Listening to "A bit of wind" by the Fruit Bats
Well here I am, still unknowing about this site, and definatly should be studying for my Bible 300 class, on a little book called, Eyes Wide Open. If anyone has ever read that book i would enjoy some feedback... I was talking to my friend susan wilderman last night about the test coming up today. We talked about how we had a bias about the book before we even started to read it. Maybe it was the poor artwork on the cover or the "classic" youth ministry book. I am still unsure of this bias and where it came from. And probably got more out of the book that i would like to admit. However, we talked about this line that one draws between engaging in society or warding the evils that come along with this culture. To me the book is lacking in this truth of being grounded. I would never give the book away for someone to read unless i know that they are diserning and find their worth in themselves. The book can be an excuse for one to engage and enjoy the pleasures of this world and slowly but surely i believe we can become consumed to the point where we look back and wonder how we ever got to were we are.
Along this line, i was sitting in our lovely brigadoon studying for this lovely test and caught myself watching the tv a little as i was listening to my music. I saw images of heavier set people in some reality tv show (the one's that have overcome our television screens). They were competing between some other group and had to work out, even to the point where one lady was sent to the hospital in tears. They want to lose weight obvisously--and that is what the program is set up for, but I have this thought... They lose weight to find their identity and the show is helping them do that, but shouldn't they find their identity first before they lose their weight? This bothered me extremely... for there was one scene where they are a personal trainer helping the heavier set people, she was skinny and wearing next to nothing--it was a visual of how one "should" be, SKINNY and PRETTY. A visual slap in the face i believe for those trying to lose weight. THis is why reality tv drives me almost insane. Our world has it all backwards.
On that thought i am going to be gone, off to Italy. A little nervous about stepping out into the unknown. But wonderfully blessed by the opportunity. I have waited for so long to be over there, and here is my chance. Challenges are good and i am glad i am willing to step out into them. So Italian soil here i come...
1 comment:
When I first read Eyes Wide Open as an undergraduate, I had the same impression of the book. However, having reread it and restudied it, I have come to a different conclusion. The problem is that Romanowski is a little coy about his view of Christian engagement in culture (strange, I know, since the whole book is devoted to that question). But he is definitely on the side of a thinking, critical faith that doesn't let anything pass without being measured at the bar of Christian faith and ethics. The difficulty is he doesn't make this clear enough; he spends so much time talking about how Christians should be ok with beer, sex, and cussin' that his critique section slips by without having said to the reader, "Hey! Don't buy into the way the world characterizes these great activities, but also don't abuse them just because you have freedom!"
Anyway, as the class GA, the desired outcome of this section is that you and your friends will do exactly what you have done with the reality shows: ask tough questions and try to answer them from a distinctively Christian framework. Ponder about weight and body image issues, and test what is the will of God in those areas. Ponder about human sexuality and proper expression in the arts, then go model that in your scholarship, art, and life.
Keep thinking and blogging. Enjoy Italy! It is a wonderful place, especially the wine! (Someday, I'd like to backpack through Tuscany...maybe Keith will come with me...)
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