Lemonade in a Bedpan

Every student at ACU is required to take a class called Cornerstone, a class that examines questions of truth with the purpose of preparing students to engage our rapidly changing and complex world. The class is a holistic one, dabbling in a variety of subjects rather than focusing on simply one, but at the core of each topic is the question of purpose: what is the meaning of this or that? It's similar to a philosophy class, and I'm intrigued by all that is to come and quite excited to be enrolled in it!

For our first assignment we were required to watch a lecture by a professor at ACU, Dr. Richard Beck, and though overall he is presenting the reason for Cornerstone's existence, he also addresses other social issues that have spiritual elements-issues that I believe are essential for every person to become aware of. Mainly I love what he argues about injustice. A popular question in our world today is why the Church (as a whole) hurts so many-often in the name of religion? It's a valid question that contains many answers I'm sure, and today I'm sharing Dr. Beck's perspective on the topic as it is likely to stretch the thinking of many readers or even to remind us that agree with him what we believe: in loving mercy and walking humbly with our God. His portrayal of Jesus during a metaphor called 'Lemonade in a Bedpan' shows how humbly ironic Jesus Christ was, and in that He is providing an example of how every follower of Christ is meant to be. We are supposed to look different. We are supposed to be aliens of love. We are supposed to be in the world but not of it. For all of the Christians reading this post, you've no doubt heard the old cliche, 'love the sinner but hate the sin', and though I'm sure it originated out of good intentions, I believe it is often overused, under-implemented, or misinterpreted, and Dr. Beck addresses this issue as well. Sometimes I think we need to be reminded that seeking truth means combining intentional love and intellectual thinking out of the faith we have in Jesus Christ, and that's exactly the point of Beck's video and ACU's mission. We can't just have thinking without heart, and at the same time we can't just have 'love', because when we act without thinking, is it really love at all? At the very core of love is intention-or in other terms, thought. Both equal truth.

Jesus was different. Jesus looked different because He overstepped social boundaries and broke the rules of what was 'normal'-all for the sake of preserving humanity and loving people. He was lemonade in a bedpan.

Enjoy! :)

P.S.
He also makes a good argument regarding the necessity of liberal arts... ;) 

Cornerstone 2012 - Dr. Richard Beck from ACU Core on Vimeo.