Things Not Really Related

I just read about a guy named Harry Potter who gets a lot of attention whenever a new J. K. Rowling book comes out, or a movie based on one of her books. For some reason, I've never had that problem with Jumanji fans (maybe if Robin Williams had played me).

I also read about a 4-foot python that tried to wrap itself around a toddler in Charlotte, NC. The snake was taken to a pet store. The store owner made a comment that I find interesting: "It's a totally harmless thing. Why attack a harmless thing?" In context, it appears that he is talking about the snake being attacked, rather than the toddler. Curious.

I heard a comment about 'church-speak' the other day. 'Church-speak' refers to words or terms used by the 'churched' that are not understood by the 'unchurched.' I find that an interesting concept, particularly since some churches use terms that other churches don't, or that other churches use differently. For example, some years ago, I went to visit a church for the first time, and the man that invited me warned me that I would probably be asked to give a 'testimony.' I thought that was a little odd; I grew up going to church, but I had never heard of giving a testimony in church--I thought that was something you did in court. I considered asking him what he meant, but I figured that, when the time came, other people would be asked to share their testimonies first, and I would get a feel for what was expected of me. As a result, the first testimony I ever heard in church, was me saying, "I don't know what to say."

Sometimes these terms are acronyms. I just recently learned that 'frog' in church-speak means, 'Fully Rely On God.' I never would have guessed that one. Some say that 'Bible' really stands for 'Basic instructions Before Leaving Earth.' I've even heard 'WWW' for 'Why not Worship Wednesdays?' to counter the tendency of a lot of churches to either not meet on Wednesday nights at all, or to just have a Bible study.

'Trinity' is an interesting term. I have heard a lot of descriptions of Trinity. One person said that Trinity is like an egg: It has a shell, a yolk, and albumin (or white). But isn't it all just one egg? Can you have an egg made up entirely of eggshell? One person told me that Trinity is like a cherry pie. You can cut the pie into thirds, but the gooey pie filling will just ooze back together, so that it's all still one. Of course, St. Patrick's famous analogy was that Trinity was like a shamrock--each shamrock has three leaves. Like the egg analogy though, what would you call one leaf of a shamrock? It's not still a shamrock, if it's separated from the other two leaves, is it? Christianity is defined as a monotheistic religion, but a lot of Christians seem to think that they serve three separate gods. If God is one, and His Name one, then isn't Trinity just a description of three manifestations of God? I heard someone say once that that idea is like thinking that God is a player on a stage, who puts on different masks at different times and in different situations. Put that way, it sounds silly, but Apostle Paul said that he is become all things to all men. Wouldn't God approach some people differently than others, because of differences in personality, culture, or situation? Surely God wouldn't create such a divers population for this planet and then try to use a one-size-fits-all approach on us?

Some years back, a young man from another religious organization told one of the associate pastors at our church that God definitely was three persons. The associate pastor asked him if he was created in God's image. After the young man answered in the affirmative, then the AP asked him if he was three persons. "Wouldn't that make you schizophrenic? Do you think God is schizophrenic?" This was, of course, intended to provoke thought. Apparently the young man wasn't capable of too much intelligent thought, though, because soon a rumor was going around that we believed that God was schizophrenic. Several weeks later, I had a guy ask me why we thought God was schizophrenic; I told him, "God's not schizophrenic. He knows He's one God." That was the last we heard from them about schizophrenia.