Do you know of any companies that said “sorry” to the public… when they weren’t getting sued for something? For instance, like Microsoft apologizing to the public with a statement “we are sorry for the troubles we’ve caused you,” and then gave you something to prove it… like Windows 7 for free? Not that that’s actually happening- in fact they’re selling Windows 7 for a little cheaper for a limited time, but it wasn’t an apology, it was a sales tactic. How about the government? What would we do if Congress publicly apologized to citizens for misrepresenting them? I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I probably wouldn’t do anything since it’s still so disconnected with my everyday life, but has it happened? I know they’ve “served us,” but have they ever apologized to us for something they did wrong?
bernheisel.com » Archive for the ‘Theology’ Category
Organizations and Apologies. Vision Series Part 2
August 15th, 2009 by David Bernheisel
Is Jesus a jerk?
August 11th, 2009 by Celia Bernheisel
Sometimes, it is easy for us to read the Bible through our modern lens and forget that it was written in a very different time than we live in now. The passage found in Mark 7:24-30 is one of those passages that, if we read it without considering the context, we end up thinking that Jesus is a racist jerk. For a long time, I had struggled with this passage and had not read it for awhile until recently. Upon reading it this time, I have come to realize that Jesus is not a jerk at all (not that I had actually ever seriously entertained that thought). Rather, he is a man on a mission of compassion who loves using parables that we sometimes, in all our Western wisdom, fail to understand.
Architectural Theology. Vision Series Part 1
August 10th, 2009 by David Bernheisel
Vision time. When you walk into a church building, do you catch how the atmosphere captures their theology? For instance, the Greek Orthodox church has incredible icons and they emphasize the grandness and majesty of God- through their expensively gold embroidered frames and icons plastered all over the place, with elaborate hand painted murals in the traditional orthodox way (halos around the saints, a slight creepiness about Jesus’ posture, and a little monster dude in the river shrugging “why are you standing like that? that’s wierd.”). The way they design their building indicates what they believe and how they theologize it. Kinda like a motorcyclist- the louder and more obnoxious the “muffler,” the more rebellious and BA the person is. The more gold and grandness- the more they honor and show the glory of God through their architecture.
Path, Purity, and Peace
July 21st, 2009 by David Bernheisel
Are you married? If you’re married- do you feel like God’s paired you with the perfect person to complement you? You’d know the saying- “you complete me,” and I think that’s how God pairs us with soulmates- that God pairs a driver and a navigator. The driver is good at getting lost and the navigator is good at keeping them unlost; together, they make a good team and together they intend to stay on track. If you’re not married or dating, then God bless you and your GPS and may you both live a happy life. With football, you have a quarterback, some receivers, some defense, and a kicker. The kicker is good at kicking, the defense is good at defending, the receivers are good at catching, and the quarterback is good at being tackled. Together, they make a good team and together they intend to win the game.
Desperation and Faith
June 22nd, 2009 by David Bernheisel
I thought it was entirely appropriate to talk about the subject of giving when our mission team was coming back from New Orleans. I’ve had the honor of going on this trip once two years ago, and then last year going to Africa, and maybe sometime within a year me and my wife Celia may be going to Mozambique. Africa was an incredible experience and I highly recommend that all of you take a risk, do something without thinking so much about it, and just go somewhere. Get out of the US and go to South America or Asia or Africa- open your eyes to a culture other than ours. It’ll make you think about how 1) blessed we are 2) self-cursed we are.
Choices – United Way
June 1st, 2009 by David Bernheisel
This is the kind of thing I want to write about:
This is a video developed for an organization about making choices that better the lives of individuals in the community around you. I love it, it’s a bit odd and somewhat dark with a childish cartoony animation- so all that together makes the video interesting to watch. I haven’t really heard much about United Way (which my wife tells me that I’m just uninformed. I must’ve lived under a rock). Here’s my opinion on it: this organization is awesome– it’s just lacking one thing.