He's traveling on

Well, for those of you not on facebook you might not know what's what.
I've got 34 (33 now) days between leaving Philadelphia and internship in Baltimore. So I decided to take the long route between the two cities--going through Eugene Oregon on the way.
Today I'm in Toledo--tonight in Chicago. If Luthermatrix is a little barren for this time you know why.
Peace,
Chris

The Kindle

So I've looked at the kindle every now and again and thought about buying one. To have as many books as I wanted all stuck on one little light weight screen sound really awesome. The main problem I have with it is that I already own TONS of books, and they aren't transferable to the kindle. In other words I have already invested a lot in "dead tree" form media.
Also you can't buy "used" electronic books. So kindle books will always cost the same, give or take.
Just a thought as I avoid finishing my last paper before internship.

Two unfortunate quotes to introduce the Methodist-Lutheran "Full Communion"

"We're all trying to get to heaven, so I see no problem with Lutherans helping us out,"
"Members said their biggest adjustment is Strommen's "Lutheran style" of prayer. She often turns her back to worshippers to face a large cross.

So Methodists are under the impression they can earn their way into heaven with a little help from their friends. Lutherans act as stale pre-vatican two priests... doesn't sound like putting our best feet forward.
That said "To have a Lutheran congregation of six and a Methodist congregation of four in a town of 200 is plumb stupid."
Indeed.
Last week TEY worshiped at a methodist church here in Susquehanna. It was a contemporary service, the pastor preached about freedom, mentioning--knowing a cadre of Lutherans had joined him-- "As we know Christian Freedom is pretty important to Lutherans too." It was a really good sermon--if it had been given at Tabernacle he would have got a lot of Amens. The main complaint of the scholars was that the pastor dressed "like a magician." In other words he was wearing a very snappy vest instead of vestments. I didn't really like the music--felt a little too much like "Jesus is my boyfriend" music, but I'm sure a contemporary Lutheran service would look much the same.
And that's about all I know about Methodists right at this moment. I have to go and lead morning worship.
Peace,
Chris

What if the whole Neo-con thing is working?

Hitchens supposes that the current fight for democracy happening in Iran could be based on Iran having Iraq as its democratic neighbor. The despotic dominoes that would start falling in the name of democracy once a representative government was established in Iraq are now falling. In a sense America wasn't wrong for invading Iraq for this reason (of course if you remember that wasn't the reason we invaded Iraq) only impatient.
Key Quote:
"They have seen the way in which national and local elections have been held, more or less fairly and openly, with different Iraqi Shiite parties having to bid for votes (and with those parties aligned with Iran's regime doing less and less well). They have seen an often turbulent Iraqi Parliament holding genuine debates that are reported with reasonable fairness in the Iraqi media. Meanwhile, an Iranian mullah caste that classifies its own people as children who are mere wards of the state puts on a "let's pretend" election and even then tries to fix the outcome."

Jesus and the multi-verse… or “Varieties of Jesus versus the Consistency of God”

So right now I’m a mentor for TEY (Theological Education with Youth) a really cool program of the ELCA that engages young adults on a high theological level. The event I’m mentoring is “Summer Academy” where our scholars (the young adults) study college level courses for two weeks at Susquehanna University. The mentors get to sit in on the classes!
One of the classes deals with science and religion. We’ve been dealing with quantum mechanics and “Multiverse theories.” One of these theories posits there are a near infinite number of universes based upon the idea that (I may be botching this—I’m a mere bible student after all) we can only know the probability that an electron is in any one space at any one time and therefore it is possible that electrons are in all these probable places at once, just in different universes.
The implication of multiple universes, at least within some of these theories, is that near identical versions of us are doing near identical, yet perhaps different, things in these alternate universes (think “Sliders”). Some of these differences are small, maybe even non-existent, others are large—think super-intelligent grasshoppers.
So my question related to all of this is whether slightly different Jesuses could still save the world (worlds?). Could there be a world in which Jesus is fallen? CS Lewis posits a soteriology in which a Narnia world is saved by a Lion version of Jesus—Aslan. In another work he wonders if our world alone experienced “The Fall.” Yet it still bothers me—what of a world in which Jesus was beat by Joseph as a child and goes all Alexander the Great on us? A world where Mary was never born? A world where Judas never betrays Jesus?
If there are near-infinite variations of universes for electrons to be reside in within the bell-curve of possible electron movement, which leads to a near-infinite histories/lives it is possible Jesus the man would be “passed over” (I know this isn’t orthdox language—in fact it is rather adoptionist, but dealing with this type of speculation I think it is appropriate) as Child of God? Would God come in another form or person? Save in a different way? As Judas or Paul, Buddha or Muhammad, Joan of Arc or Steve Jobs? (on a side note I’d feel more comfortable with an Aslan or even a grasshopper savior than a non-Jesus human… I imagine that speaks to my own biases in some way)
Or, do we assume that the once-for-all-ness of Christ’s atonement in our universe is cross-universal? That seems rather like navel-gazing—imperialist even—but I’m not sure.

A new look and new links

Well, I found out that a few of the blogs etc. I've linked to in the past are dead or extremely different than when I originally linked to them. Thus I've weeded out some links and added others to better reflect that which I find on the internet that engages my intellect.
Peace,
Chris

Love-- "a strange game"

I think its a very clever reference to the movie "WarGames."

protestors "winning" but I'm not convinced

Check out the above amazing link--protestors beating back riot police. At the same time I'm still skeptical and think this will end up like the monks in Burma.
Peace,
Chris

Today is going to be a bloody day in Iran

I think post-Friday prayers things are going to get ugly. Andrew Sullivan is keeping track of what's what there.

Hmmm... I don't know what to make of this

According to the website
"Born Again American is committed to the rebirth and re-expression of citizenship through informed and thoughtful activism. It is an initiative of Declare Yourself, a national non-partisan, non-profit (501(c)3) organization dedicated to increasing young voter participation and civic involvement. Declare Yourself’s on-line voter registration tool has been used by almost four million people since 2004. Declare Yourself grew out of the 2003’s Declaration of Independence Road Trip that toured an original 1776 copy of the Declaration to schools, town halls, and other locations all over the country."
Sounds interesting, the music was fairly compelling and diverse. They seem to be against outsourcing, beyond that it is fairly unclear.
Take a look.
Peace,
Chris

Imagine if your dorm room was the center of a revolution, and those in power found out

Something is happening in Iran!

President Obama can't get a break

Remember all those rumors that Obama was a manchurian candidate--a closet muslim intending on taking America down in the name of islamo-fascism... well now he's being accused of being a manchurian candidate--intent on taking America down in the name of the Jews!
Sigh. I think our president represents "otherness" to some folk, and the bias of what is behind said "otherness" comes out in conspiracy theories.

In case you missed the "Semi-Arian"

The link sends you to the April fools edition of the Seminarian. I did a few of the articles. I was fun to write. Fun to read... so read it!

Where my folks are at today

Mmm... beards.