The 180 Blog

Contents

1. 180 News
2. Something for Your Heart
3. Surf Report
4. Birthdays
5. Video of The Week
6. Forgettable Fact
7. Potent Quotables
8. Uh, That's Funny?

1. 180 NEWS

Guys Grub Camp

Our middle school guys had a great time up on the Clackamas River at Grub Camp this last weekend.


Want to see some of what we did? Check out the pictures here.

We had great times of sitting around the fire, playing and rafting in the river, fishing, and to top it all off got to witness the baptism of Kip Koenig! Great time!


The Burn

Last Wednesday was an incredible night of worship at The Burn! We joined three other youth groups over at Tigard Church of God for a night including a great BBQ, volleyball, badminton, basketball, frisbee, and an amazing time of worship.

Our worship time was led by Pastor Aaron and team, and was then followed by a great time of prayer for our community.


If you have not yet joined us for a Burn, make sure you mark you calendar now for Wednesday, September 17 for our next one. We are excited about what God is doing in His Church here in Tigard!

Mission Trips

Pray for our High School Mexico Outreach Team as they leave tomorrow for 11 days in Ensenada Mexico. To see who is on the team and learn how you can pray specifically for each member visit their online prayer guide.

Pray for our Middle School Ministry Team as they leave next Monday, August 4th, for 5 days of ministering to the needy in the Newberg area. The team will be living on the campus of George Fox University and will be a part of the Student Life camp taking place there.

Due to the mission trips, there will be no 180 Newsletter published next week.

2. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

WHAT IS ABSOLUTE TRUTH?

In formal discussion groups with students, I've asked them to define "absolute truth" as a group. I approach the whiteboard with marker in hand, ready to scribble down their profound answers.

"What," I ask, "is absolute truth?"

"When you think that...um, when..." This student's thought trails off, and he looks at the ceiling with a sigh.

"Reality."

"What you like."

"What you believe."

Then I turn to the adults in the group and ask the same question.

One leader remarks, "When what you think is true?"

Oops. We can't use the word we're defining as part of the definition. That's like defining sailing as, er, "to sail."

I've had adult leaders approach me and admit that students don't know how to define truth because their teachers don't know much about it, either.

I hope you feel a bit relieved by that. It's hard to believe in something if you don't even know what it is. It may not be your fault.

But you're still responsible to know what it is.

I'm confident that most teachers affirm absolute truth, even though they can't define it. They have a sense of what it is; however, that sense is not often clear enough to pass on to the next generation--your generation. Is there any wonder why students today don't know how to answer the question of whether or not there is absolute truth? We simply don't know what it is.

The definition of truth is quite simple, but it takes some thinking. Like the rules of tennis, truth is simple to understand. But you have to pay attention to start getting it. And no matter who you are, whether you're an A student or a D student, you can understand this and use it in your everyday world:

"Truth is an idea or a belief about something that shows up in the real world."

Or to put it another way, "truth is when an idea reflects the way the world really is."

Or to put it another way, "truth is an idea or a belief that is a fact."

Or more philosophically speaking--"truth is a proposition that corresponds to reality."

Whew, there's the definition! All of these say pretty much the same thing, just in different ways. Now reread these definitions to make sure you've got it in your head.

TRUTH EXAMPLES

Suppose I'm looking for my car keys. I usually have a hard time putting them in the same place twice. My wife, Jonalyn, set up a system in our home where the keys go in the key box near the door. But I keep forgetting about that system, and I only remember it when my keys are lost.

So I'm still looking for my car keys.

Upon walking into my study, I suddenly see the keys sitting on my desk. I see the keys. I now have the idea that the keys are sitting on the desk. Because the idea that the keys are sitting on the desk accurately reflects the fact that the keys are on the desk, I now have truth. My idea mirrors the way things are. My idea links with the facts, just as a rock climber links his carabiner with the piton drilled into the side of the mountain.

Suppose I'm planning to drive to Gino's Pizza in Laguna Beach. Unsure of where the restaurant is located, I go online and print out the directions. Then I follow every turn, and I arrive at the pizza place precisely as the map directs me. The map was true because the map reflects the way the roads really are.

Many times, however, those online maps have led me astray, and I've had to stop at gas stations to ask for the proper directions. In those moments, we'd probably call the map false. Why? Because it does not reflect the way the roads really are. (And my friends ate all the pizza because I was late.)

Since we're using the topic of driving, let's suppose my Jeep is in the shop for a flat tire. A few hours pass before I receive a phone call from my mechanic who says the work is complete.

Suddenly, a new idea comes into my mind that I have a repaired tire on my truck. I haven't actually seen the tire. I only have the idea of this repaired tire because my mechanic told me about it. My wife drives me to the shop. I pay the bill, take my keys, and go to my Jeep. I look down at the wheel sporting a freshly repaired tire. In that instant, the idea that my tire was repaired corresponds with the real repaired tire I'm looking at. In that moment--when my belief about the tire and the real tire link up together--I experience truth.

Truth is all about the content of ideas linking with the way the world is.

If this still isn't clear, go back a few paragraphs, read the examples again, and see if it doesn't make a little more sense to you.

The goal of this chapter (like all important things) is not for us to complete it quickly, but to understand it well. Give yourself the freedom to take your time on it. And always be willing to reread.

TRUTH IN ROMANCE

When Jonalyn first caught my eye, it was because she let her hair down--literally. She usually hid those beautiful, thick, brown curls by wearing her hair up. But one evening she let her hair down, and it caught my attention.

That's when I started talking with her more and sending e-mails to her.

I was getting the impression she liked me, too. I mean, after all, do people keep writing you back and calling you on the phone if they don't?

My belief that she liked me continued to grow, until one day I asked her to be my girlfriend. It took her a couple days to reply (and I felt as though I were dangling on the edge of a cliff), but she finally said yes.

In that moment of excitement, something happened (besides sparks flying). Truth happened. My belief that she liked me linked up with the reality that she did like me. I was a lucky guy.

Truth is everywhere, like the air we breathe. Even in our dating lives.

So let's review here: "Truth is when an idea links up with the real world." Such as those times when I found my keys, realized my tire was repaired, and discovered that my belief that Jonalyn liked me actually reflected the fact that she really did like me.

This definition of truth is so important--I cannot stress it enough. Burn the concept into your mind.

**

Taken from "Living with Questions" by Dale Fincher, copyright 2007 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here.


3. SURF REPORT

~ Love, Sex, and Dating Advice from Campus Life's Ignite

~ College: As Seen on TV

4. BIRTHDAYS

We've got two weeks of birthdays to celebrate this week! We wish the best of birthdays to Heather Grundy, Katie Vaughn, Chelsea Etherington, and Talon Perez. Hope you all have great birthdays!

5. VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Our middle school group has a great time at Wild Waves a couple of weeks ago. Here is how some of it looked!




6. FORGETTABLE FACT

At birth, a panda bear is smaller than a mouse.


7. POTENT QUOTABLES

"Life is an adventure in forgiveness."
~ Norman Cousins

"The fewer the words, the better the prayer."
~ Martin Luther

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8. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink what comes out"?

1. 180 News
2. Something for Your Heart
3. Surf Report
4. Birthdays
5. Forgettable Fact
6. Potent Quotables
7. Uh, That's Funny?

1. 180 NEWS

Wild Waves



Our Middle Schoolers had a blast, or perhaps "splash" at Wild Waves last Thursday!

Check out all the pics here!







The Burn

Hey everyone this Wednesday is The Burn. Join us for a great night of worship, encouragement and a BBQ with other Tigard area youth groups.


Please bring $2 for dinner and meet us at Tigard Church of God from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Find directions to Tigard Church of God here.

There will be no Middle School Danger Zone this week. Please join us on Wednesday!

Mexico Outreach



It's only 8 days away...Mexico! After much preparation and planning, the trip is nearly here. Please pray for us each day. You can see our prayer requests online at 180students.com/mexico08. Pray for the message of the good news of Jesus to be seen and heard through our actions and words. Pray for safety and unity.



MS Guys Grub Camp

Gentlemen it all happens this weekend! Here are a few things to remember.


• We leave at 2:00 PM on Friday and return at 4:00 PM on Sunday
• Bring with you grubby clothes, swimwear, and river shoes, a sleeping bag, and whatever other personal items you think you will need for two nights away, oh and also some junk food to share with everyone!



2. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

DO-IT-YOURSELF SPIRITUALITY

Increasingly, people seeking religious input draw more from the Internet than from church history, more from their own intuition than formal study. When you wed the American independent streak with a postmodern skepticism toward institutions, you set the stage for what theologians call syncretism, which is the blending of elements from various faiths into a new form of spirituality. Like grazing at the buffet table at an all-you-can eat cafeteria, syncretists adopt doctrines that seem appropriate to them and leave behind others they regard as offensive or outdated. What emerges is a Jesus customized for their worldview--a designer Jesus.

A 2005 survey by CBS disclosed that 36 percent of Americans combine the teachings of more than one religion into their own faith. Thus, Los Angeles Lakers basketball coach Phil Jackson calls himself "a Zen Christian," while a well-known actress once identified herself as a Christian who is "into goddess worship." One Presbyterian minister described how he was taken aback when a woman introduced herself to him by saying, "I'm a Presbyterian Buddhist."

The attitude of many Americans is that they like Jesus but not the church, which they see as exclusionary, condemning, intolerant, and intent on strapping people into a straitjacket of rigid beliefs. But the Jesus they like may look very different from the historical Jesus. If the traditional church imagines Jesus as a finely painted portrait, then syncretists often render him as abstract art--many times to the point where he's unrecognizable from the Jesus of ancient creeds.

For syncretists, that's okay. Many of them find their Jesus more satisfying than the judgmental Jesus they learned about in Sunday school. Besides, they assert, who's to say which Jesus is more "real" than the others? If history is all based on someone's interpretation, they reason, then nobody can be certain who Jesus was and what he taught anyway. In this age when "you have your truth, and I have mine," the important issue becomes what "works" for each individual life.

INTERVIEW #6: PAUL COPAN, PHD

My wife, Leslie, and I were chatting about these sorts of issues in my office one Saturday afternoon. The title of a book, crowded among many others on my shelves, caught her eye: True for You, But Not for Me. She pulled it out. "Maybe you ought to talk to the person who wrote this," she suggested as she handed the book to me.

I was familiar with the author, Paul Copan. When Leslie mentioned him, I remembered he's among the leading experts in this area. "That's a good idea," I said, and within days I'd made arrangements to fl y to Florida and meet with him in his offices in West Palm Beach.

Copan and I sat down at a round wooden table in the corner of his office, flanked by floor-to-ceiling shelves teeming with books. I started with a broad question to lay the foundation for our discussion. As I did so, I thought of Pontius Pilate's question two millennia ago: "What is truth?"

IT'S ALL RELATIVE

"We're living in a postmodern era in which concepts like 'truth' and 'morality' are more elastic than in the past," I said to Copan. "How do you define postmodernism?"

"First, it's helpful to know what modernism involves," Copan said. "Modernism can be traced back to René Descartes, the 17th-century French philosopher who is famous for his pursuit of certainty. Descartes said that one thing he couldn't doubt was that he was thinking, so his starting point for knowledge became, 'I think, therefore, I am.' There was a sense in which you had to have 100 percent certainty or you couldn't know something," Copan continued.

"So postmodernism is a reaction to Descartes' quest for certainty and to the creation of systems like rationalism, romanticism, Marxism, Nazism, and scientism. These systems tend to oppress people who disagree with those in power--the Jews under Nazism and the capitalists under Marxism, for example. French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard said that, simplifying to the extreme, postmodernism is suspicion toward a 'metanarrative'--a 'big-picture' view of the world--that's taken to be true for all people in all cultures and which ends up oppressing people."

I was thinking through the implications as he was talking. "The idea, then, is that certainty leads to oppression?" I asked.

"When people are so certain that they've got the truth and believe their system explains everything, then people who disagree with them are on the outside. They end up in Auschwitz or the Soviet gulags," he said. "So instead of 'meta-narratives,' postmodernism emphasizes 'mini-narratives.' In other words, each person has his or her own viewpoint or story."

"And each viewpoint is as valid as any other," I said, more of an observation than a question.

"That's the postmodern view, yes. There's a suspicion toward sweeping-truth claims, which are seen as power grabbing: Whoever is in charge can say 'This is true' and then back it up by oppressing those who disagree."

"And suspicion of truth can contribute, in some cases, to relativism," I commented.

"Right. To the relativist, no fact is true in all times and all places. The beliefs of a person are 'true' for him, but not necessarily for anyone else. This means that one person's 'truth,' which really amounts to his or her opinion, can directly conflict with another person's 'truth' and still be valid.

"To the relativist, no religion is universally or exclusively true. You can have your kind of Jesus, and I can have mine; it doesn't matter if our views contradict each other. There's no universal right and wrong. Moral values are true--or 'genuine'--for some, but not for others. Since there are different expressions of morality in the world, there's no reason to think that one viewpoint is any more true than another."

I searched my mind for an example. "So adultery can be okay for some people but not for others?" I asked.

"In the view of the relativist, yes," he replied. "Something is wrong only if you feel it's wrong. Now, relativists may not approve of adultery, and they may even have strong reservations about it. But they'll say, 'Who am I to say someone else is wrong?'"

"What are the greatest shortcomings of relativism?" I asked.

"Relativism falls apart logically when you examine it. As a worldview, it simply doesn't work," he said.

I was looking for specifics. "Tell me why," I said.

"For instance, relativists believe that relativism is true not just for them but for every person. They believe that relativism applies to non-relativists ('true for you'), not just to themselves ('true for me'). The relativists find themselves in a bind if we ask them, 'Is relativism absolutely true for everyone?' To be consistent, the relativist must say, 'There's no reason to take seriously the claim that every belief is as good as every other belief, since this belief itself would be no better than any other.'"

Even so, I knew there must be reasons why postmodernism has taken root. "Are there aspects of postmodernism that make sense to you?" I asked.

"Despite some of its own incoherencies, yes, there are some lessons we can learn from it," he said. "For example, we do have our limitations, biases, and perspectives. We should admit that.

"Also, those with cultural or political power--even those with religious power--many times do try to spin the truth to suit their own agenda. And meta-narratives often do alienate and marginalize outsiders--although I should note that Christianity teaches the intrinsic value of every individual, including the disfranchised."

**

Taken from "The Case for the Real Jesus" by Lee Strobel and Jane Vogel, copyright 2008 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here.


3. SURF REPORT

~ Soulation: Sturdy Answers, Better Souls

~ Defending Your Faith: Articles from Campus Life magazine


4. BIRTHDAYS

We’ve got two birthday shout outs this week. We’re wishing the very best of birthdays to Mitch Brannen and Jordan Lambert! Hope your birthdays are GREAT!


5. FORGETTABLE FACT

If you shake a can of mixed nuts, the larger ones go to the top.


6. POTENT QUOTABLES

"Families are like fudge...mostly sweet with a few nuts."
~ Author Unknown

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
~ Gandhi

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7. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?

Q. How many legs does a horse have if you call its tail a leg?
A. Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one.

1. 180 News
2. Something for Your Heart
3. Surf Report
4. Birthdays
5. Forgettable Fact
6. Potent Quotables
7. Uh, That's Funny?

1. 180 NEWS

Summer Celebration

Wednesday night, July 2, was our annual kick off to summer...Summer Celebration! Despite the unexpected rain shower, it was a great night which included barbecued hamburgers, guitarchestra, crazy water games, lot's of Mexican Coke, and the Diet Coke and Mentos show!

2. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

Day 11:Jesus feeds 5,000: A touch of heavenMOOD: WEIRD

John 6:1-21

1 The following period, Jesus crossed to the dry area diagonally from the Sea of Galilee (a.k.a. Tiberius),

2 where the crowds were furiously thick, tagging behind, fascinated by his miraculous signs which he did on those sickly.

3 So quickly, Jesus went up a mountainside to recline, kickin' back with his closest students for a time of brief interlude.

4 The highest feast of the Jews, Passover, would be coming soon.

5 When Jesus looked up & right in his view he saw the masses coming to see him--they found him--it touched his heart so he wanted to go & feed them. So he turned to Philip and beseeched him, "Where can we buy food, so the people can eat some?"

6 He asked the question to really teach him; he already figured out the procedures.

7 Philip was like, "Jesus, I know your heart is right, but I doubt that one might supply a bite for each one of these Israelites, even w/ 10 billion mites."

8 Then another discip'e, Andrew, Peter's brother, spake up to shed some light:

9 "This kid here has two small fish and five cheap loaves of bread, but with this many heads, how far will that spread?"

10 Then Jesus said, "We'll have the people take a seat." There were 5,000 men alone but plenty of space for each.

11 Then Jesus reached for the bread and gave thanks for the dish and gave it to his crew, who gave to the people & he did the same with the fish.

12 And get this: All the people ate as much as they wished! Then Jesus had his crew gather together the leftovers so that none would be ditched.

13 From five little barley loaves & two tiny fishes, they added up the fragments to 12 baskets of deliciousness.

14 This was a sign. The people insisted when they saw what Jesus just did, "I swear to you that he's a prophet!"

15 They were hype about this topic & Jesus, using spiritual optics, saw that they were locked on making him their king--no stopping. So he departed, back to the mountain alone where he started to roam.

16 Later in the night the disciples went down to the sea,

17 undocked their ship, and got on, heading out toward Capernaum. See...they had waited for Jesus to get back, but they went without him because by now the sky was pitch black.

18 And strong winds began to attack and howl, making the waves wild.

19 When they had rowed the boat between three to four miles, they looked out on the water and was like, "Wow!" they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking, staying afloat--the sight was so awesome that they were scared speechless, lump in the throat.

20 But then Jesus spoke, "It is I. You don't have to be afraid; you're not about to die." And their fears did subside.

21 Needless to say, they wanted him to come and get inside, and in no time they arrived at their destination on the other side, alive.

DevotionalDiscovering the other side of Jesus

To embark upon any new adventure, a person would normally leave room to be surprised by new experiences--but the disciples were in no way prepared for the 32-month journey when they ran with Jesus. They knew he was a man because they ate, slept, laughed, and lived with him. Yet Jesus was prone to show them another side to his nature that jacked them up. Jesus simply being himself activated a theological and social tailspin that threw the disciples off their game, constantly causing them to question each other: "What kind of man is this?" Although they never approached Jesus with that type of question, he always told them who he was. Not only did he tell them, but he also backed it up by showing and proving. Miracles were the norm for Jesus because to him heaven was not so far away, and he stayed in touch. Yet he was introducing the disciples to a brand-new world that took some time to get used to...if they ever actually did get used to the surprises of Jesus.

Surprise, surprise!

- What's the biggest surprise from God you've ever experienced?

- Name three subtle surprises we experience every day that are miracles just as big as walking on water.

- Out of all the miracles Jesus did, which one would you most like to have seen?

Breathe Out: Rap ItFreestyle a dramatic account of Jesus walking on the water.

**

Taken from "The Script" by Fred Lynch, copyright 2008 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Pre-order the book here.

3. SURF REPORT

~ Play City: Play to change the world

~ The Truth Remix: Listen to your favorite songs from the Truth campaign, remixed by top DJs

4. BIRTHDAYS

We've got birthday shout out this week and it goes to Lucas Munger. We wish you the BEST Lucas! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

5. FORGETTABLE FACT

One 75-watt bulb gives more light than three 25-watt bulbs.

6. POTENT QUOTABLES

"Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."~ Aldous Huxley"When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place."~ Unknown

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7. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?

What kind of water never freezes?Hot water.