How bad ass are we?

Thanks to the new Firefox, I now know that bad ass is two words.

The question, though, is how bad ass are we? I am referring, of course, to the new Portland Trail Blazers. Oregon’s only professional sports franchise is set up for a historic decade with the addition of Greg Oden to the team. Greg Oden is not only a monster in the paint, he is also a nineteen year old child who has brought charisma to the once hapless Blazers. I think I saw it somewhere a long time ago, the iconic image of the beloved Lithuanian, Arvydas Sabonis being assaulted with a towel by current Piston bad boy Rasheed Wallace. According to current coach, Nate McMillan, we were the laughing stock of the entire league two years ago. When was humiliated with the towel on national television, all of us were humiliated. Our city looked like it was filled with jackasses carrying around towels meant to throw at centers who gave their heart and soul for what seemed like a cold and ruthless team. Ever read about Bill Walton’s last season with the Blazers? The poor bastard had to call himself a timeout and leave to the locker room to find that he had been playing on a broken foot. So what happens now, thirty years later? We’re so bad ass that once the league knew we had the number one pick, we were getting offers with sentences that mixed the words “hall of famer” and “trade”. Why this sudden change of pace? What caused this team to embark on this momentous journey? Nate McMillan has an idea. At the rally which introduced 7 feet tall Greg Oden to the city of Portland, Mr. McMillan had only one thing to say: “God works in mysterious ways.” I laughed, because it seemed like it took a ping pong ball to bounce a certain way for the Number One pick to land in Portland’s favor. Greg Oden is here. LaMarcus Aldridge is here. Brandon Roy is here. Steve Blake is here. Channing Frye is here. We’ve assembled a young team that is determined to play together and play hard and get this city to a championship again.

I spent eighteen dollars on a book written by Matt Love called “Red Hot and Rollin”: A retrospective on the the Blazers championship season thirty years ago. It is fitting that the most incredible season in Blazers history happened thirty years to the year the Blazers embark on what could be the greatest era ever.

We’re pretty damn bad ass.

There, I did it. That’s my Blazers post.

Gay Marriage: My View

It is difficult for me to deliberately write. My friend Ashish finds writing an enjoyable thing to do and seems to be able to do it daily. I am what many people could call a flake. I go on spurts of writing essays non stop then I hit a wall and, well, stop completely. In order for me to get going on writing again, I decided to start up a little debate with Ashish about gay marriage.

I shock Pentecostals frequently when I express my views on gay marriage. Before I even begin, its important that you have a background for my current viewpoint. Ask anyone who went to high school with me: I was a red-meat conservative. I was all about God, Country, and Guns. I was to the right on just about every issue from abortion to the Iraq War. Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly challenged by the holy spirit on my political and personal views. What used to be a knee-jerk response to the liberalism that surrounded me in the public school system has led to an increased awareness of the need of Christ’s love in this broken world. So, like I said, I shock Pentecostals. Not just Pentecostals, I shock most evangelical Christians. Whenever I proclaim that “People of the same sex should be allowed to marry eachother.” The response is incredible. Instantly, my sanity is questioned by those listening. The initial question always is “How can you say that gay marriage is OK?” Here is my response for the umpteenth time. I also promise you that I will be repeating this response for years to come. I don’t think gay marriage is OK. I wouldn’t marry someone of the same sex. This doesn’t mean that I have to stop others from doing it. It’s interesting to note what Ashish said about this issue:

I’m personally not sure what my stance on this issue would be. I find myself stuck in between these two approaches, grasping for a middle ground. I have to go back to what it truly means to be a Christ-follower. I have to go back to what it means to be Christ to people.

If you look through the gospels, there were always the religious leaders who kept the law down to the last letter. This law was not only the original law, but also included many more amendments. They placed the weight of this unbearable law upon the people. In doing so they also effectively made it impossible for anyone who was not a religious leader to keep it. When I think of this issue I am brought back to a time when these religious leaders brought a prostitute to the feet of Jesus and asked whether she should be stoned. Jesus realized that these religious leaders were the biggest hypocrites and illustrated to them that showing grace and not punishment is always the higher road in any situation. Jesus also illustrated to them that the worst sin of all is believing oneself to be above sin, which is in essence pride.

I recognize the example of the adulterous woman in the Gospels and see it as an extension of Christ’s word on where the personal and the public spheres converge. The religious leaders desire to public stone this woman. His response to the elders who foaming at the mouth and twiddling their fingers is so powerful that it shakes the Evangelical mindset in me. Our Lord is silent as one by one each of the religious people left until the woman and Jesus are left. What does Jesus mean when shatters the silence? “Has no one condemned thee?” I believe that Jesus is making a simple statement on the lack of authority that the society has to punish the woman.

Ashish and I seem to be on the same side in this one. In further conversations with Ashish, he said that he might vote no if the issue of legalizing gay marriage came up but that he would not consider bringing it up as an issue. I would go a few steps further and say that I might not only abstain from voting but might actually actively campaign against anyone that sought to make marriage between people of the same sex illegal. Ashish moves further along and says something here that I found powerful:

I believe that it is not the job of the Christian to mandate rules and regulations per say in society, but to illustrate Christ’s love to people. Our job is not to convict the sinner. The Holy Spirit does a pretty good job of that. Our job is to be Christ to the sinner.

Every man has sinned, we are all condemned. Jesus tells the woman to then go and “sin no more” bringing a fitting conclusion to this topic. The concept of correction with love is sorely lacking in today’s church. Rather than campaigning against giving these people rights? Can we show love to these people? Can more Christians work in areas of hospitals where a large portion of the population are gay and infected with HIV? Ashish makes the best point when he says that we have to be Christ to the sinner. It’s understandable that many Christians, including myself, are terrified at the prospect of the future. Some of us are terrified to raise kids in this current climate. I’d like to end with a simple sentence that I hope you can cling to: Christ does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Banning gay marriage will not bring gay people to Christ, showing love to them and showering compassion and mercy on them will.