Confessions of a Quirky Christian Artist

I do a thing for my church's Sunday school a couple times a year. We have the kids divided up into 4 classes, so for a month, every Sunday I do an art project with each class. We have inscribed hieroglyphics depicting Joseph's dreams in clay, made stained glass windows with icons of the last supper, once I dressed as an Egyptian slave driver and forced the kids to mix clay, sand, water, and straw, make bricks, and build little pyramids. All the kids know me so they had a lot of fun while acted like a slave-driver, yelling at them to work harder and such in that grown-up, fake growl voice. All except one new kid who I think almost started to cry before I realized he was new. So I had to break character, get down on my knees and explain in the nicest voice possible that I was just pretending, and that he didn't have to play at all. I wonder if I scarred him for life. Maybe his only memory of church will be a giant guy in a yellow dress yelling at kids to mix fas...

I heard a really good definition for obscenity a while ago in an interview on the Mars Hill Audio journal. Unfortunately I was listening to the entire archive going back over 10 years, so I can't find the exact tape the interview was on or the exact quote, or even who said it. (How's that for scholarly research?) But it went something like this: Obscenity is the display of any physical human function divorced from its spiritual side. In other words, when you focus on something like sex, chewing food, bleeding, excreting, etc. without any regard for the soul that is inhabiting the body that is carrying out the activity, it will always appear obscene. This is perennial because humans intuitively know that there is more to life then the physical processes that are playing out before us. And to exclude that hidden dimension is to reduce humanity to meat, to ignore God, and to devalue all moral or ethical considerations. If you know anything about modern art you may have no...

Hello. I am Josh Foreman, Justin Foreman’s dad. You sent out a letter informing me that my 5 th grader will be instructed on HIV/AIDS and human sexuality. The letter noted that, “We want our students to realize that we consider you to be the most important source of information for these topics…” As my son’s father I would like to be the ONLY source of information about sexuality for him. Can we please set up a time to meet so I can jump through the bureaucratic hoops in order to be a parent to my child regarding one of the most sensitive issues in a person’s life? I find it appalling that any government institution finds it appropriate to be the mechanism by which a child should learn about sexuality. So I would appreciate it if I was informed before any other similar information is presented to my son. I understand the public school system’s desire to fill a responsibility that has been abdicated by some parents. However I am not one of those parents. As you know...

Someone posted this article on a forum. It amused me so I responded as follows, quoting the author, Chris Hedges. The engine that drives the radical Christian Right in the United States , the most dangerous mass movement in American history, is not religiosity, but despair. Ok. How has he ascertained this? It is a movement built on the growing personal and economic despair of tens of millions of Americans, who watched helplessly as their communities were plunged into poverty by… So a bad economy = religious revival? Like the ones we saw in Russia , Cuba , China ? Hmmm… Maybe he needs to rethink his equation. This despair crosses economic boundaries, of course, enveloping many in the middle class who live trapped in huge, soulless exurbs where, lacking any form of community rituals or centers, they also feel deeply isolated, vulnerable and lonely. So even those who don't financially struggle are driven t...

Is there a right way for Christians to commune with each other? Are there wrong ways? As my new beliefs have placed me outside the comfy walls of any organized branch of Christianity that I know of, I find those nagging questions about church that I've had for years are easier to examine dispassionately. One thing I'm quite sure about is that our traditional and current forms of Christian expression (i.e. church organization) are never going to change. So any conclusions I may come to can only be seen as observations, not prescriptive actions to be taken by myself or others. What church is, and how we ended up this way is a fascinating study, and one I've only began to research. So I don't have a lot of historical data to feed this fire; it's primarily powered by simple curiosity, philosophical, and theological fuel. The first question I'm starting with is, "What is a Christian church?" Well, actually, let me take a step ba...

There is a character trait that I lack so severely, it may be my single biggest shame. I am so dishonorable in this area that even writing about it embarrasses me. But hey, that’s what the internet is for, right? That character trait? My work ethic. There was a period in my career when I could rightly have been called a workaholic. But it wasn’t because I had a good work ethic. It was because I was doing something that engaged me creatively on a multitude of levels. Had you examined my work habits during those years you would have concluded that I was a studious and self-driven individual. And you would have concluded correctly. But take away the fuel of creative control and heady, industry-shaping design challenges and you have a lazy leech. Jesus’ admonition about much being expected from the one to whom much is given has always provoked shame in me. If I ever get self-righteous about how much better I seem than a drug dealer or prostitute I can always re...

I was raised without Santa as far as I can remember. But then, my memory of childhood is vague at best. My ex-wife comes from a family that found it very important to make Santa an important part of Christmas. He always gave the biggest and best gifts to the kids. He would eat some of the cookies that the kids would leave out for him and take the carrot they left out for Rudolf. So my ex continued the tradition, and even though I was never excited about it myself, I went along. I never thought it made much sense as Christian parents, to fool our kids into believing in an all-seeing, all-knowing magical being who rewards the good and punishes the bad. For one thing, the image comes way to close to God, and for another thing, it reinforces a skewed view of good and evil that trains the spirit in legalism. As to the first point, why do we find it acceptable to say to our kids when they are older, “Yes, we lied to you about Santa, but God is real.” What does that teach...