churching the fleas
What the fleas teach us about ourselves and our churches.
HT to Jordon Cooper
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It is intriquing as to how conditioned we really are. I know these are fleas and we are humans, but sometimes we seem to behave in similar ways. Our environment determines so much of our behaviors.
We need to flea the church up don’t we.
What a lesson for us all. As a missionary it speaks volumes to me on the importance of what we do and say those “first three days”.
Alan - I agree, great video. I was up in Canuck land this weekend teaching a bunch of youth workers at the conference…showed them the video and they responded exactly like I did when I first saw it! It is a great paradigm for what happens in much of local church. The youth workers were especially struck on how the “parents” taught the children the “system” so that future generations stayed in the jar as well…I’m glad you are putting these thoughts out there.
Hey, I heard you were contemplating moving to Idaho? I just moved to Eagle a year ago…jump on in…the water’s fine!
Loves,
Robin
Wow…I had just heard this phenomenon mentioned the other day…nice to have the visual!
What is the life cycle of a flea…does their 3 days correlate to the first 3 years of human life? Hmmm…
There are so many other examples, the elephant and the staked chain, for one, that speak to this kind of control/domination.
And that is what I see here…issues of control and coersion to “stay within the lines…the lines are your friends.” We all know boundaries are important, but if they are too hard and fast, or clamped down too rigidly/too soon, they really stunt maturity and foster dependence.
I’ll stop before a full rant comes on
In Christ we are set free, we shake off the boundaries and baggage of the world to embrace God’s freedom… to paraphrase Eugene Peterson’s interpretation of James’s letter…
“You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.” So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him FLEA!
Here endeth the lethon…
A Celtic Pun!
Are you preparing this for your own Children’s Missional Moment
My sons will love that one!
Hmmm….has Jesus “put the lid” on the Devil???
Good onya PeggyBrown…
I have it on record that my jokes tend all too often to qualify only for the book of “poor preacher’s puns,” in my experience they are typically at the educational level of small children… but then who did Jesus qualify entry level by?
Slainte
A Celtic Son
Very clever video.
I’m rather struck by the irony that one of the machines (playstation) that keeps children in a vegetative state (rather than socialising, playing outside, doing stuff) is advertised as if it inspired creativity and individuality. It seems you can claim anything in advertising these days.
The supposed “experiment” has got to be a load of rubbish because:
There’s no food or water, (and when the lid is on) a limited supply of oxygen in the jar. Those fleas ain’t having children.
You can’t condition the behaviour of fleas because they don’t have a proper brain… just a bit of a swelling of their main nerve cord. They operate on reflexes.
Fleas do not teach their children anything… they lay eggs and forget.
Of course… humans usually DO behave like this, so all the comments are true.
Here’s a thought…
What if the jar was the boundaries of “Saving Faith”?
That just flips the paradigm on its head, doesn’t it? Passing on the boundaries (a.k.a. commandments) to the next generation as in “The Father to the Children make known thy truth”
me.
Wonderful! Can’t wait to get my hands on one.
A few questions: Do they come in various sizes? Is it stereo and is there a woofer, pre-amp, or booster attachment? Is one Am and the other FM?
Finally: Where do I plug in my headphones?