Ariah Fine's Comments

Trying to follow : 5 Reasons Why Now is a Good Time to Stop Eating Chocolate

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:36:53 +0000

true true. The whole point really was number 5, but \\\"1 Reason why...\\\" just isn\\\'t as catchy or maybe it is.

Trying to follow : Churches Sacred Cows: Songs and Sermons

Tue, 8 Feb 2011 22:16:04 +0000

Yeah, that sounds awesome. Is it terrible that I've been meaning to do something regarding the fair trade chocolate thing and didn't realize till now that next week is valentine's, probably a little late to do something at our church.

How big is your church? Like how many people attend? And what percent do you think are involved in all those things? We go to a maybe 400+ Sunday attending church, but it doesn't seem like many people do a ton outside of Sunday service. I'm still learning about all that's going on though and I'm working toward advocating for change (the kind of stuff that's happening at your church it seems like).

Ariah

Trying to follow : Churches Sacred Cows: Songs and Sermons

Tue, 8 Feb 2011 04:31:03 +0000

Tell me about your church. :) What specifically shows it's attention to justice issues?

Trying to follow : Churches Sacred Cows: Songs and Sermons

Tue, 1 Feb 2011 04:24:44 +0000

I'd argue maybe you and I have had enough preaching and Bible teaching to last us the rest of this earthly life and it's time to put things into practice. I'd say that's true of a lot of church goers. The thing is, no matter how hard I push this, on the blog or in the church, I highly highly doubt the sermon is going away anytime soon. I agree with you a little on the idea of the elders, but don't we have that in Elder boards and don't they seem to do anything but shift churches to put more attention and focus on justice issues?

Trying to follow : Book Review: Letters to a Young Teacher, by Jonathan Kozol

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:05:50 +0000

I just looked on google Books and they are 88, 109, and 183 respectively. Hope that helps. You can read more here: http://books.google.com/books?id=AzA0uD0V2FIC&...

Trying to Follow's Tumblelog : Tumblr Photo

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:41:02 +0000

Yes a joke.

Trying to follow : Churches Sacred Cows: Songs and Sermons

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:09:41 +0000

Wouldn't that be great? The thing is, if I just do it, then most of the time it's just Ariah doing it, not a movement of the church or a shift of a particular church. For example, when we lived in Nashville, I'd just skip church sometimes and go with a bunch of anarchist to make and eat lunch with a bunch of homeless downtown. It was wonderful and great, but it was just me, never anyone else from the church I attended. If I was planning on just ditching the whole church thing (and believe me, I've considered it), then that might make sense, but for now, I'll spend some time trying to pull others along with me

Trying to follow : Building Community at Church

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 04:51:02 +0000

I agree. That being said, I'm not sure it's feasible to suggest that, as I don't see it happening. So, the question becomes how do we build that type of community into large, already existing churches.

Trying to follow : Building Community at Church

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:40:02 +0000

For a minute I thought you meant literally break up the church, and I was thinking, now that's radical! (And I might suggest it, but I don't think it's reasonable to think it'll happen).
But, I'm thinking your saying just purposefully create small 'house church' size groups to meet and bond?

Trying to follow : 40 Books in 2010

Sat, 8 Jan 2011 14:53:02 +0000

I love it when people recommend books already on my list, makes me more motivated to read them, but here's my current list:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1787060-ariah?shelf=to-read

Trying to follow : 40 Books in 2010

Thu, 6 Jan 2011 04:27:28 +0000

Okay, I'll put Omnivore's Dilemma on my list. Shane Hipps is great, I'll check out Miles book, LOVE Dorothy Day. Thanks for the recommendations.

Trying to follow : Stewardship Like Everyone Else

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:25:48 +0000

I'm of the pay off your mortgage as fast as possible camp. But, I think that might seem daunting for some with larger mortgages and smaller available income each month. So, I think it's ultimately a case by case basis (and probably a compromise between the two of you ;)

Trying to follow : Stewardship Like Everyone Else

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:14:23 +0000

agreed.

Trying to follow : Stewardship Like Everyone Else

Wed, 8 Dec 2010 05:49:09 +0000

Is being rich not a bad thing? Maybe, but I'm not so sure always. All the examples you gave are Old Testament, what do you think the New Testament and Jesus' life have to say about riches?

Trying to follow : Stewardship Like Everyone Else

Wed, 8 Dec 2010 05:46:38 +0000

Sorta, but my blog has a tendency to attract mostly like minded individuals, not necessarily the sort of wide range of thinking and ages that a church or our church does. This IS the church, but I'm more talking about the institutional church.

Trying to follow : Stewardship Like Everyone Else

Tue, 7 Dec 2010 22:43:11 +0000

SRI Funds (for stocks) is a step in the right direction regarding your investments. Some 401k's have at least one SRI fund to choose from, if yours doesn't you should ask and advocate for it. They aren't perfect, usually only touch direct issues like weapons, environment, adult entertainment, tobacco, but might still invest in Walmart or Disney. Oh, and way back when I wrote a blog post on the SRI Fund topic. didn't end up writing anything more, but here you go: http://tryingtofollow.com/2007/04/30/crm-summer-p...

Trying to follow : Stewardship Like Everyone Else

Tue, 7 Dec 2010 22:15:58 +0000

I read Sabbath Economics I think. Maybe I should read it again. I love this conversation, only wish it would happen in some connection to church or churches, rather then in random comment threads on a blog. Any idea how to make that sort of thing happen :)

Trying to follow : Stewardship Like Everyone Else

Tue, 7 Dec 2010 21:50:02 +0000

Gonna put them all on my mp3 player to listen to in the near future.

Thanks.

Trying to follow : Stewardship Like Everyone Else

Mon, 6 Dec 2010 15:41:44 +0000

That is awesome. The 1:1 ratio is radically different then the norm and I think a clear step in the right direction. And I really appreciate you being so open in sharing. I think I've said this before too, but I hate how finances can be such a taboo. I wish there were more like you that would just share openly what we're doing. I should probably do a post on that sometime. I'll give a quick run down of what we do, with a slight disclaimer. When we chose to purchase a house three years ago, and take out a loan to do so, we committed to paying down that debt as quickly as possible. That means in the short term, we're giving (monetarily to immediate needs) far less then we plan to after we're free of the debt (and you can be sure to hold me to it in about 3-5 years as well). -We try to live simply, which is a whole discussion all it's own. We have a mortgage and school loans, but that's all the debt we hope to ever have. We try to consider everything we purchase and decide if it's a "want" or a "need". "Wants" come out of a separate, small allowance (we call it 'fun money' and it's probably worth a whole other discussion). -We have life insurance and retirement, both through work situations. I like to think of them as "wise investments to give from later" (and you can hold me to this as well). The 401k is matched. I'm not anti-investment, as long as it's for the right reasons (I'd say more for giving then for personal wealth accumulation). -We've got money in the stock market, but I'm not totally sure how I feel about it yet. I like your friends investment choice, I think we'd like to do more of that once we are free of our mortgage. -We don't do any college savings currently, figure we'll pay off our mortgage first and then think about it. Whoa, that got long. I love this though. I'm taking this stewardship class at Sanctuary, and I wish it was more of this. Just open, honest discussion, with specifics and a serious attempt to put aside our pre-conceived ideas of how we should live. Thanks for getting the conversation going.

Trying to follow : Family First: Is that Biblical?

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:36:03 +0000

Got it. Thanks again for browsing. I only know Erin view the blogging world, she's great though.
Enjoy Wheaton, would love to hear your thoughts about the school both positive and negative.

Peace.