Will the Defendant Please Rise?

“We are a non-judgmental and non-condemning group of people.” 

This is a line that I have written or spoken quite a few times recently.  I find that many people feel that they might be judged when they go to church, and I usually print or issue a statement saying that this is not the case.  I want people to know that their brokenness is safe with us and that they are welcome, no matter what.

This thought and line has been challenged by quite a few people recently and I feel the need to bring it up and think it through.  I am well aware that I am a novice compared to so many pastors and church leaders and I don’t want to take anything for granted.  So I did decide to hear what others have had to say about judgment and the role of pastors as revealers of truth.

The comments that were the most interesting in regards to this statement were from two very different sources.  These two sources addressed us personally and wanted to talk about this phrase.  Of course, as well, I am well aware of Mark Driscoll’s attitude toward judgment as well as many other church leaders that I have worked with.

The two interactions that we had with people recently were:

1.  A worship pastor from an Acts 29 church here in Marysville.  I did not have this conversation but only heard it second hand from Brandon, our Worship Pastor.  Brandon sat down with him just to get acquainted and talk.  At their first conversation, this pastor told Brandon that he felt that statement on our site was not the right attitude for a church and that there definitely is a place for a Pastor to judge someone and let them know about the imperfections in their life.  He also went farther to talk about some of the authors that we had listed as inspirations on our site.  People like Brian McLaren, Brennan Manning, Mike Yaconelli etc.  He could tell by these names that we were going down a path that he did not agree with.  And he let us know.

2.  Brandon, Kim and I had dinner with a family that we had met here in town a few weeks ago.  This family was extremely nice and wanted to learn more about Hillside.  They had contacted us and invited us.  During our conversation after dinner, they asked us an interesting question:  “How would you rate your holiness on a scale from 1-to-10?”  Hmmmmm.  My answer was that I wanted to talk about their definition of holiness before I shot out a number, and also that my rating of my own holiness meant nothing compared to God’s perception of my holiness.  Her quick reply was that I was deflecting the question and didn’t want to answer. 

*quick side note to this interaction.  Because we are planting and because we really want and covet and need people to be involved with us, my first reaction is to be as open and accommodating to any small and subtle differences in theology with anyone.  I want people to be a part of what we are doing so badly that some times I am very tempted to say what they want to hear in order to get them on board.  Of course, there are positive and negative consequences to this.  In all reality, if a friend or stranger who was uninvolved in our church plant and could not be involved in our plant asked me that question; I would not have answered at all.  I certainly would have engaged in the conversation and carried on a discussion, but I would not have answered.

Continuing the discussion… I assured her that I was not deflecting, and that I wanted to know what her motivation for asking was and what her definition of holiness was.  She said that her definition of holiness was the same as the Bible’s definition.  I asked her to kindly explain that.  My paraphrase of her answer was that holiness is how God sees you and your abstinence from sin.  I told her that my definition was not simply about abstaining from sin, my definition would include not just what we separate ourselves from but also what we give ourselves to.  She said ‘ok’ and asked me to give an answer.

I flippantly answered “ok, I guess…aaaah maybe an 8 or so.”  She seemed shocked and immediately asked why I would answer an ‘8’.  I told her that in comparison to the holiness of God, I would have answered the most minute fraction of a decimal because of how holy and perfect God is compared to us.  I also answered that I do a good job abstaining from a great deal of sins that I see dragging other people down, but I had room for improvement and that I have fully given myself and my future to church planting and all of the struggles and hardships that might entail. 

Her reaction was to tell me that in God’s eyes, anyone who believes that they are saved are a perfect ‘10’ in holiness.  I told her that she was more accurately asking about my level of ‘redemption’ not my level of ‘holiness’ and that certainly I place my faith in God that I am redeemed and forgiven. 

I should also state for the record that this conversation took more than an hour to flesh out with a lot of intense questioning.  It was frustrating, but in the end there was some sort of resolution.

She also asked what we thought of homosexuals.  I told her that we welcome them to our church and want them to be involved in what we are doing.  We want them to feel loved and not judged.  She kept trying to interject that we should certainly love them, but that it is fine to let them know that they are doing the wrong thing.  My response was that they already know that the Bible has some harsh things to say about homosexuality, and that most churches and Christians want them to understand that, however I would rather that if they feel judged, it is not from my eyes, but from the words of scripture and their encounters with God.  Where we should all feel like we fall quite short.  She kept adding “but it’s ok to tell them that they are wrong and that they are hurting themselves.”  I kept telling her that certainly any kind of promiscuity always has negative consequences, and that they do not need my perspective on their lifestyle, they need to know God’s.  I told her that I would much rather motivate them to study and find for themselves what God’s perspective on their life is. 

I know that she was not satisfied, but I was trying to let her know, in the kindest of terms that I would not condemn homosexuals from the pulpit.  This, of course, was not fully satisfying to her.  I was actually quite glad that the conversation was interrupted, because I didn’t have the energy to be so diplomatic and delicate in my conversation. 

It is interesting to note that both of these conversations were had with Christians and not just Christians, but people who had much experience in Christian leadership. 

After thinking about it quite a bit here is what I really think about the whole judgment thing. 

First off, the human issue.  As human beings we have a tremendous desire to be ‘right'.  Along with that, we have a tremendous desire for other people to know it.  This pertains to so many different types of issues.  When Kim and I argue about directions to get to a place, I am rarely right; I actually know this going in to the conversation.  So when I am right, I am always happy to say:  “I got this one right!”  I am not saying she is stupid or anything like that.  I am just saying: “I got it, finally!” 

But sometimes our desire to be right, includes in it a feeling of superiority.  ‘If I am right, everyone else is wrong.  I am informed and you are deceived!’  We have been told this in regards to faith forever.  “We are going to heaven, they are going to hell.  Idiots. Why would they choose to be deceived and go to hell?”  This also includes the thought that life is like a shipwreck and Christians are the ones in the rafts with life preservers.  We can save you if you would let us know you’re drowning.  The only problem is that we are the ones who know you are drowning when you do not.  It sounds elitist and condemning, but also, it is somewhat true.  We who know Jesus have something we want everyone to have.

But think about this…  How much are they going to want it when the act of telling them that they are sinners is a judgmental, arrogant, condemning, elitist exchange?  The process itself is quite hypocritical when you think about it.  I am insulting you, judging you, treating you like a second class person in order to tell you that YOU are a sinner. 

Many non-Christians are over sensitive to this.  They think that our act of telling them that their current belief system does not lead them to a real relationship with our God according to our interpretation of the Bible is sinful, judgmental and arrogant.  Buddhists believe that people who live strong, moral lives are still increasing toward enlightenment even if they don’t claim to be Buddhists.  Mormons believe that people who live moral lives can go to heaven, just not the level of heaven that they will attain.  So obviously Christians come off as arrogant compared to these belief systems. 

Secondly.  The Pastor thing.  Are Pastors OK to judge?  Lay people are dumb sheep right?  They need their shepherd to tell them when they are about to walk off the cliff and do something dumb.  They need us to protect them from the wolves, right?  Can you show me what the Bible says about Pastors?  Does the Bible even address what a Pastor is, or if they even exist?  Does the Bible call them a Pastor from the latin root that means shepherd?  There is one mention in Ephesians 4, about how some are called to be pastors.  There are some potential references to Pastors in the book of Hebrews and possibly 2 John or 3 John.  But none of these talk about what a Pastor should do, or give them authority to judge. 

Paul does model and guide some Pastoral duties.  He judges the congregations as a whole and talks about resolving issues in the Christian communities that he created through leadership.  But any time I can find or think of a call to be judgmental, it is ONLY in the context of a relationship where there is an expectation of guidance or mentoring. 

If a Pastor is a shepherd, then that is of a later creation than scripture.  In fact, if you look at what a shepherd is in scripture you might think back to David penning the Psalm where the Lord is our shepherd, not a man.  In fact, to lead us, communicate to us, and to save us, God sent Jesus, not to be a shepherd but to live as a sheep.  It seems arrogant to me that we would consider ourselves a shepherd with the capacity of judging and discerning because we took some Bible classes and receive full-time pay to be a Pastor.  Jesus led us as a sheep, leading by being a servant.

Thirdly, perhaps people misunderstand what it means when I say “non-judgmental.”  They could believe that I mean to say that I won’t care if you are abusing your family or cheating on your spouse.  Let me make it clear, if there is someone who is at our church who is obviously doing something like that, I will find a way to intervene.  Perhaps they think that I will only preach that “everything is OK and that sin doesn’t really matter.”  Of course I will talk about strong morals and a desire to live a morally healthy life while citing examples of what this might look like.  But it occurs to me that if someone misunderstands the term “non-judgmental” to this level, they really are reaching to imagine some weird extremes. 

Fourth.  The whole Jesus thing.  The Sermon on the Mount, the Woman at the Well, the Good Samaritan, Zacchaeus, the Centurion, the thief on the cross, lepers, the bleeding woman, the prodigal son, all of the lost parables, the sheep and the shepherd… I could go on.  But read these and talk to me about the judgment of Jesus and how we should respond to any person that we consider ‘lost’ or ‘broken’ or ‘living in sin.’ 

Fifth. Practically.  I am trying to lose weight.  But that does not mean that I want to enroll in a program that tells me I am a fat slob.  When I enroll in a program, I am doing so knowing that I am not perfect.  That is why I am making the program a priority.  Feeling like crap is a lousy motivator to change.  I could be the first to cite the amazing theological church leadership strategy employed in the movie Dodgeball.  I don’t need White Goodman to tell me I am out of shape.  I need Peter Le Fleur telling me that I am OK and that I can be a part of his team as I am. 

*this of course makes me wish that I had structured this entire article based on the movie Dodgeball.  But I have already written too much to go back to scratch. 

Plenty of churches resemble Globo-gym already.  I would be proud to be Average Joes!

Also Practically… If a church projects how perfect you need to be in order to be in leadership and in order to please the pastor or God, for that matter: you will develop a culture of fakers, posers and wannabe’s.  Is this what church was meant to be?  A place where we can learn to fool others better and justify our judgmentalism more?  Isn’t this what we see happening in all of the church scandals? 

 

To clarify…  Here is what “non-judgmental” means to me.  When you walk in the door, I will expect your brokenness.  I will believe that any person who seems to have it all together is equally as broken as anyone else in the room.  I will tell you that God loves you AS YOU ARE and not as you should be.  Your holiness or cleanliness do not qualify you to be loved more.  Your knowledge and exegesis of scripture does not qualify you to have extra favor in His eyes.  The sins and pain of your past are not indicators of God’s love for you.  I will do my best to see you through eyes that are not my own and to love and respect you the way that I see Christ act toward the broken.  I will believe that none of us are a perfect ‘10’ on a holiness scale and that all of us have a goal to strive toward.  I will encourage and affirm the broken.  I will believe that your attendance at Hillside communicates your knowledge that you need something deeper and are acknowledging your own brokenness.  It is to your credit if you take the time to worship, to study, to listen to a sermon, to volunteer or to be involved in any way.  If you have had a past marked by sin and bad decisions, you are welcome at my table at home as well as at the communion table. 

 

Perhaps in my answer I am looking to justify what I already believe to be true.  But, if I am wrong, I would rather enter the Kingdom of Heaven asking forgiveness for loving and respecting the broken rather than for judging and turning them away.  And when it comes down to it, I really think that there are plenty of churches doing the judgment thing.  They have honed the crafted and perfected the science of judging.  I will be happy to do a new thing.  I’ve said it before, but Average Joes is where it is at. 

Body Bugg Results

Week two of Body Bugg is down.  I did pretty good.  On week one, I lost 10 lbs.  I know that sounds crazy, but I guess that is normal for weight loss.  You lose a lot of water weight and food weight during the first week.  I talked with a Body Bugg trainer who told me that is totally normal and to expect to see a two to three pound loss each week afterward if I stick to the program.

Week two was right on with her prediction.  I stuck to the plan very well and saw a 2.5 lb loss.  Good stuff.

I have been absolutely committed to logging every piece of food that I am eating and plugging in my bugg at least twice a day to see how I am doing.

Here’s what I have found about apetite…   When I am eating very well and not over indulging, I actually do not have hunger pangs or cravings at all.  I never feel full and could always eat more.  I am trying to view food more as fuel and not as entertainment and enjoyment.  However, both last week and this week, I did have a meal where I over indulged at some awesome Chinese.  The results of this were feeling overfull, which did not feel great to me, and also having more cravings and hunger pangs the next day. 

It really shows that when you do over indulge, it can be a real set back because you have to overcome hunger pangs again and the guilt of going over your calorie allowance. 

The IPAD

I don’t get it.  It looks cool and all.  Sleek and tech sexy like any apple device normally does.  But you’re going to have to tell me again who needs this thing.  It barely surfs the web better than an iphone, but not as good as your computer.  It does not use flash which is what almost every good website is built on.  And though it is faster and bigger than your iphone, you have to carry it in addition to your phone.  In order to get 3g connectivity, you have to pay extra hundreds upfront and a monthly fee.  So basically it is a web-optimized computer without flash or active-x. 

You can do computing on it, but is typing on a flat screen going to be as good as typing on a real keyboard?  It might be fun to drag and drop things on a document or on a publisher file, but I can do that with my mouse pretty easily. 

It allows you to read a newspaper, but can’t you go to the newspaper’s website and read it there?  This thing is supposed to revolutionize the newspaper industry and print industry.  What it will do is allow newspapers to have an ipad friendly version and charge for content again.  This shift will push people away from newspapers and onto free news sites online. 

Of course it is a reader too.  So you can read your books on it.  But remember, long term reading on a backlit screen is not good for your eyes.  The Kindle and Nook might look primitive for their e-ink displays, but they are saving your eyes for better longer reading experiences.  Plus, since I already have a kindle app on my iphone and my computer, I can read any of my kindle books anywhere anyway. 

There is no camera for video chat.  The hard drive is small.  It works on apps and not software. 

There is nothing you can do on an ipad that you can not do on your laptop. 

In my mind, save the money that you would spend on the ipad 64gb with the 3g connectivity and get a kindle and a netbook with 3g.  Save yourself $500 and you have two devices that will serve you better than an ipad. 

Body Bugg Review part 1

I won’t make excuses for it.  I am out of shape.  Period.

Over the past few years, I have preferred to sit and do nothing rather than exercise.  It was a choice.  There were plenty of circumstances that make it an easier and more appealing choice most of the time. 

Once upon a time, I couldn’t gain weight no matter what I did.  I drank powders and lifted weights, but didn’t see any increase in my size.  I was a very active teenager and college student.  Every job I had required me to be on my feet in the Arizona outdoors.  That is… until ministry.

Most ministry happens to be done sitting down and talking or on the phone, or at a computer.  There were times when we played in basketball and softball leagues.  There were running games at youth group.  But mostly, I was on my butt.  And I have paid the price for it.

I did work hard to get back in shape in 2003-2004ish only to hurt my legs and develop spiral fractures in both of my legs.  This put me back on my butt. 

I tried a number of times to get exercise by swimming, playing basketball or running on a treadmill, but I had little motivation especially since I am normally around the kids when I am not working and little kids are no fun to play full court basketball with, and are a heart attack to allow to fend for themselves while I swim laps in the pool. 

But this week.  I started something new. 

Last friday, Kim bought me The Body Bugg.  Now keep in mind that as a church planter, my office is in my home, and a good percentage of the time, Braden or the rest of the kids are with me, so I can’t just take off running.  Also keep in mind that even when I go and meet people, it is over a coffee, or at a restaurant.  Also keep in mind that I love greasy food and beer.  Also keep in mind that I am  a nerd.

This Body Bugg thing is exactly what I need.  You strap this thing to your arm.  It is very small and you don’t even notice it.  But it keeps track of how many calories you burn in a day.  It does this by measuring your Galvanic Skin Response (basically a measurement of electric stimuli in your body), it measures your sweat production, your temperature, your movement through an accelerometer and pedometer.  Based on these measurements, it can pretty accurately determine how many calories you are burning.  (there are a few exceptions where I have found inaccuracies.)  But it seems to be very good at guessing how many calories you are burning. 

Not only does it tell you how much you burn.  You plug it into a computer and with a membership to the Apex program, you enter every single thing you eat to get a report of how many calories you ingest. 

Based on your weight loss goals, it develops a program that you can use to lose a certain amount of weight, or maintain weight or even build muscle.  The only catch is that you have to plug it in at least daily, and you have to accurately report what you eat. 

Because of my current size, weight and lifestyle, it has determined that I need to burn 2900 calories daily and I have to ingest 1650 calories a day in order to lose about 2 pounds a week.  This gives me a caloric deficit of 1250 each day. 

I want to lose about 45-50 pounds.  It has told me that I can do this by June if I can keep this kind of deficit on a daily basis.  Of course you can starve yourself and lose it faster, but then you are losing muscle weight and without as much muscle, you will put fat back on even faster and easier than ever. 

So, my plan is… To do this every day.  I can eat as many calories, as long as I burn 1250 more than I eat.  Which is not an easy task.

The problem so far is that in a very sedentary state (ie working at the computer or watching tv, sitting and eating, driving etc.) I burn about 1.6-1.8 calories a minute, meaning that I have to find a way to burn about 400-500 more calories than normal each day.  I can do this by being quite a bit more active, or just working out for that many calories. 

I also have to eat a lot less than I was.  Like crazy less.  1 normal fast food meal for me, uses most of my calories.  Easily.  So now I am eating  a fraction of the calories.  Some fruit for breakfast. A Burger and fries for lunch and I will be eating a salad for dinner, without dressing.  And that’s it. 

I know it sounds rough, but the quicker I drop weight in a healthy way, the quicker I can start getting more active and building enough muscle to prevent weight gain in the future. 

My goal is not only to drop the weight, but to be more athletic and add some muscle afterward.  My goal is health and balance.

So, for right now.  I am doing this thing.  I am going to be completely bound by my commitment so that I can do it in the shortest amount of time and get to feeling better and healthier sooner.

I am allowed to weigh myself on friday to see if I am losing.  We’ll see what happens.

Today is a rough day for Body Bugg and me though.  Tuesdays, I normally do as much clerical stuff as possible.  I am writing, emailing, communicating, talking on the phone, and not leaving the house, so I am burning fewer calories than any other day of the week.  I stupidly had 4 tacos for lunch which added up to around 900 calories.  But if I don’t make my goal of calories burned, I will put myself in a bad position for eating another bite for the rest of the day.  So, I will be walking and running the track behind the house today after the kids go to bed.

It will be interesting to see how much weight I lose this week and how accurately this thing tracks over the course of months.  I will post another review later when there is data to report.

 

* I said earlier that I found some inaccuracies.  

1.  Steps.  It has a pedometer that claims to accurately measure how many steps I take.  Last night, I plugged in and had a total of 9,975 steps, so I put the bugg back on and walked in a joking and exaggerating way 25 big steps to get to 10,000 which is actually the suggest goal for the number of steps.  I not only counted out 25 steps, but walked through the house up to my room and got on the recumbent bike for about 20 minutes.  I then came downstairs at least once and went to the bathroom.  When I plugged it in, I only had 10,014 steps.  I had easily taken a hundred steps in my estimation.  hmmmm

2.  Activity.  When I run around outside with Jeffrey playing catch, I can burn up to 9-10 calories per minute.  However, when I get on the recumbent bike, even though I will get sweating hard and breathing heavy, I will show only burning around 4-ish calories per minute.  I imagine that I am burning more than that when I am on the bike.  I can burn as much as 5-6 per minute when I am just walking in the neighborhood.  I am wondering if because my arms don’t move at all, it the bugg does not pick up accurately how much I am burning. 

3.  Swimming.  Obviously you can’t wear this thing swimming.  Which would be a major bummer to learning how many calories you burn while exerting yourself in the pool.

Kurt Warner

Again, the Arizona Cardinals fans are making me feel like I am taking crazy pills.  The Cards were in the worst division in football this year, even worse than last year.  It was a foregone conclusion that they were playoff bound after about 6 games. 

Cardinal fans booed Warner, halfway through the season when he had a bad game, that really wasn’t as bad as it looked.  Cardinal fans talked like they were entitled to have an elite NFL team and every time the Cards lost a game, they acted as if the Cards of the last 30 years were back. 

But here is what I don’t get about Cards fans and the media in general.  How can we not be talking about how great Kurt Warner is?  I know Larry Fitzgerald is one of the best receivers in football, but can you see how Warner has made him even better?  Boldin and Breaston constantly play like elite receivers every week as well.  The reason why they are all so great is because the ball gets to the perfectly, almost every time. 

Warner is not a mobile quarterback, and he’s not 6’5” or anything.  He hangs out in a collapsing pocket every week and delivers the ball as precisely as Manning does.  Cards have been the worst rushing team for the last decade, mostly due to terrible offensive lines and partially due to their penchant for hiring 40 year old running backs and trying to give them 20 carries per game.  When Plummer was the quarterback, you’d see him running for his life from the moment of the snap.  I love Plummer and he did well with a non-existent o-line.  But look at Warner.  The guy comes in to back Leinart up and mentor him and all of a sudden starts throwing for 300 yards every game. 

The last time Warner threw the ball for a team with a real offensive line, he was MVP with the Rams winning the Superbowl.  Now here he is in AZ, the line is not good, but at least Beanie Wells can outrun some people and break tackles like no back they have had since Stump Mitchell can, they have a passable running game.  But Warner has taken his game to a whole new level.  And no one is writing about it.  If he had been healthy through the whole season without that concussion, he should have gotten offensive player of the year consideration and possibly some MVP talk.  But everyone is treating him like an adequate seasoned vet whose only job is delivering the ball to the freakish receivers.

Remember a couple of months ago when the Saints beat the Patriots, trounced them, and Brees had an amazing game.  Peter King said it may have been the greatest game by a quarterback ever.  It was a big pressure, proving moment for Brees, and he pulled out a great game.  I agree that game was an amazing game for Brees.  He torched a pretty good secondary and made them look awful. 

But let’s talk about Warner on Sunday.  The Packers have three of their cover guys in the Pro Bowl.  This is a pressure packed game where not only is your season done if you lose, but it might be Warner’s last game ever.  The NFL’s defensive player of the year Charles Woodson, is guarding your best receiver.  Your number 2 receiver is one the sideline with a sprain.  You have a team that can and does provide a constant pass rush.  And what does Kurt Warner do?

He goes 29 for 33, that’s 4 incompletions.  That’s one per quarter.  He throws for 5 touchdowns.  2 of them went to the Fitzgerald who was covered by Woodson. (people will say that Fitz pushed Woodson down on one of them, but the contact was more incidental and Woodson flopped a bit.)  He threw 2 touchdowns to Early Doucet who only caught one touchdown all season.  He threw for nearly 400 yards.  More touchdowns than incompletions, and he drove the length of the field in the 4th quarter to score a pressure packed touchdown, and drove the field again to get into field goal range with no time left for Rackers to miss the winning field goal.  So, tell me, why are we not talking about this as one of the best, high pressure games ever played by a quarterback?  I don’t get it.  How is it that Kurt Warner is not held up as the example of great NFL quarterbacks?  Farve got more MVP consideration playing with Peterson, an outstanding receiving corps and the best o-line in football. 

When Leinart came in, who many people consider the heir-apparent, the team went flatter than flat. 

All I am saying is… Warner should be a shoe-in hall of famer.  He won a Superbowl and has the three best Superbowl games by a qb (yardage wise) in NFL history.  He was a two time league MVP and with no help from the o-line or the front office, captained the Cards, the Arizona Cards to become a Superbowl team and elite team in the NFL. 

Ladies and Gentlemen.  Kurt Warner is as good as they get, and he is playing at a level rarely ever seen.  Why are fans not buying his jersey?  Why, only now that there are far fewer teams and players to write about, is Warner starting to get some notice from sports writers?  I just don’t get it.

NBC

Really NBC?  Do you remember when you were THE groundbreaking network?  The Cosby Show and Cheers changed sitcoms as well as the personality of our nation.  You took a risk with Seinfeld and launched the standard of half hour comedy shows.  Friends defined national trends for our country for almost a decade.  Carson and Saturday Night Live set the standard for edgy, irreverent and original skits, monologues and political satire.  Letterman and Conan broke barriers with their own take on the genre and gave new life to the late night. 

You did all of this while CBS was cranking out shows for the aging boomer and senior citizen (Murder She Wrote and CSI) and while ABC was struggling to do anything original at all besides Monday Night Football. 

So Carson retires and you bring in Leno.  No big deal, it was kind of a natural progression.  I don’t personally remember that far back, but apparently Leno used to kill as a comedian and as Carson’s ‘fill-in’ guy.  He did steal the Headlines bit from Letterman, but there is a lot of borrowing in comedy anyway.  Leno grew stale over the years, in my opinion.  The headlines were not quite enough to keep me excited as a fan, but at least I could watch Letterman during Leno’s slot and turn back to NBC for Conan who I have always loved.

But, what the heck NBC!?  You were the biggest, best and most original network and then you just stopped trying.  Why would a network that has modeled doing new and unique things completely change directions.  You move Conan earlier which seemed a good move, but you forced him to tone his show down.  No more Triumph, no more bear, no more manatees.  This made Conan less funny and less interesting.  But to top it off, you took 5 primetime hours a week and gave them to Leno, who hasn’t done anything original for years. 

Then you declare a crisis when Leno show has lower ratings than expected, the NBC news loses viewers because Leno is leading into it, and Conan loses viewers too.  You just gave a coveted hour each night to a show that would never be original, a show that conflicted with the demographic of the viewers who watch the shows leading into it, and what do you plan to do about it?  You plan to move Leno back to the normal Tonight Show time and bump the actual Tonight Show to tomorrow?  You make Jimmy Fallon back up into the Carson Daly timeslot just so you can keep Leno on for a half hour a night.  A half hour when he is going to interview stars and get bigger billing than the shows that need the billing and the starts after it.  WEAK!

Name me president of NBC and here is what I do.  I recognize that ABC and CBS are programming for either Senior Citizens or People who think that Two and a Half Men is a funny show, either way the audience of these networks is not looking for original programming.  Fox is showing tired reality shows and singing competitions while having a couple of decent series like 24 on.  NBC has the opportunity to make a smarter, edgier comedy that does have a huge following and interest main stream.  At NBC, you need to push off at least one more Law & Order to basic cable.  Then you need to grab the Mitchel Hurwitz’s, the Bill Lawrence’s, the Joss Whedon’s and give them free reign to realize their creative visions and create new and interesting programming.  Pull the reigns off of Conan and Jimmy Fallon.  Bring in some people from the USA network and Comedy Central who are spearheading interesting new projects.  Keep the Office, Community, and maybe Parks and Rec, but create sometime new and interesting.  You are already the last place network, so you have nothing to lose. 

What I just don’t get is how a network that is struggling decides to take the least original thing that they do and give it prime billing in the late night lineup, right after it failed in the primetime slot.  Make a decision NBC, either give Leno the Tonight Show back and admit that you don’t care about originality, or cut him loose and make some real changes.

Google Nexus One Phone

Ok I want one already.  I’m not a techie blogger or anything, but I already totally love google and love their business model and everything that they do online.  Think for a minute about how different things would be if Google had never come around.  They are the ones who have literally tied the internet together, made it real and user friendly for everyone.  And they’ve done it by taking money from big company advertisers and not from me. 

Today they announced that they are releasing the Nexus One Phone.  HTC manufactured it, which is awesome because they have been the up and coming manufacturer under their own brand for a while now. 

The internet is buzzing on news sites and blogs everywhere that he Google Phone is the Iphone killer.  I wanted to say something quickly about iphone killers.  It seems every 6 months a new iphone killer comes out and doesn’t kill anything.  The Blackberry Storm 1 and 2, the Blackberry Tour, The T1 android phone, the Droid and several others including htc devices have come out under this type of hype and have not lived up to the hopes. 

Whether you like or hate apple, one thing is clear.  They are at the top of the pack.  I have the iphone 3gs and it is amazing.  It exceeded all of my expectations and in many ways, I depend on it.  Maybe I am impatient, or maybe I kind of still cheer for the underdog, but I would love to see phones whose hardware and usability eclipse the iphone.  It would make the next gens of the iphone better as well as stepping up the market. 

But I do feel like I am taking crazy pills because none of these new killer phones have done anything close to what it takes to step up to the bat and take on the iphone.  I feel like the answer that would make things better is not a big secret, I just don’t get why developers aren’t understanding the problem. 

Here is the recipe to kill the iphone.

1.  Get on a better network than AT&T.  I don’t care what at&t says, their network is awful.  Kim dropped a dozen of my calls when she was driving from Phoenix to Seattle this week.  I drop calls in my house all over the place, while AT&T claims that I should have no such problem and won’t fix their terrible service.  Verizon has the network, but they limit things by making you have to purchase the VNavigator and Vcast to do anything.  They don’t seem all that willing to relinquish enough control to allow the freedom that an iphone would provide. 

2. Allow your calls to go over wifi.  Why doesn’t AT&T figure this out.  Though their network should cover me, if they allowed my phone to make calls over my wifi, I could have great reception anytime I connect to wifi.  This would take pressure off of their network.

3. Make sure that your hardware is as good as the iphone.  The technology is easily in reach for everyone, but why does Blackberry think that I need to click through the screen.  I have yet to meet one person who actually prefers to click away on the storm over the iphone. 

So far the Nexus One has let people know that you can not do a two finger touch.  I don’t know if this is hardware, software, or a patent issue, but if you can, you should.

4. Make the entertainment, exactly as accessible as the iphone.  The iphone has a leg up because you manage everything through itunes.  Did you know that you can add music through rhapsody as well?  Why doesn’t Rhapsody link up with phones?  They have the music, the user friendly store and an easy interface.  I would gladly use Rhapsody over Itunes.  I’d use the Zune stuff too. 

4b.  Make the entertainment as accessible on the phone as it is on on ipod.  Other companies actually have a leg up here.  If I were manufacturing a phone, I would make sure it can play every kind of music and video file.  I’d have an easy batch converter if apple wouldn’t let me play their music or videos on my phone.  Make me one quick click away from my music, just like iphone.  You can add little things like the genius playlist or whatever, but no one buys a phone for that stuff.  Make it easy to get to and fast to play.  Why in the world did most phones even in the last year need a special adapter to plug in headphones or plug into your car?  Put a regular ear phone jack in it!

When I owned the Blackberry Storm, I was ticked at how awesome of technology was in the unit, but at how limited I was by the hardware and platform on the device. 

5.  I know that this is very difficult to do, because the american phone carriers are so messed up.  But if a Phone can make itself available and transferable to different carriers, it would be huge.  Right now, if I could switch my iphone to a different network without breaking my contract and disabling some features in my phone, I would.  I think I could argue at&t out of our contract, but if I did, I would have to switch to an inferior phone and I don’t want that either.

Right now I will tell you this.  I would trade my 3gs for a Nexus One in an instant.  I think the Android platform is going to have more options for apps, wifi calls, and processing power than the iphone will.  I also really like Google and would rather own and support a google endeavor than an Apple one.  I am becoming a huge fan of Open Source software on the computer and think that open source phones are going to be the future. 

That’s just my .02. 

Did you see this?

Watch the above clip first. 

I have to tell you.  I watched that clip, and even though I am a Christian, and even though I actually believe what Hume is saying about forgiveness, I am still offended by this. 

First of all, Fox News devotes it’s news commentary on Right Wing Conservative stuff.  This is no secret and even Fox knows and admits that the pundits that they employ are Republican, right wing folks.  (OReilly, Beck, Huckabee, Hannity, VanSustern, and the Fox and Friends Crew.)  It’s fine, it is who they are, Fox has every right to air conservative political commentary.  Fox has argued forever that CNN and MSNBC are biased towards the liberal side of things.  And personally, I agree that MSNBC is as liberal as Fox is conservative and CNN falls somewhere in the middle.  Whatever.

But, here is the respected news anchor at Fox, speaking on air about a religious issue.  Slamming Buddhism and touting Christianity. 

What is offensive here is the lack of knowledge about Christianity, Buddhism, the people he is speaking about and the people he is speaking to.  I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to hear a person who calls himself a devout Christian act as if choosing a religion should be based on looking at the benefits like a consumer.  It’s like Hume is making the statement, Buddhism is OK if you only want coverage for minor sins and normal person stuff, but if you need forgiveness for the big nasty sins, you’d best hit Jesus up for that. 

It’s not a comparison and it’s not a competition.  Christians who make faith sound like a supermarket misrepresent what Jesus was talking about.  It’s not Jesus versus Buddha.  It’s Jesus loves you and wants a relationship with you.  Period.  Buddhism is not about forgiveness, it is about enlightenment.  Hume’s type of consumerist Christianity has a feeling to it that you can just take forgiveness when you need it and grace when you want it, and throw in a little peace or comfort if that suits you.  Buddhism would actually talk about Tiger’s responsibility to make amends for his wrongdoing and to seek redemption with the people he has hurt.  This is one of the things that I believe Tiger would need to do if he wants to be a role model or find true recovery and forgiveness.

Don’t get me wrong here.  I know full well that Jesus does not advocate a consumerist Christianity.  I know that the faith of Jesus would have Tiger doing whatever it took to make things right, even if it meant never playing golf again, or giving up his massive fortune.  I actually whole heartedly believe that no matter what the cost, Tiger should decide that if he does have to sacrifice everything, every dollar, and every trophy and achievement; it would be far more worth it to do whatever it took to make things right with his family. 

When Christians stop competing with other religions and start living as ‘Sermon on the Mount Christians’, you will see a difference in the way we are seen by non Christians.  If we continue to try to attract people to our consumerist faith salad bar, we misrepresent Jesus and lead people to a powerless religion rather than a relationship with Jesus.

What Hume said is basically right, real forgiveness can be found in Jesus alone, no question.  This should never be used to disparage whether or not Buddhists are good, or can be forgiven or can understand this concept.  I would want Hume to know that if Tiger is a Buddhist, which is something I have never really heard, and I had the chance to talk to him about forgiveness; I would not tell him to reject any Buddhist thing he has learned, and call himself a Christian before he can find forgiveness.  I would try to introduce him to Jesus.  Forget, whose faith is better or bigger or righter; arguing and dissing a person’s faith formation is not any answer.  Tell him about a relationship with Jesus.  Period.  You don’t have to call it a conversion, if he starts a real relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit will start to convict him to what was right and wrong about what he has already learned. 

Obviously based on Tiger’s choices, there are a lot of changes that he needs to make.  People with comments like Hume’s will make it more unappealing to choose Christianity because of the judgmental and elitist attitude.  AAANNNND… Did you notice how flat his affect was?  He sounded like the whole faith thing is the most boring and solemn subject you could possibly talk about. 

I’d love Hume to look at his Wikipedia Page to see what someone wrote about him: Brit Hume (born June 22, 1943) is an American commentator and television journalist. He is also a television evangelist who is insulting to hundreds of millions of Bhuddhists in order to offer easy, no questions asked forgiveness for golfers worldwide from a two-thousand year old corpse.

Nope, of course I don’t agree with the Corpse thing.  But Hume did a disservice to his faith, and to Christians who want people to know Jesus and not be turned off by the marketing of consumerist, elitist, colonizing Christianity.

Best of 2009

I like ‘best of’ lists, but hate when they are confined to the top 10 or 5 or whatever.  So here is my ‘best of 2009’  list.

Best Movies

District 9- You all know I love sci-fi, but this was ‘real sci-fi’ with a point to it.  I can’t remember the last action movie I saw that was actually unpredictable.  Solid and realistic characters with a thoughtful story that causes the view to ask questions and get involved in the story.  The effects were great and done at a low budget.  Great Movie!

That’s it for movies.  You might ask me about others, but there were a lot of movies that I didn’t see this year, and a lot I won’t.  Some people say that Blindside was good, but I know that it’s not.  It has Sandra Bullock in it, and she is only in bad movies.  Anyway.

Best TV

Well, I still feel like there are creative and fun shows coming out all of the time.  So there will be a few more in this list.

Always Sunny- I know, I know.  It can be pretty darned raunchy.  But it is creative and the characters are amazing.  Frank Reynolds is one of the most amazingly awful characters since George Costanza’s dad.  He makes George’s dad look like a saint as well.

Psych- This show grew on me and is now easily one of my favorites.  The banter of the two main characters is on the same level for me as classic Turk and JD humor from Scrubs.  The plots are fun mysteries that you can figure out along the way, but the episodes are actually re-watchable due to the humor.  My sis recently bought me season 1 on dvd for Christmas.  If you watch James Roday’s audition footage in the special features section, you will see that he pretty much created the character himself, without any real direction.  Amazing.

Lost- It won me back this year.  I was drifting  because of meandering plot lines the last 2 seasons, but now, possibly because they announced that this is the last season, it got very focused.  Great show.

Colbert Report- It is totally worth mentioning how Stephen Colbert (I’m sure with great writing help) single handedly keeps his persona growing and getting better.  Colbert on a daily basis cranks out perfectly timed comedy and satire.  I look forward to watching his show every day.  Still. 

House- I love this show, and it entertains me without any of the ongoing plot lines which only usually make it better.  Hugh Laurie is one of the most talented people anywhere.

Music

Cloud Cult- I know their cd came out in 08, but I saw them live this year and their live show is one of the most compelling and interesting musical live experiences I have ever been to.  I have never felt so comfortable seeing a show.  They were musically tight, but also friendly, welcoming and fun.  They danced and sang along in the audience for the two opening band’s sets as well. 

 

Those are my best of’s for now.  I have more to say about my worst of’s and my personal year in review.