"Inside the Mind of a Teenage Killer"
By Phil Chalmers
Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 2009
Completed June 21, 2013
I am not generally a reader or fan of "True Crime". It tends to be very sensational or voyeuristic. This book was on the resource table at a conference where Lt. Col. Dave Grossman was the speaker. Lt. Col. Grossman's words are prophetic to my mind and I picked up this book on his recommendation.
This book once again reinforces the need my church has for a youth group. As painful as it was, as disturbing as it was, I plowed through this book because there are two things that I need this knowledge for. First, on behalf of my youth, I need to know what I am looking at when there might be a killer in front of me. I don't want the youth in my care and in my flock to be at risk because I didn't do everything that I could to learn about what makes a killer kid.
The second thing I am taking from this book is the structure on how to build the antithesis of what it contains. What? This goes to the root of what good church does in our society. The very things that Phil Chalmers has taken the time and the energy to document are the very things that the church and people of faith HAVE TO UNDERSTAND IN ORDER TO DECONSTRUCT THEM. In other words, from this book can be taken the lessons of what a church needs to do to build a culture that undercuts those things that go into raising teen killers in today's society.
I found his conclusions compelling because they are not simple. And they resonate with my own experiences as a minister and as a father. And he has taken a compassionate view with these kids that I bless him for. But this book is not for the faint of heart.
Is the book without failings? I could do without the reference at the end of every chapter to the resources Mr. Chalmers has documenting the cases in this volume in greater detail. And I am a lot more of a liberal when it comes to my views and opinions on gun control so I am not as convinced by some of Mr. Chalmers suggestions (although it is fun to shoot).
The final question I took away from this book was how Phil Chalmers restores his own soul in the face of all evil manifested in all the kids he's interviewed and worked with. He will be in my prayers.
SPOILER ALERT: Chapter 12; "Raising a Killer in Ten Easy Steps", really got me. Mr. Chalmers summarizes, step by step, the data he's presented through the book in a list written as a perverse primer on what parents should and ought to be doing to raise teenage killers. He's very clear at the beginning and the end of the chapter that he is intentionally doing this but his aim is to make us "see reality through absurdity". "Raising a Killer in Ten Easy Steps" could be a satirical self-help parenting guide, or, in my business, a twisted sermon series. For me, it is going to become the framework on which to build the youth program for next year.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Review: World War Z
World War Z
by Max Brooks
New York: Crown Publishers, 2006.
Completed June 19, 2013
I like zombie-stuff. "Night of the Living Dead", "The Walking Dead", "Marvel Zombies"... "Zombieland" is a movie my daughter and I share an affection for. World War Z takes it to a new level. First person narrative accounts in the aftermath of the war was the ideal way to tell the story. It provided a level of realism that took my breath away. I don't know how the movie will begin to touch the book. I hope, for Brad Pitt's sake, that he doesn't even try.
The best zombie 'stuff' is never about the zombies. It is about the human drama that is taken to an existential extreme because of the threat to our very existence. World War Z, in that vein, is not about zombies. Rather, it documents the human condition after the worst possible circumstances. And we come out hopeful.
I think Max Brooks did an amazing job drawing out the different perspectives of our global village, portraying national identities, defining individual stories, all tied together yet individual in their tellings.
SPOILER ALERT: There was one point that really cut me to the quick. It was the role of the chaplain, the minister of God, in the war. It had to be Russian. Novels, and in particular science fiction novels, let you think about things in ways that nothing else does.
I've run into this idea before, in the movie DOOM, in the second of the "Starship Troopers" movie, the idea of what happens to the human being when something takes over their mental faculties, what is their responsibility-and, by extension, what is God's love for them? Goes to an extreme in considering God's love for all of us, no matter who we are.
The answer in the above examples was the person taking their own life before being taken over. World War Z goes to another place with it. Typical zombie thing, they bite you, infect you, you become one of them. In the World War, there are soldier who get bitten, then infected. Brooks sets the scenario that the usual response, killing them outright, is not an option.
So who kills the infected? They haven't turned, but they are going to, it is inevitable. They will become the instruments of the destruction of their friends and comrades if something isn't done. At first, it is the responsibility of the officers and NCO's, who are quickly overwhelmed by the task. There is enough in leading these men and women to their possible deaths, much less pulling the trigger if they, in the combat against the undead, become infected by them. So the task then passes to the victims themselves, to end their own lives before they become the very thing their army fights.
So enters the chaplain, the presence of God in the lives of these people. How do you give pastoral care to those who are so doomed? Tie to that the sinfulness implicit in suicide in Christian thought and what is the natural progression? Should it not be the chaplain, the presence of God, who takes on the role of he or she that releases the souls of the doomed to God?
The passage describing the chaplain taking out his sidearm is chilling.
by Max Brooks
New York: Crown Publishers, 2006.
Completed June 19, 2013
I like zombie-stuff. "Night of the Living Dead", "The Walking Dead", "Marvel Zombies"... "Zombieland" is a movie my daughter and I share an affection for. World War Z takes it to a new level. First person narrative accounts in the aftermath of the war was the ideal way to tell the story. It provided a level of realism that took my breath away. I don't know how the movie will begin to touch the book. I hope, for Brad Pitt's sake, that he doesn't even try.
The best zombie 'stuff' is never about the zombies. It is about the human drama that is taken to an existential extreme because of the threat to our very existence. World War Z, in that vein, is not about zombies. Rather, it documents the human condition after the worst possible circumstances. And we come out hopeful.
I think Max Brooks did an amazing job drawing out the different perspectives of our global village, portraying national identities, defining individual stories, all tied together yet individual in their tellings.
SPOILER ALERT: There was one point that really cut me to the quick. It was the role of the chaplain, the minister of God, in the war. It had to be Russian. Novels, and in particular science fiction novels, let you think about things in ways that nothing else does.
I've run into this idea before, in the movie DOOM, in the second of the "Starship Troopers" movie, the idea of what happens to the human being when something takes over their mental faculties, what is their responsibility-and, by extension, what is God's love for them? Goes to an extreme in considering God's love for all of us, no matter who we are.
The answer in the above examples was the person taking their own life before being taken over. World War Z goes to another place with it. Typical zombie thing, they bite you, infect you, you become one of them. In the World War, there are soldier who get bitten, then infected. Brooks sets the scenario that the usual response, killing them outright, is not an option.
So who kills the infected? They haven't turned, but they are going to, it is inevitable. They will become the instruments of the destruction of their friends and comrades if something isn't done. At first, it is the responsibility of the officers and NCO's, who are quickly overwhelmed by the task. There is enough in leading these men and women to their possible deaths, much less pulling the trigger if they, in the combat against the undead, become infected by them. So the task then passes to the victims themselves, to end their own lives before they become the very thing their army fights.
So enters the chaplain, the presence of God in the lives of these people. How do you give pastoral care to those who are so doomed? Tie to that the sinfulness implicit in suicide in Christian thought and what is the natural progression? Should it not be the chaplain, the presence of God, who takes on the role of he or she that releases the souls of the doomed to God?
The passage describing the chaplain taking out his sidearm is chilling.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The Morning After...
It is the day after Christmas. The day after we celebrated the birth of Jesus. More than a week after the shooting in Newtown, Ct. And the news has faded, falling in behind news of the Fiscal Cliff and end-of-year sales figures. After all, that is about the economy. Are you tired of hearing about it yet?
I struggled. I struggled with faith questions, trying to put together an answer for myself, something that might fly with other people as we questioned what happened. I don't have an answer, but I have come to realize again that I don't need one. I don't expect we'll ever have an answer. But I found out something of much deeper importance did happen, at least for me. Are you tired of hearing about it yet?
I know this in my head, but I received a heart lesson on the faithfulness of God. I struggled, but God was steadfast. I questioned, but Jesus held firm. I had doubts, but the Spirit did not vacate the soul of this doubter. And, a week later, when the Christmas pageant was presented in worship at our church, I believed even more of the power of Christmas.
I worry. Everyone who came in the doors of the church that morning, I scrutinized. Are they church members? Are they guests? Are they armed? That worry is still very much part of the attitude I bring into the church, but the power of the Living God is greater still.
What is different? I am. I am more sensitive to things, at least for now. I am more aware of just how precious life is, of how it can't be taken for granted. I was aware this Christmas for the first time in a long time just how incredible a thing it is that the power of the Living God was harnessed and pulled back and invested into the form of a baby.
The New Year is coming. All the hope and wonder of the New Year depends on the promises delivered at Christmas. May the New Year be one of great blessings to us all.
I struggled. I struggled with faith questions, trying to put together an answer for myself, something that might fly with other people as we questioned what happened. I don't have an answer, but I have come to realize again that I don't need one. I don't expect we'll ever have an answer. But I found out something of much deeper importance did happen, at least for me. Are you tired of hearing about it yet?
I know this in my head, but I received a heart lesson on the faithfulness of God. I struggled, but God was steadfast. I questioned, but Jesus held firm. I had doubts, but the Spirit did not vacate the soul of this doubter. And, a week later, when the Christmas pageant was presented in worship at our church, I believed even more of the power of Christmas.
I worry. Everyone who came in the doors of the church that morning, I scrutinized. Are they church members? Are they guests? Are they armed? That worry is still very much part of the attitude I bring into the church, but the power of the Living God is greater still.
What is different? I am. I am more sensitive to things, at least for now. I am more aware of just how precious life is, of how it can't be taken for granted. I was aware this Christmas for the first time in a long time just how incredible a thing it is that the power of the Living God was harnessed and pulled back and invested into the form of a baby.
The New Year is coming. All the hope and wonder of the New Year depends on the promises delivered at Christmas. May the New Year be one of great blessings to us all.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Pregnant Through Rape-What Should We Think?
I wasn't sure if I was going to "go here". But I don't know how I can't.
“...even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape,
that is something God intended to happen.” So said Richard Mourdock in a debate for the Senate. He lost.
"First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. Let's assume that maybe that didn't work, or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child." So said Todd Akin to a reporter in his run for the Senate. He lost.
I don't know how to express my anger at what they said. I am so disgusted. Yet at the same time, I believe these gentlemen are being honest about their feelings and their positions on the question of abortion. I don't admire them for that. I expect honesty from those people that would seek votes. I know, how naive am I? But I expect it. And they received the results that I would expect for making comments like that, they lost.
Consider their words. First, Mr. Mourdock: God intends for a life to begin in rape, even the "horrible situation" of rape. So, God intends the rape, God intends the rapist, God intends the attack, God intends the life of the woman to be shredded, God intends all of that. The abstract phrase says something like "God authors evil". But this puts the intention of God for the most horrible crime to happen to my wife or my daughter?
I am a pastor and I tell you no God I believe in works that way.
Now, Mr Akin. Legitimate rape? And the female body has ways to try and shut the whole process down? What are you talking about? The victim committing suicide? Or maybe a d & c? I read that and I come away with the twisted perception that Mr. Akin is putting the responsibility for the pregnancy and the rape back on the woman. It was somehow "legitimate", she can "fix it".
I am a man and I tell you that "no" means "no". The moment the man ignores that, the crime has begun-inside marriage, outside marriage, wherever. And, insult to injury, the woman is raped and she is responsible for birth control too? Really? Can such ignorance really exist?
You want a better perspective? You want a more pastoral perspective? Andrew Solomon spoke extensively about the children born to women who have been raped in an interview with Terry Gross on NPR's program "Fresh Air" as part of a discussion of his book "Far From the Tree". You can find the interview at http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/. I heard the interview on Nov. 12.
As a member of my church, I am called upon to take time for my neighbor, to pray for my neighbor, to serve my neighbor. Andrew Solomon gives insight on what that is like far more
Sunday, November 11, 2012
What Do You Remember from School?
I went to a Christian High School out on the west coast. (Pacific Northwest, so West Coast, not 'left coast' in California). And something happened there at recess and lunch time and between classes that would be absolutely intolerable in any high school today. 40-75% of the student body at any given point would troop out the back doors of the school into the 'smoke hole' located in the woods behind the school to light up on cigarettes.
Grades 8-12, Christian kids, from a bunch of churches around the area, smoked, maybe up to a pack a day. And it was okay. And teachers who smoked had duty out there in the smoke hole. When I graduated, grade 12, there was finally a move afoot to phase out the smoking and the smoke hole, from the incoming 8th grade class and up, year by year.
I remember my senior high trip to the capital city. Big attraction was a smoke shop. Turkish cigarettes were the rage, if I remember correctly.
I knew people who would get me alcohol, if I asked. I knew who was having premarital sex.
Yah, Christian High School.
But there were a few things I wouldn't be able to tell you. I wouldn't have been able to tell you where to get drugs. I could not have told you who in our class might be the one who would bring a gun to school to shoot someone with. That wasn't even in our focus. There was low-level bullying, especially if you didn't smell like cigarettes...
And the strange thing is that our church Youth Groups-Young People Societies-did a pretty good job "churching" us. There wasn't the decimation of young people that seems to occur all too often somewhere between the latter stages of high school and college. There was some, of course, but not so bad.
So now, here we are a generation later. More stuff, more availability of stuff, more tempting stuff, more needs for the church to do something in the lives of young people. 1 Corinthians 13, translated just before, the choice of so many weddings, is the bible's voice to the question of Love. It is also the Scripture for Youth Sunday next week.
How does the culture of young people today stand against those verses? More focus on that this week.
Grades 8-12, Christian kids, from a bunch of churches around the area, smoked, maybe up to a pack a day. And it was okay. And teachers who smoked had duty out there in the smoke hole. When I graduated, grade 12, there was finally a move afoot to phase out the smoking and the smoke hole, from the incoming 8th grade class and up, year by year.
I remember my senior high trip to the capital city. Big attraction was a smoke shop. Turkish cigarettes were the rage, if I remember correctly.
I knew people who would get me alcohol, if I asked. I knew who was having premarital sex.
Yah, Christian High School.
But there were a few things I wouldn't be able to tell you. I wouldn't have been able to tell you where to get drugs. I could not have told you who in our class might be the one who would bring a gun to school to shoot someone with. That wasn't even in our focus. There was low-level bullying, especially if you didn't smell like cigarettes...
And the strange thing is that our church Youth Groups-Young People Societies-did a pretty good job "churching" us. There wasn't the decimation of young people that seems to occur all too often somewhere between the latter stages of high school and college. There was some, of course, but not so bad.
So now, here we are a generation later. More stuff, more availability of stuff, more tempting stuff, more needs for the church to do something in the lives of young people. 1 Corinthians 13, translated just before, the choice of so many weddings, is the bible's voice to the question of Love. It is also the Scripture for Youth Sunday next week.
How does the culture of young people today stand against those verses? More focus on that this week.
Monday, November 5, 2012
1 Corinthians 13: A translation for my youth
If I talk using really big and complicated words, or if I am talking in some weird religious "angel-speak", but I don't have love, I'm no different than your cel phone going off in the middle of class-noisy, disruptive, and not at all helpful.
If I prophecy-that is speak God's word about now and the future; if I figured out ALL God's mysteries; if God gave me the ability to know EVERYTHING; if my faith was so strong that I could knock a mountain over with a feather, BUT I don't have love, I am nothing-zero, nada, empty, done.
If I give away everything that I have to help poor people, if I let myself get killed because of what I say I believe in, but I don't have love, I get NOTHING out of it.
To be a loving person is to do the following:
Love is to Put up with all the crap dished out by other people.
Love is Not only acting good toward other people, but thinking good about them too.
Love is Not to be jealous of other people.
Love is Not to go "me first", ever.
Love is Not behaving like some show off, know-it-all.
Love is Not being full of yourself.
Love is Not getting in someone else's face.
Love is Not simply trying to get everything for yourself.
Love is Not easily p****d...er...ticked off.
Love does NOT keep score of the bad things that are done by others.
Love does NOT think it is cool when others do bad things, like dissing other people, like bullying other people, get the picture?
Rather, Love knows that the TRUTH of the thing is cool-no matter the cost.
Love puts up with everything.
Love believes everything.
Love hopes for everything.
Love patiently lives through everything.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Love CAN'T fail-EVER.
Remember the stuff about prophecies? That is going to be eliminated.
Fancy words and weird religious angel-speak? It is going to stop.
Knowledge about everything? It is also going to be eliminated.
Right now, we only have part of the story. So, like, when someone prophecies and such, we only get part of the story.
But when love is made perfect, SNAP, we get the whole story, perfect and complete,
and the part we got right now will be eliminated.
Another way to think about the love being made complete:
When I was a baby,
I talked baby talk-goo goo gah gah
I thought like a baby-in my head-goo goo gah gah
I figured things out like a baby.
But when I grew up, I ditched all the baby-stuff. Does that make sense?
Let me try another one:
When the love is only in part, it is like trying to look into the bathroom mirror by the light of a small candle when the power has gone out, trying to pick out your reflection to do makeup or shave or whatever in the dim light.
BUT, when we get the lights back-when the love is complete-everything is clear.
It is like I said before, right now I only know a part of the story,
but THEN I will know everything just like everything about me is going to be known.
So right now we got three things, faith, hope, and love,
But LOVE is by far the greatest of the three.
If I prophecy-that is speak God's word about now and the future; if I figured out ALL God's mysteries; if God gave me the ability to know EVERYTHING; if my faith was so strong that I could knock a mountain over with a feather, BUT I don't have love, I am nothing-zero, nada, empty, done.
If I give away everything that I have to help poor people, if I let myself get killed because of what I say I believe in, but I don't have love, I get NOTHING out of it.
To be a loving person is to do the following:
Love is to Put up with all the crap dished out by other people.
Love is Not only acting good toward other people, but thinking good about them too.
Love is Not to be jealous of other people.
Love is Not to go "me first", ever.
Love is Not behaving like some show off, know-it-all.
Love is Not being full of yourself.
Love is Not getting in someone else's face.
Love is Not simply trying to get everything for yourself.
Love is Not easily p****d...er...ticked off.
Love does NOT keep score of the bad things that are done by others.
Love does NOT think it is cool when others do bad things, like dissing other people, like bullying other people, get the picture?
Rather, Love knows that the TRUTH of the thing is cool-no matter the cost.
Love puts up with everything.
Love believes everything.
Love hopes for everything.
Love patiently lives through everything.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Love CAN'T fail-EVER.
Remember the stuff about prophecies? That is going to be eliminated.
Fancy words and weird religious angel-speak? It is going to stop.
Knowledge about everything? It is also going to be eliminated.
Right now, we only have part of the story. So, like, when someone prophecies and such, we only get part of the story.
But when love is made perfect, SNAP, we get the whole story, perfect and complete,
and the part we got right now will be eliminated.
Another way to think about the love being made complete:
When I was a baby,
I talked baby talk-goo goo gah gah
I thought like a baby-in my head-goo goo gah gah
I figured things out like a baby.
But when I grew up, I ditched all the baby-stuff. Does that make sense?
Let me try another one:
When the love is only in part, it is like trying to look into the bathroom mirror by the light of a small candle when the power has gone out, trying to pick out your reflection to do makeup or shave or whatever in the dim light.
BUT, when we get the lights back-when the love is complete-everything is clear.
It is like I said before, right now I only know a part of the story,
but THEN I will know everything just like everything about me is going to be known.
So right now we got three things, faith, hope, and love,
But LOVE is by far the greatest of the three.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
What if UFO's look like airplanes?
I was walking home in the evening and I thought I was in an episode of the X-Files. There was a light overhead, very bright, headed right toward me. Then the light banked and the blinking lights of the wings, the full outline of the aircraft became evident, then the sound of the engines...
Okay, so it wasn't a UFO...or was it? Here is my conspiracy. If aliens were coming to spy on us and they could not by some cloaking technology keep us from seeing them, why not make their spaceships look like airplanes? Makes sense, doesn't it?
Works for the government, doesn't it? Making the UFO's look like airplanes?
Okay Pastor...UFO's? Do I believe in this stuff? Well, supernatural is stock in trade for me. Jesus, God, Holy Spirit...see where I am going?
Really? Jesus and UFO's in the same sentence? Well, have you read the first few chapters of Ezekiel?
So consider this: Do you believe that angels walk among us? The bible talks about people entertaining angels unawares. How about something even cooler? Angel-stuff, God-stuff walking around among us...even in us?
There is this thing we believe, that God so loved the world, that He sent His Son to dwell among us. The promise continues, that after Jesus returned to the Heavenly Father, we were not left alone, but the Spirit of God, which came down upon Jesus at His baptism, comes down on each of us.
So next time you see an airplane...is it an airplane? Or is there a UFO inside? Or the next time you find yourself reaching beyond yourself to do for someone else. Is that you? Or is the Holy Spirit inside?
Okay, so it wasn't a UFO...or was it? Here is my conspiracy. If aliens were coming to spy on us and they could not by some cloaking technology keep us from seeing them, why not make their spaceships look like airplanes? Makes sense, doesn't it?
Works for the government, doesn't it? Making the UFO's look like airplanes?
Okay Pastor...UFO's? Do I believe in this stuff? Well, supernatural is stock in trade for me. Jesus, God, Holy Spirit...see where I am going?
Really? Jesus and UFO's in the same sentence? Well, have you read the first few chapters of Ezekiel?
So consider this: Do you believe that angels walk among us? The bible talks about people entertaining angels unawares. How about something even cooler? Angel-stuff, God-stuff walking around among us...even in us?
There is this thing we believe, that God so loved the world, that He sent His Son to dwell among us. The promise continues, that after Jesus returned to the Heavenly Father, we were not left alone, but the Spirit of God, which came down upon Jesus at His baptism, comes down on each of us.
So next time you see an airplane...is it an airplane? Or is there a UFO inside? Or the next time you find yourself reaching beyond yourself to do for someone else. Is that you? Or is the Holy Spirit inside?
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