Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts

25 April 2013

"God didn't say," and hashtags

by Dan Phillips

Last Sunday (because: Sunday) I launched a new hashtag with this:"Look, if you can't find a church as perfect as you, just stay home and read or listen to recordings or something" #GodNeverSaid
Eventually, it was followed by a flood of them, including:

...and...
Normally, Twitter is something of a meritocracy, in that non-celebrities can earn a following by excellent posts, as for instance Trogdor is doing. In that way it's a social free-market, and that's a good thing.

Unfortunately, hashtags also provide an opportunity for bitter little folks unable to gather much of an audience on their own merits. Lucky to have a handful of followers, their talent is limited to aping and gainsaying more creative folks so as to poach for themselves a false visibility on the backs of others. They're like brats who feel clever as they make rude bodily noises during the sermon, simply to distract and get attention. They don't actually contribute anything, but they do interrupt the grownups.

Solomon lamented the principle; anyone who tries to lead would also. These sad souls lack the creativity God gave a dung beetle, which at least can build something from something; taxonomically, they harken more to the tick or the mosquito, content to suck out others' lifeblood. They haven't the wit to come up with their own hashtags. They know that, if they did, they'd be roundly and deservedly ignored. So they must find a larger host organism and latch on.

They come late hoping to bury, so you'll have to plow to the bottom and scroll up. More happily, hashtags also provides a chance to showcase true insight of verbal musicians who bring their instruments to play in the same opera, such as:
...and...
There are a lot more. Chris Rosebrough was a late and great entry to the party. He always brings the goods, and doen't need me as a publicist.

Enjoy!

Dan Phillips's signature



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Posted by DJP on Thursday, April 25, 2013

20 February 2013

The Be-Happy Attitudes

by Frank Turk


So I posted that tweet a couple of weeks ago, and because I had other things to say I didn't comment further.

Here's my further comment:

The difference between the Gospel and the preaching of our identity (whatever its basis) is the difference between the preaching of God's supremacy expressed in Christ's superiority and telling people they can have their best life now.

I'm on an airplane again today.  Behave yourselves.










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Posted by FX Turk on Wednesday, February 20, 2013

28 October 2011

Wisdom Tweet

by Frank Turk

My wife tells the story of how, as she and her brother and sister grew up, and they started to spend time out of the house and without direct parental supervision, her mom would always tell her, "If you don't like it, you call and Daddy will come get you."  I am temped to give the invasively-curious a further anecdote on how this has informed my life as her husband and the father of her children.  We'll save that for another day.

Yesterday Dan tweeted this:


It probably flew under your radar because you're not following Dan on Twitter even though Twitter takes great pains to remind you (as above) that you shouldn't miss any updates from Dan.  That's your loss in general, but today we're going to point out why.

Dan has a spectacular book which almost everyone who has read raves about -- called The World-Tilting Gospel.  You may have heard of it, though not through the normal channels of bloggers well-known for linking to free publisher giveaways and good discounts -- a sociological effect which, frankly, we have our best men working on with no reasonable explanation.  And in it, he talks about a specific prayer which, I think, ought to speak to us as we think about Dan's Tweetflection on Isa 62:6-7.  Here -- let me quote it out for you:


So in one sense, when the true Israel -- that is Jesus -- prays for God's will to be done, he is the watchman on the wall who gives God the Father no rest until he (God) makes Jerusalem a praise on the Earth.  That is, Jesus is doing what God told Israel to do, and of course God does everything Jesus asks.

But think on this, my readers and blog-friends: if God has answered, and is answering, and will answer this prayer from Jesus, it means that God must, therefore, answer your prayers when they are for the same thing that Jesus is asking for here.  When you pray for God to glorify the Son, to give over those who ought to be given, and to see that they will keep God's promise (that is: his word), God answers that prayer.

In that sense, when you call him, he will come get you.  In fact: he wants you to call on him -- he wants you to remind him and even never let him have rest until he has done what he promised to do.  He's your Father and not merely some stoic sky-judge who issues functionary decrees.

Be in the Lord's house with the Lord's people on the Lord's day this weekend, and see how many times he has already done this.  It should be an encouragement to you.




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Posted by FX Turk on Friday, October 28, 2011

28 July 2010

Not Just the Minimum

by Frank Turk

Well, this is what we have come to. Dan tweeted this cartoon in the last 7 days, and I RT’d it:



And in fact one of our friends at Triablogue linked to it because let’s face it: it is both funny and theologically-astute. When Jesus told (for example) Peter to follow him, straight up: he didn’t mean “watch” him, or “keep tabs” on him. Jesus meant “get off your fishing boat, Simon son of Jonah, and go where I am going.”

The point is, of course, that Jesus wants more, not just the minimum. Being a disciple is not the same as being a fan.

But the line drawing here elicited what I would call the classic tempest in a tea pot when one particular tea pot with more than one crack (the infamous Coram Deo) began accusing all involved of blasphemy because – now get this – it’s a cartoon of Jesus.


You see: this cartoon is a violation of the second commandment. The same sin which Israel committed when it raised up the Ashtoreth’s and Baals? That’s this cartoon – because it seems that all pictures are in some way graven images, and a picture of Jesus specifically is a graven image because, well, it’s Jesus. Apparently when you draw Jesus, you are doing the same thing as saying that the bread and the wine are actually God, and therefore you must worship them.



And of course we can’t have that. I mean that seriously: we can’t be worshipping things which are not God – everyone should agree to this as a premise for this discussion, and not merely in theory but also in fact. We shouldn’t pray to statues. We shouldn’t make a bull and offer gifts to it which we might otherwise give to God. We shouldn’t murder our children for any reason, but certainly not to somehow offer their lives to something which is allegedly going to give us health and wealth and (ironically) fertility.

We can’t be making graven images for the sake of worship, now can we? That’s flat out.

But can we in some way make a sermon? I mean this: given that no one as far as I know has started worshipping the cartoon of Jesus slamming twitter-sized “faith”, and no one has offered prayers to it or has otherwise genuflected or splashed one’s self with water to do whatever the water is supposed to do because of this cartoon, what if this is a 30-second sermon?

Do you see what I’m saying here? DJP and Josh Harris and Patrick Chan and myself all used Twitter to send a message in a Twitter-sides data stream that Jesus doesn’t want you personally to be a tweet-sized follower of Jesus. You should put down the proverbial net – or in this case, the actual mouse and KB, or your laptop, or your phone or iPhone – and follow Jesus.

That is: the real Jesus and not the cartoon Jesus, right? The one who actually was a person for reals and who died on a cross so that we can have forgiveness of sin and actual joy.

Not so that we can be just like the Muslims and start intellectual riots over cartoons – especially cartoons which frankly are more edifying than whole segments of the blogosphere which have never made one affirmative statement about faith or how it is lived in the real world.

You personally: I’m not talking about Twitter. I literally want you yourself to follow Jesus.

Right now.









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388 comments
Posted by FX Turk on Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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