You Are Not Your Own - Alan Noble
To whom do YOU belong?
Have you started your day weary and burned out thinking it is you and only you that must make your day and your life work?
Alan Noble helps us see that this cultural fallacy is killing us because the reality is we do not belong to ourselves and no matter how smart or strong we are we cannot make it through life under our power, we will fail or worse.
You belong to God!
Video from Church at the Cross Grapevine
"Church at the Cross is located in Grapevine, TX — the heart of the DFW Metroplex. We are a multi-generational church full of people in all stages of life. It is our desire to help people and places encounter Jesus. WORSHIP GATHERINGS Sundays | 9am & 10:45am" from video introduction
To Whom Do You Belong?
"Imagine a lion caged behind steel bars and concrete walls at a zoo. The lion’s habitat, the nutrient-dense food, the overhead lighting—everything has been engineered to prolong the lion’s life and to keep it docile. And yet, although this habitat was built for a lion, the lion it was built for doesn’t exist anywhere, except in captivity. The lion doesn’t hunt, doesn’t roam, and doesn’t behave like any lion in the savanna. The zoo is more than a habitat—it has changed the lion into a different kind of animal entirely.
This is the metaphor behind Alan Noble’s You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World. Noble—associate professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University; cofounder and editor-in-chief of Christ and Pop Culture—uses this metaphor to illustrate that, like captive lions, humans are caged by modernity. Instead of steel bars, though, it’s modernity’s philosophical assumptions that imprison us.
According to Noble, modernity tells us that we belong to no one except ourselves. No one can choose our journey, give us a purpose, define our identity, choose our values, or determine where we belong. In a modern society, all of these choices are ours to make. While it may seem this gives us the freedom to define our identity, meaning, and value, Noble makes a strong case that this philosophical framework leaves us exhausted, discontented, and, ultimately, less than human (38).." from the article: To Whom Do You Belong?
Dr. O. Alan Noble is Associate Professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University and author of numerous books and articles.
In his youth, Alan lived in Lancaster, CA, where he was very homeschooled by his mother. At 16, he finished high school and began attending Antelope Valley College, pursuing a certificate in music which he earned but never filled out the paperwork for, so it probably doesn't count. He did, however, meet his wife, Brittany, at AVC, which definitely counts. Alan continued his undergraduate work at the Cal State Bakersfield satellite campus at AVC, earning his degree in English. Then he earned his Master's in English at CSUB-AV, writing his thesis on Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian under the supervision of Dr. Steven Frye.
Other things Alan did while in Southern California: tutored high school felons at a probation camp; substituted at various high schools; helped produce, write, rap, engineer, and record two hip-hop albums; taught composition and literature at Antelope Valley College; went bald; got married.. from oalannoble.com