How to Share Your Faith (Evangelism Radiohead Style)

The music video to Radiohead's "Just" came out in 1995 and was directed by Jamie Thraves. It is one of the best music videos I've ever seen and I believe it has a lot to teach persons of faith about evangelism (the act of sharing your faith). If you haven't watched the video, you should do so before reading on.


In the video we encounter a middle-aged man who, for reasons unknown, lies down in the middle of a busy sidewalk. His strange behavior is immediately noticed by those used to the same old routine of walking to work, etc. In fact, his limp body literally gets in the way and trips a passerby. The tripped bloke is both upset and mystified by the man lying down and proceeds to ask him questions. Eventually, a crowd of people is intrigued by the man's peculiar behavior and are literally begging the man to explain his motive. When he finally shares the explanation for his behavior, the crowd is persuaded to join him. The last scene depicts all the people laying on the sidewalk together.


Is this not a perfect example of how to share your faith? Never mind that the man seems to be depressed, this is not what matters here (nor am I attempting to interpret the song or video). What matters is the relationship between his actions and his sharing. Namely, the man's actions precede his speaking. Moreover, the man's speaking is a response to the inquiries of others about his actions. 


What we see in this video is a man who does something out of the ordinary and sparks a host of responses including curiosity, concern, and disgust. I would argue that this is almost identical to the way we see Jesus operate in the Gospels. Jesus was constantly responding to questions and criticism because of his actions. Just to name a few... 

• Matt. 9:10-11 - Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?
• Matt. 9:14 - Why are you not fasting according to custom?
• Matt. 12:1-3 - Why do you pick grain on the Sabbath?
• Matt. 15:1-3 - Why don't you follow purity laws before you eat?
• Matt. 21:23 - By what authority do you do these things?
• Matt. 26:7-8 - Why did you let this woman waste her perfume?
• Mark 11:5 - Why are you taking this colt?
• John 4:9 - Why do you ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water?
• John 9 - Who healed you? How is your eyes have been opened?

In addition to these specific instances, think about all the times that Jesus is doing things: baptism, healing, praying, sharing meals, and cleansing the Temple. Jesus did not go around handing out tracts about the kingdom of God, he lived it out in his actions and people could not help but respond.


Perhaps this is exactly how people of faith ought to "do" evangelism today. Perhaps we are called to do things that are so peculiar, out of the ordinary, and compelling, that others cannot help but inquire as to our motives. 


Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:18)

MELT: Bar & Grilled (Cleveland, OH)

Rule #1 for all road trips is Pack Your Toothbrush. Rule #2: Find Unique, Local Eateries. There's no reason you should ever stop at a fast food chain on your travels (save for bio-breaks, of course). There are too many culinary diamonds in the rough scattered across the U.S.A. to waste your time and money on that synthetic carbon copy of a sandwich. You've just got to do a little research before you go.

Before my recent road trip to Cleveland I checked out Guy Fieri's website for his TV show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. The best way to search is through THIS site. Just search for the city closest to your destination and you'll find tons of results. This is how divine intervention brought me to one of the best sandwiches I've ever had at MELT: Bar & Grilled. MELT serves over 30 kinds of gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. Cue salivary glands.

The environment is fun and upbeat but not too loud that you can't hold a conversation. It is decorated floor to sealing with kitschy knick-knacks, signs, and graffiti. Instead of waiting 30 minutes for a table, we sat at the bar where food is also served. There is tons of space at the bar and we had our food in under 30 minutes.

I ordered "The Firecracker" grilled cheese which consisted of a blackened Cajun chicken breast topped with avocado and grilled pineapple between melted provolone and toast. It was so good that I texted "OMG" to myself. The french fries were among the best I've ever had as well. The plate also included a sweet cole slaw that was dry (not mayo based) and delicious. See photos below for more (click to enlarge).

Giving is the Means of Receiving

"Why must we give ourselves fully to God? Because God has given himself to us. If God who owes nothing to us is ready to impart to us no less than himself, shall we answer with just a fraction of ourselves? To give ourselves fully to God is a means of receiving God himself. I for God and God for me. I live for God and give up my own self, and in this way induce God to live for me. Therefore to posses God we must allow him to posses our soul." - Mother Teresa

"Why Health Reform is Good News for the U.S. Economy"

The following is taken from Diane Francis' National Post column. Read full essay here.

"It works this way: If a worker in Canada or Europe or Japan loses his or her job, it’s a psychological and income blow. But if an American worker loses his or her job, the family faces financial ruin if sickness strikes any member because they are without health care coverage. Worse yet, if a major illness is diagnosed during a period of unemployment, a worker becomes unemployable, bringing about a life sentence of poverty.

1. The U.S. spent 16.2% of its GDP on health care plus up to 3% more on litigation concerning medical bills while other countries spend 10% and nothing on litigation because bills are paid by everyone. Lawsuits to recoup medical costs will slow because of Obamacare.

2. People with serious illnesses are uninsurable and are stuck in jobs they cannot leave or remain unemployed because they are unemployable. This will end if everyone’s covered.

3. Tens of millions of uninsured people in the U.S. end up with health problems that become a drain on society and economy. Under this reform, the 50 million uninsured people, mostly young healthy people, will have to be insured or pay fines, which will reduce overall costs because the paying base will be spread over the entire population.

4. Doctor, nursing, hospital and drug costs are out of control in the U.S. because of litigation and greed. American doctors over-service those with health insurance and fear of litigation has led to over-prescribing, testing and excessive costs. That fear has been removed."

Read full essay here.

A Line No Man Should Cross

There's a line that men like us have to cross, says Captain Martin Walker after we are bombarded with images of him shooting, stabbing, and murdering people amidst the explosions of warfare (and, seriously, is that the voice of Michael Douglas?). This is the trailer for the new third-person shooter video game Spec Ops: The Line, which comes out today (June 29).


While I am not a fan of violent video games to begin with, especially those of the Military Entertainment Complex, the slogan for this new game has me totally disgusted. Captain Walker's catchy phrase upsets me for a couple of reasons. First, it is an imperative: men like us have to cross the line. It gives the impression that this kind of violence is an unavoidable fact of reality. There is no other choice, someone must cross the line. Is this not the great lie of militarism? It is this rhetoric of the imperative that teaches us that violence is the only solution and we have no choice but to cross the line. Second, it smacks of an elitist machismo that depicts war and murder as something only the strongest men can do. The slogan shrewdly provokes adolescent male audiences to prove their manhood by crossing that obscure line that is war.


I recently learned just how obscure this line can be. A few weeks ago one of my father's friends, who is in the Army Reserves, was in California leading a squadron through a virtually simulated training session. After an intense firefight with enemy soldiers he and his unit learned that they failed the training session. They failed because he, being the commander, had told his unit not to shoot a 12-year-old boy who had picked up an I.E.D. 


Is this the line that some men have to cross? Is this the line that only certain men are strong enough, brave enough, patriotic enough to cross? Is this the line that must be crossed to maintain life as we know it? 


Forgive me for being dramatic. I don't mean to take one example and extrapolate it into a polemic. It's just that I am tired of militarism's lies. I'm tired of video games and TV news that tells us that war and violence is OK - because we don't have to see real blood, hear real screams, or smell real dead bodies. We get a nice, clean war (thank you Hollywood), not a real, bloody war. We get Captain Walker and the Spec Ops, not a war in which grown men are forced to shoot young boys holding explosives. We're told that there's a line that some men have to cross. No. I'm sorry. That's a line no man should cross. 


And isn't this the tragedy of war? It creates total lose-lose situations by forcing human beings to cross lines they were never meant to cross. The soldier who shoots and kills another man doesn't win. She or he loses as well. Anyone who's read Anthony Swofford, seen Jarhead or read about PTSD knows this.


As you can see, I'm not explicitly writing to gamers or calling for the wholesale renunciation of video games (not even this one). But I am saying that this new Spec Ops game is yet another pawn in militarism's game of control. And if we choose to passively accept the ideas of the Captain Walkers of the world, there is no hope for a time when we "learn war no more," (Isa. 2:4, Micah 4:3). As long as we believe that war's horrific lines must be crossed, there is no hope for the Reign of God. But perhaps there's a line that followers of Jesus have to cross. Maybe that's the line across which we move from the way of militarism to the way of Christ: love for enemies, proactive peacemaking, and non-violence. If you ask me, crossing this line is probably the most "violent" thing a person can do.

10 Songs You Know You Know (But Might Not Know)

Here's something you should know: ALL ART IS A COPY OF OTHER ART. No, really. There's even a website devoted to this phenomenon, it's called Everything Is a Remix. (My favorite video is one in which they show all of the copied martial arts moves in The Matrix.)  Some even say that there are only three ways to create art: copy, transform, combine (see photo left). One of the best examples of this is sampling in music. Here are 10 examples.*

10. Everybody knows Beyonce's "Crazy in Love"  because it topped the charts and it was in a 2003 Pepsi commercial.  But you might not know that the music sample comes from The Chi-Lites "Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So).

9. In 1981 a group named Wild Sugar put out a song called "Bring It Here." Can you guess where this reappeared 5 years later? Hint: a group of boys made a song about a metal primate. (Answer)

8. Touching the sky certainly requires upward movement, which is probably why Kanye West's "Touch the Sky" utilizes a sample from Curtis Mayfield's 1970 hit "Move on Up."

7. Listen to the first 5 seconds of Experience Unlimited's "Knock Him Out Sugar Ray" and see if you can guess where this drum sample later reappeared. Hint: "That was a good drum break..." (Answer)


6. M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" was one of the biggest chart toppers of the last 5 years. But do you know where her guitar sample comes from? It's blatantly "borrowed" from The Clash's "Straight to Hell."

5. One could devote a whole website to Jay-Z's samples but one of my all time favorites comes from "December 4th" off the Black Album. This catchy sample comes from The Chi-Lite's "That's How Long."

4. Miss Rhianna is a queen of sampling. Her 2006 hit "SOS" clearly sampled Soft Cell's "Tainted Love."   And her "Talk That Talk" gets its guitar hook from "Intro" by The Xx.

3. There ain't no pop music like Motown. That's why Justin Bieber (a.ka. his producers) pretty much stole the Temptation's song "Lady Soul" to recreate his hit "Baby."

2. If you think that Hip-Hop and R&B are the only genres that borrow from other tunes, think again. It's kind of creepy to hear how closely Albert Hammond's "The Air That I Breathe" sounds like Radiohead's 1992 hit "Creep."  See also Radiohead's copy of The Beatles on Karma Police.

1. Think that catchy melody in Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" was all Chris Martin? It may have been. Or it may have been the sweet guitar riffage of Joe Satriani...




* Another great example is this blog post. Most of this content is not my original thought or work. I have simply connected the dots (combine) and re-presented the information in a new medium (transform). If you want to check out more music samples, go to WhoSampled.com