, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 1 -

iPhriday: Viva la Revolucion!

You can see the entire TruthVoice / Subversion '09 photo set here.

28 May, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 13 -

Live Occurence in Dayton: Doug Pagitt

Maybe I already mentioned this, but Doug Pagitt and Erik Johnson will be in Dayton on July 18 for a two hour show of Live Occurrence of A Christianity Worth Believing.

As Doug put it, they are spreading the Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive and Well faith in homes, churches, bars, coffee shops and public meeting spaces around the country. Live Occurrences are part one-man show (but there are two of them), part revival, part book reading, part hootenanny, and part communal gathering. The 2-hour Live Occurrences include readings from the book A Christianity Worth Believing, music - original and covers, video, spoken-word poetry, impassioned invitations to be part of the common good.

I do not yet have a venue - if you have a place, church, bar, crack house, or restaurant that we could use for a few hours on the 18th, please by all means get in touch with me and let me know. Also if you want to help with $$ to cover their expenses, food and lodging, also contact me since I don't want to get stuck with the bill for the entire thing, not that I mind it that much. I hope you will join us for what looks like to be a lot of fun.

28 May, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 0 -

Memorial day

In a way I feel like I have to say something about memorial day - the day when we all remember as Americans the soldiers that died in battle on behalf of this country. I do not want to take anything away from this day...and it really is not my desire to offend anyone who has lost friends or family.

But I also have to say that as I get older (or maybe dumber), and as I am maybe understanding the dynamics and complexities of the world differently, I am becoming more and more worried that too many Christians are becoming victims of the propaganda of a government which has been slowly replacing the influence of the Kingdom of Heaven in the lives of believers with the influence of a Republic government.

Maybe I've picked the wrong day to do this or write about this; but my intention is not at all to diminish the ultimate sacrifice of amazing people, who have given all they could give in all kinds of wars on behalf of our country. But the libertarian in me is kicking and screaming - asking the same question Ben Northway asked on twitter yesterday: Have our wars really brought us freedom?

The War of Independence came to mind, a true fight for the freedom of Americans from a British king; and then World War II came to mind...and then the splitting of Europe between the West and the Russians came to mind - a tacit nod to the enslavement of millions of people to poverty, Communism and Russian influence - myself included. And then I kept struggling to come up with any other war in which the U.S. has been involved where the freedom of Americans and our way of life has been in mortal danger.

Can you think of any? Did the Korean War help us live in freedom? Vietnam? Iraq? Afghanistan? Or are they all wars to maintain a sphere of political and military influence?

This morning North Korea performed a nuclear test and then launched a few missiles to show off their teeth; we condemn them, and rattle a bigger saber in response. But we do sign new and larger business and trade agreements with China, the country with the worst record of human rights abuse on the planet; a known proliferator of WMDs, a killer and oppressor of Christians and the number one thief of technology and intelligence from the United States.

Have you as Christians lost sight of what Kingdom we are living in...and of who our King is?

Are we becoming a new Rome?

Have our wars really brought us freedom?

25 May, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 25 -

Terminator: Salvation

Just saw Terminator: Salvation and am kind of surprised...in a very good way. The bad reviews were bogus imho.

I don't know if it's just me or what, but more and more I am seeing the message of Christ and salvation/deliverance in artistic expressions around me...films, music, etc - all which are at first glance not intended to communicate that message. This movie was no different today. Granted, it's obviously a Hollywood production, violent, explosive, aimed at making money; but there is more to it, at least I was able to get more out of it.

- stop reading now to avoid spoilers below this line -

The whole thing clicked for me in the face-off between Marcus Wright and John Conner.

Earlier Wright saved the lives of several people, including Kyle Reese, the father of John Connor, but his body was badly damaged by a magnetic mine while walking back to the resistance headquarters. Once realizing that Marcus was a machine, he was tied up and interrogated by Connor. Wright was absolutely convinced he was a human, but Connor released the restraints on his head and allowed him to see his metal body. At this point, the camera pulled back into a wide shot. Wright's body was "crucified" in a very obvious and intentional way. After Connor's soldiers start taking potshots at him, his demeanor becomes even more human, more "sacrificial." Very touching, to say the least.

The crucifixion scene makes even more sense towards the end of the movie, once Connor's fatal injury requires a real human sacrifice, a willing sacrifice from one of the least-likely subjects: a machine, one who struggles with his identity, someone seeking redemption not just for himself but for Skynet itself, its creator.

I am still pondering the very last line in the movie, John Connor's words: There is no fate, but what we make.

Go see this movie...you may end up enjoying it.

23 May, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 12 -

Moleskine advice?

Okay - I gave in today and bought my first Moleskine - I actually started working (i.e. writing) on the book yesterday and my brain juices are flowing...unstoppable. I felt the need to carry something of quality around with me all the time so I can quickly jot down the many brilliant ideas I have every day, rather than letting them float away, so this moleskine will be dedicated to book notes and ideas.

So, here is my problem. What is the best writing utensil for it; the pen I've used so far seems to smudge easily on the moleskine paper... (I am thinking a mechanical pencil would probably be best)

And it's annoying there is no place on the moleskine itself to insert or keep a pen or pencil. Any advice from any moleskine users out there?

20 May, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 11 -

Subversion '09: Subversive Emergent Eschatology

My session (Kingdom Politics: Subversive Emergent Eschatology) from Subversion '09 is up on Vimeo now (btw I really hate my accent) - I was not wearing my Che shirt that day :)

Virgil Vaduva: Subversive Emergent Eschatology from Virgil Vaduva on Vimeo.

20 May, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 13 -

Canon XH A1

I have been reading up on the professional HD camera from Canon, the XH A1 lately and my heart is melting every time I see this thing. For the price is has some pretty amazing features and qualities, especially for HD mode. It even has XLR audio inputs which would be perfect for the conferences we are doing every year and for a boom mic that someone could carry around to facilitate interviews and high-quality mobile sound.

The question I really have is this - does anyone have any experience with this camera, and if so, how do you like it? Any feedback or advice at all?

19 May, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 9 -

Doug Pagitt in Dayton - July 18, 2009

Allrighty...we are locked in for July 18 for a stop-over by Doug Pagitt on his Live Occurrences tour in our humble city, Dayton, Ohio.

Doug agreed to stop over, however I have no details yet to give you. I don't know yet where this will take place because I haven't had a chance to arrange for a venue. I only have the date. If you are interested in attending, please keep an eye for more details here.

19 May, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 4 -

Harassment and intimidation

Recently I publicly posted a PDF version of an old booklet which on the back has the inscription "This material may be reproduced free of charge providing that it is not resold or used for profit." Ever since I posted it, and despite the clear waiver on the back, the author has been harassing me and threatening me with phone calls; he called all my friends (and non-friends) and also my in-laws...talk about psychotic behavior. We've decided to save his number/contact in the phone as the "Lollipop Guild" - it's fitting and fair imho.

19 May, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 12 -

Buy black?

It occurred to me that if a particular group of white people would attempt to do something like this, they would be labeled "racists" - am I missing something here? What is the purpose of such an "experiment" if that is what it is?

Maggie and John Anderson of Chicago vowed four months ago that for one year, they would try to patronize only black-owned businesses. The "Empowerment Experiment" is the reason John had to suffer for hours with a stomach ache and Maggie no longer gets that brand-name lather when she washes her hair. A grocery trip is a 14-mile odyssey.

Where I am today is not where I am going...

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