Geoff Matheson on Amateur Theology
About Geoff Matheson
Geoff is a 23 year old database administrator who has birthed amateurtheology.org from some crazy thoughts he had early one Monday morning. Geoff does his best to sound lots smarter than he actually is. He also runs some youth stuff at Yarra Valley Vineyard, and he is married to the very lovely Rebecca.
Geoff's site: http://www.geoffreport.com/wp/
the church lobby
Posted on November 15, 2007 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Church | 13 Comments
*WARNING* - You are reading a post on politics by a self-confessed lefty. Be careful.
At the moment, in Australia (where lots of your Amateur Theologians are living), we are in the midst of a Federal election campaign. I’m also aware that our poor cousins in the You-nited States are revving up for a big presidential election next year. So politics, and political campaigning is everywhere. And there’s no doubt that some of the really loud voices on both sides of the pacific come from christian churches and lobby groups. From the hard-right conservatives, through to the environment-loving lefty christians - it seems that Christianity is involving itself in the political process more and more. For the moment I’m not really looking to the “what” of their message (although that will inevitably seep into the conversation), but the “why” and “how” of church involvement in politics.
The way I see it, there are a few different approaches to politicking that churches and para-church groups take:
- The “Jesus would vote for…” approach. It’s not that hard to spot, but it’s certainly around - even from pulpits. It’s distasteful to many (myself included), but it does have one thing going for it: it’s transparent and honest. There’s no “read-between-the-lines-to-see-who-you-should-vote-for” - it’s this guy or you’re going straight to hell. I’d include in this basket the approach of: “we think you should be very serious about who you vote for so we’ve invited one candidate from a certain party to speak at church”.
- The “this position is the Christian position…” approach. A slight deviation from the “vote for Bob” but it can often end up being a thinly veiled attempt to say exactly that. At it’s best, this approach shows genuine concern for a specific issue and asks people to vote for whoever they feel best responds to that issue. At it’s worst, it reads from a party policy document (or words to that effect), highlights who might be aligned with that particular view.
- The “these are things that Jesus spoke about” approach. A deviation further away from number 2 - this presents issues as less explicitly political, but more issues of morality or justice. It has the advantage of not patronizing the people being presented to, but also has the potential to have people miss the connection between their Christianity and the rest of their lives (duality, etc.)
I can see people in churches and church-organisations adopting all three of these approaches. So I’m interested to see what people think? Should churches be voicing their opinions on political issues? Should that come from the pulpit? Is the line between issues that are “political” and “non-political” a furphy? Is it more OK for Christian organisations than it is for churches?
Rhetorical questions over. Comment away.
has it occurred to you that you might be wrong?
Posted on November 13, 2007 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Emerging Questions | 2 Comments
The above clip is more of your traditional “tell-a-funny-story-that’s-vaguely-related” rather than making a specific point. And the title is taken from a often referred to peanuts cartoon (stole the linked image from pomomusings - hopefully they don’t mind). But here’s what I’ve been pondering. A big part of what the “emerging conversation” and considering “post-modernism” has been doing to my feeble little brain has been to reinforce this notion that there are things I’ve been “certain” of, that might actually be wrong. Some of those things I’m quite sure I was outright wrong about.
Now, if we consider that:
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1)
then I’m a little bit flummoxed about how we ought to act in regard to things we could quite well be wrong about. Because it’s easy to mistake faith for intellectual arrogance. I could try and unpack this a whole lot more but I think the discussion might be better served if I leave it there. How does humility about the things we “know about God”, interplay with wanting to act and live out of a place of faith?
the problem of good intentions
Posted on November 5, 2007 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Church | 3 Comments
One of the problems of being around churches, and in being someone who tries very hard to see the good in people is the way that bad things happen because of completely good and honourable intentions. Dealing with teenagers (but also in the wider world), there are some very fragile self-esteems involved, and it doesn’t take a lot to see a whole heap of damage done on the back of what starts as a “really nice idea”.
So something I really haven’t worked out yet though, is how to explain to people who have these lovely ideas that they are actually going to prove harmful for people, or are going to cause stagnation, or represent barriers to growth. Because ultimately, I know that if someone told me that my ideas were harmful - I’d want to whack them across the head. And I don’t know any way to approach it that would result in me having a different reaction.
if you can’t say something valuable…
Posted on November 2, 2007 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Links | 4 Comments
… then point out someone who is. So while I’m suffering a minor drought of theological inspiration (or at least complete-posts worth) I thought I’d send the loyal readership elsewhere in pursuit of theology and conversation.
Anne Jackson at FlowerDust.net has written a great post on burnout (she’s a bit of an expert - she’s writing a book) as a part of her series on “Deadly Viper Character Assassins“:
“that is where it gets me. i hate disappointing people. i want to be all things to everyone - the best wife, the sharpest employee, the most considerate friend, the most giving family member, and the most effective communicator.
and then i realize; all those things are about me. ME ME ME. nothing about bringing glory to god. nothing about even desiring to grow in my relationship with christ. obviously, i do…but it gets so easily shoved to the bottom of the list when i feel i have to do all these things.” - Read the whole post
Paul at One For The Road has an interesting collection of thoughts on consumerism in Halloween. I must admit that this is one festival that hasn’t taken off in Australia (despite our love for all culture American).
“Here i think is the the centre of my angst - i am rich enough and fortunate enough to live somewhere nice enough to be able to take part in a contrived marketing fest which is celebrated by everyone one else who is also rich enough and fortunate enough to do. It’s a festival of self indulgent consumption and heck i do like to consume and self indulge - i feel a little like a cow led by the nose with my head stuck in a trough where the feed never stops pouring in - just eat and eat and eat. I never wonder why i am being fed, why the system i am part of encourages me to keep eating, i just keep filling my face…” - Read the whole post
A couple of things from Makeesha that are worth highlighting. Firstly, she’s challenged men like myself to go have a listen to Sister Joan Chittister, which I duly did (because I always do as I’m told) and would now recommend. She’s a very wise and graceful woman, and has some fantastic things to say, so make some time to have a listen. I also thought this comment from Makeesha was worth highlighting, as we seek to love one another better:
“Encouraging one another with our words (and of course our actions) is one of the most powerful and transforming acts we can engage in within the context of human interaction. Behavior modification through judgment, proclamation of “law”, shame and fear only works sometimes and in those instances, usually only for a short time. But kind and encouraging words that spur others on generates life giving interactions that last.” - Read the whole post
And finally, Shane Magee of Fake Republic and David Hayward of Naked Pastor fame have combined to create the “fakeNaked” show. It’s still in its infancy, but it certainly looks to be worth keeping an eye on.
So, if you’ve got anything that you’ve seen from someone else’s blog that you think is worth highlighting, post it in the comments. Other than that: go forth and converse elsewhere - the blogosphere needs you.
monologue avoidance desires (MAD)
Posted on October 30, 2007 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Site Notices | 2 Comments
This is a friendly reminder that the reason there hasn’t been posts up here for the last few days is partly because I haven’t had anything slide across my brain, but also because nobody else has submitted anything. So, in the interests of seeing out my MAD plans: I offer the following suggestions for posts:
- Idealistic dreams. There’s a whole category for “Crazy Idealism” and it would be sad to see only my meagre post on advocacy as the best effort at the idealistic world. Have a go - there’s nothing quite as fun as having people shoot down your idealism. (Kidding!!!)
- Why I… whatever. Why I’m a Calvinist. Why I hate Calvinists. Why I wish I was an atheist. All of these make good titles for posts. And there’s a category for these too
- Book Reviews. There’ll pretty soon be a review of McLaren’s “Everything Must Change” (I’ve just got to read it first), but you can get in first and tell everyone about the last book you read.
- Whatever else you feel like. I just like having this site being about more than whatever’s on Geoff’s mind at the time.
If any of the above inspire you to contribute to Amateur Theology, just send your post in an email to submissions@amateurtheology.org . I pseudo-promise to have something up tomorrow of greater value. Until then - happy submitting.
