Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy, is a drama fallowing the lives of multiple doctors in Seattle Grace Hospital. In the latest episode, Christina is struggling with a decision of whether to choose love over career. Christina is currently a resident under surgeon Teddy Altman, who is in love with her boyfriend. Dr. Altman decides she must leave the hospital to get over Owen, Christina’s boyfriend. In a moment of panic Christina tells Teddy that she can have Owen if it means she’ll stay at the hospital. Along with other interesting twists the episode ends, yet again, with a catch.

There are many conflicting ideas in this drama that are attempting to answer what truly the human purpose is. Christine feels that her purpose lies in career and the feeling of accomplishing something meaningful, while other characters feel that love is what matters, finding the one you love. Grey’s Anatomy, though fictional, is an excellent picture of present day ideals and morals. The human purpose depends on the human. Purpose is different for each individual, and everyone’s idea of purpose is right. This idea can cause many issues, and create conflict, as seen in the episode. As Christians, the human purpose is to glorify God, not to please your desires.

Throughout Grey’s Anatomy many life altering decisions are being made. This is what keeps the show interesting. Many of the character’s decisions are poor, and the viewers can see the results of those decisions. Evil disguises itself in many forms. Evil can be very tricky and deceptive causing people to stumble, as we can see in Grey’s Anatomy. The empire’s affect can be seen throughout this show. Desires are met while trust and relationships are broken. Evil works through the disguise of the empire and thought that we should have what we want no matter what. Evil wants to isolate and meet desires keeping one unsatisfied and alone. This can be seen throughout the show in many characters.

Grey’s Anatomy is a thrilling show full of scandal, twists, and suspense, and though it may be enjoyable one must realize that the life styles displayed in the show are destructive and not Kingdom oriented. God intended us to be in healthy community.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you agree with Christine’s decision to fallow her career even if it means breaking the trust of someone who loves her?
2. How might a Christian go about this hard decision of choosing career over family or relationship?

Private Practice

Private Practice is about a group of doctors who work in L.A. They are all friends and are all connected in some way or another whether it is by blood or romantically. This specific episode was about Mia, who is the daughter of Sam and Naomi, divorced doctors who work at the practice. She discovers that she is pregnant, even though she is only fifteen. Naomi freaks out and demands that Mia get an abortion immediately, even though she is against abortion and believes that the baby’s life begins right after it is conceived. After seeing another woman’s pain in trying to do a natural childbirth, Mia agrees. Addison, Naomi’s best friend will perform the abortion. However, at the last moment, Mia decides that she does not want an abortion. Naomi is furious and marches her into the room of the lady undergoing the natural childbirth. Instead of getting scared and nervous, Mia is filled with joy as she sees the little baby being handed to the mother for the first time.
This very brief overview of the episode shows us the struggles and problems of living in this empire. Human sin is very prevalent in this episode, the fact that Mia got pregnant at such a young age, the way her mother, Naomi, reacts to the situation. Naomi wants a quick and easy solution that will make the whole issue go away so that her family can continue to function like nothing happened. This is a prime example of the way that the empire wants us to act us to situations like this. They encourage us to do whatever makes us happy, and if problems arise, then take the quick and easy way out and everything will be ok. However, the episode did not end there. There is a small glimmer of hope as Mia decides to not undergo an abortion. This decision shows an example of redemption. Although Mia is in a very tough situation, she makes the choice to keep her baby. She chose to give this baby a life and a future instead of treating it like a mistake and having an abortion.
Discussion Questions:
1. What would have been a better reaction for Naomi to have after she heard about her daughter’s pregnancy?
2. What lessons can we learn about the empire from this episode concerning how it wants us to act when problems from previous choices arise?

Totally like whatever, you know?

Our housemate Aminah read this poem to us tonight (not without some difficulty, given the punctuation) and it struck me as particularly convicting in the context of our class. Enjoy...

Totally like whatever, you know?
By Taylor Mali

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

Soon-Chan Rah and Church Structures

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I went to hear Soon-Chan Rah speak about ‘The Next Evangelicalism & the Changing Face of American Christians’ as a part of the January series. Soon-Chan Rah is an Asian-American Pastor who served as the founding senior pastor of the Cambridge Community Fellowship Church in Massachusetts-an urban, multi-ethnic and post-modern generation church.

One point he made, that I found very interesting, was about the structure of churches. He divided church structures into two basic categories: marginalized and mainstream. He described marginalized churches as being a typical Midwestern church with slanted/arched ceilings, similar to that of the bottom of a boat (but upside down). He then talked about how that was related to Noah’s Ark, but how maybe that wasn’t a positive thing. It gives off the message that yes, the world is condemned and destroyed, but here in the ark/church, we’re safe from all of that evil. We can create ‘Christian’ music, art, and shirts that are just rip offs of secular things because we don’t care about the world. And we don’t care about the world because we are safe in the ark. That was a crazy thought for me, because my home church is an ‘ark’ structure and I really liked it growing up, and going to churches that weren’t like that made me very uncomfortable, but maybe that’s why. He then described the mainstream churches as ‘movie theatre churches’ because of how their sanctuaries are set up like a movie theatre. He talked about how mega-churches are beginning to look more like malls than churches (similar to the conversation in class we had yesterday) with all of their bookstores, food, coffee shops, and play areas. He believes that these churches are being mainstreamed into the world. There’s a lot of thinking that Christians today need to be doing about what the church should look like. And as we think, we should keep in mind all of the people who meet in store front churches because that’s all they have.

Of course, he covered many other points about the church as well, such as multi-ethnicity in the churches and such, but in light of our class discussion yesterday, I thought this would be an interesting part of his lecture to talk about, besides the fact that I’m already way over my word limit, oops...

Questions:

Following up on yesterday’s conversation, what are some other thoughts people have in light of ‘mega-churches’ and whether they’re good or not? Does it matter if they have stadium seating or not?

And also, what do people who, like myself, went to small, ark-shaped churches think about them? Are we behind the times? Or does the structure of the church even really matter?

More dollars = more votes

Aaron sent in a link to this article about a recent Supreme Court decision to overturn a 20-year-old law limiting the amount of money corporations can spend on independent campaign advertising. This change gives corporations more latitude to produce advertising that encourages you, the voting viewer, to choose the candidate who's more likely to advocate policy that will be good for the corporation's own bottom line.

[Chief Justice John] Roberts, in a separate opinion, said that upholding the limits would have restrained "the vibrant public discourse that is at the foundation of our democracy."

Roberts' assessment is based on several assumptions: that a corporation is just one more equal voice in "vibrant public discourse," and that its opinion won't drown out you and me; that corporations are equal to people as the "foundation of our democracy"; that a large corporation's buying power doesn't represent a serious imbalance of power. Makes me think of the guy at the public debate in The Corporation who says the idea of voting with our dollars is great, but if you have more dollars, you get more votes.

For me, this all calls to mind the question The Persuaders was asking about the political language work of Frank Luntz. Are they attempting to more clearly articulate what people really want and need or are they just trying to figure out how to get us to desire what they want to sell us, as if it was our idea? With this court ruling, it's going to be even more important for each of you to be asking this question when it comes to politics.

SARCASM ALERT: It's a good thing our Supreme Court is populated by such noble champions for our poor, underprivileged, multi-billion dollar businesses.

Upside Down Campaign: Make Affluence History

From the founders of the subversive Geez Magazine comes a campaign to Make Affluence History. Check it out for practice ideas--generally or related to your final project. With a mission to create "holy mischief in an age of fast faith," Geez will require you to be ready to discern between what's tongue-in-cheek and what's sincere--think The Simpsons, but more overtly and consistently aimed at the follies of Christianity.

Mall Post

One of the only places in the current human society which people in all walks of life participate is the mall. Commodities and items are made by people in countries who will never walk the halls of the religious sanctum. Corporations produce the product, involving countless middle men, and advertisers make the product appealing. The consumers are brought together under specific corporations, catering to their personal preferences, uniting them under their ‘scene’ (Indies, punks, high class, blue color, even ‘christianity’ and Christianity). These people would never meet in most of their everyday lives because each ‘scene’ has a culture of their own. The mall is a place where stuff is sold and everyone believes they need stuff to a certain extent. Every thing and every one is connected through the Mall. And they, we, are all still able to rub shoulders with each other without thinking or communicating to what is in front of them.

Guido Beach

The television show Jersey Shore has swept the nation collecting millions of fans and tons of attention. The show features four guys and four girls who live on the jersey shore for an entire summer. Mike, "the situation," DJ Pauly D, Ronnie, and Vinny are four self obsessed East-coasters who love to drink and have sex with girls every night. The female portion consists of Angelina, Jenni, "J-wow," Nicole, "Snookie," and Sammi, "Sweet Heart" who are equally as obsessed with their appearance and individual needs.

When I first watched the show I was not surprised that MTV had produced another filthy reality show. I continued to watch and I was astonished at how ridiculous the characters were acting. I found that was laughing at how absurd and totally worldly their mind sets were. I began to enjoy the show as an exaggeration of the evil world that we live in. Everything they were saying was incredibly stubborn and illogical They represent everything that is wrong with this world and the empire that controls us. The entire cast from Jersey Shore are products, or children of "mother empire." They live lives full of sin and self fulfillment. I would like to believe that MTV is hosting this show as a form of comedy rather than drama but I don't think the world is that fortunate. Instead, millions of teenage Americans will take this show seriously, adore the characters and replicate the purely self destructive lives which are portrayed on this sad show. Discussion Questions,

1.) What do you think about the messages that this show is giving to American youth?

2.) Do you think this show is a distinct development of the empire?

Lizzie Kamp: January Series

This past Tuesday, I listened to the January Series by Immaculee Ilibagiza. She was a victim of the Rwandan Genocide, and had an amazing story to tell. For three months, she was hiding in a very small bathroom with 6 other women. If they were found, they would have been killed just because they were from a certain tribe. They could not talk, move, or flush the toilet. They were barely given food to eat, and all they could do was stand still and pray not to be found. She lost 60 pounds over the three months, and mentioned that the bathroom became roomier throughout the time because the bodies of the women were like skeletons. She shared with us her testimony about forgiveness.

This story shows the opposite of human purpose. We as humans are supposed to move around and interact with one another. We are supposed to form relationships and love one another. Immaculee was trapped for three months, in which she did not say a single word or move at all. Also, she was full of hatred for those who killed her family and were trying to kill her.

This story also shows a lot about evil and redemption. The Rwandan Genocide was full of evil. One tribe was out to kill another, with no mercy. Men, women, and children were murdered ruthlessly for no reason. However, Immaculee shared her story of redemption. After many struggles, she was able to forgive those who were against her. One verse that she remembered was “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus said this when he was on the cross, and this verse changed her life.

This artifact shows that the empire can be extremely evil. The tribe that was out to kill had control of the government and the military. They ruled Rwanda and evil spread throughout the country. However, through the faith and forgiveness of Immaculee, the Kingdom of God was shown. As she spoke, she mentioned how much she was in prayer and how much she reflected on scripture. It struck me that in the end she was able to forgive and move on with her life. She is so happy to be alive and to be able to talk and interact with people. Her testimony is very powerful and it was inspiring to hear her speak.

Discussion Questions:

1. How has the forgiveness of Immaculee inspired you? Are you quicker to forgive others, just as Christ would?

2. If your family was killed, would you truly be able to forgive the murderers?

Ordinary activists

Great job on the ordinary activists presentations today! A lot of you mentioned web sites for folks, so I thought I'd gather all of the links in one place so you can explore more if you're interested.

Matt Flannery & Jessica Jackley

• Kiva - Microlending web site

Tala Strauss

• Brown Dress Project - Tala's inspiration for her own dress project
• The Dress Project - An article about Tala's project at Curator Magazine

Erin Tuttle

• Interview with Erin - Eat Well Food Tour
• Erin's blog

Bill Boerman-Cornell

• Bill's contributions to catapult magazine
• Bill's profile for Trinity Christian College

Shane Claiborne

• the simple way - Shane's community in Philly
• The Irresistible Revolution by Shane

Laryn & Janel Kragt Bakker

• Laryn and Janel's web site
• Clutching Dust and Stars by Laryn

Jennie Nichols

• Venture Imports - Fair Trade company

Jr Chiahanam Kanu

• Solving Africa - Building a new Africa

Check out these links for more information about all of these wonderful folks!