Religious/Spiritual Writings

Work In Progress

2012-01-08T22:59:00.001-05:00

It's the beginning of the service, and all is quiet except for the preacher who starts to pray.

SUDDENLY- A motorcycle drives by outside, buzzing loudly as it passes our building.

I've always been told to ignore the noises outside the church, and to focus on what's going on inside. This is sound advice for the literal noises outside during a church service, but what about on the metaphorical. What would it mean for us focus on the noises outside the church that we hear through our walls as we carry on our gatherings? What do these metaphorical noises represent. If we listened to them, what would we learn?

What do you think about the idea? I haven't fleshed it out much. Please give feedback.

God is Overwhelming

2011-12-23T11:19:00.001-05:00

I recently went on a retreat out in the country. It was a wonderful time. Just going hikes, and hearing the life experiences of the leaders at the retreat, was amazing. The experience really expanded my view of what "life" is. It's so easy to forget that not everyone lives in the city, and that not everyone goes to college, and that not every college is like yours. Seeing people living in the country, and loving it, it reminds me of the fact that we can't experience everything. As much as I wish it weren't the case, it is. God doesn't call us to experience everything, and we have to become okay with that.

Hearing about, and meeting, people who are living much different lives from me has been very beneficial. I often forget how beautiful my life is. Through seeing the beauty of lives vastly different than mine though, I am able to see the beauty in mine. This is because for me, seeing beauty is seeing possibilities, seeing hope and potential. And so seeing the possibilities of other's way-of-life, I can see how they see the possibilities in mine.

It still makes me somewhat sad that there are limits to what I'll be able to experience in my life. I can't grow up and have a hundred careers, it's just not feasible. But I can take comfort in the fact that these infinite possibilities come from a Creator who is so amazing, that He has created a world vaster than I can ever completely experience. And I can take hope in the fact that others will see my life, and see the beauty in it, and be inspired to take a similar path, or maybe they'll see the beauty of a different path because of mine, and it will give them courage and reassurance.

A Song

2011-12-15T16:26:00.000-05:00

I saw this band live on Tuesday. I heard this song, and it was so amazing. Not just musically, but the fact that someone could write this song, is so hard to believe. As the singer said "Some people say this song is cynical. This couldn't be farther from the truth." Enjoy these lyrics. This song is on YouTube. It's not that I heavy, I promise.

Gratitude by VNV Nation

It is not love, if love is cold to touch
It is not belief, when there's nothing there to trust
Could not submit, would never bring myself to heel
Determination grows, as each truth is revealed

Torn and repaired, just to endure it all again
Without a reason for my place in all this pain
Though well concealed, the scars they just compound
Until there's nothing left of what was once my former self

My god, look at what we are now
Without regret for all the things that we have done

Thank you for all the doubts, and for all the questioning
For all the loneliness and for all the suffering
For all the emptiness, and the scars it left inside
It inspired in me, an impetus to fight

For the conviction, for the purpose found along
For the strength and courage, that in me I've never known
And if it seems to you, that my words are undeserved
I write this in gratitude for whatever good it serves

Sometimes I wish, that you could see me now
In the rightful place, where I knew that I belonged
Sometimes I wish, that you might someday understand
To close the chapter, and lay to rest the past

But nothing would change, we make the best of what we have
For we are measured, by the actions of our lives
We bide our time, let the future unfold
Like immortals, in great legends to be told

My god, look at what we are now
Without regret for all the things that we have done

Thank you for all the doubts, and for all the questioning
For all the loneliness, and for all the suffering
For all the emptiness, and the scars it left inside
It inspired in me, an impetus to fight

To all who stood with me, when we stood as one
Thank you for guiding me, for bringing me home
And if it seems that I'm obliged to say these words
I write this in gratitude, the least that you deserve

On "Belief": To the Insiders

2011-12-11T13:54:00.001-05:00

Christians should be much more thoughtful when discussing the issue of "belief", especially when non-Christians are around. We often forget that the word "belief" has very strong negative connotations for many people, and that it is often thought of as 'forced' rather than sincere. For those with such connotations of 'belief' it must be quite disturbing to hear about "the importance of belief" and "believing even when God seems to have abandoned you" and especially when hearing ideas like "beliefs are more important than actions."

This doesn't mean that belief isn't important, but it means that we Christians should think about how our messages will sound to different audiences, and we should clarify on points (like "belief") where the connotations we attach to a word, phrase, or idea might be lost.

A Time To Argue, A Time To Discuss

2011-11-27T21:36:00.001-05:00

I find that when talking theology with friends, most of my discussions become arguments.

Argument: a dialogue that focuses on critical analysis of an idea; often serious but does not imply 'heated'

Critical analysis: a piece by piece analysis of the validity/truthfulness of an idea

Discussion: a dialogue that emphasizes the implications of an idea; discussion includes but does not focus on critical analysis; discussion often includes temporarily assuming the idea is true regardless of whether one believes it to be so; discussion is often light-hearted but can become heated

A Prayer Over Food

2011-11-26T18:09:00.001-05:00

Hear's a paraphrase of the prayer I say before I eat (those few times when I do pray before I eat):

God, thank you for this food before me. You are the source of all nutrition, whether it be physical, mental, spiritual, or other. May I not forget this when I am in need. This food has gone through many hands, and many levels of work have brought and prepared it for me. May I not forget the injustices that have occurred in getting the food to me. May the energy it supplies help me to defeat those injustices. May I not forget those who are without food, for whatever reason. For as long as I have ability to put food on my plate, may I never refuse to give food to the hungry when the opportunity arises. God, thank you for your love. May I not keep it to myself, but share it with the world. Amen.

Revelation

2011-11-16T14:47:00.001-05:00

I think God made life to be lived through principles not through rules.

PLEASE REPLY TO EARLIER POSTS

2011-11-15T21:54:00.001-05:00

Dear Readers,
I have tried nicely to ask you questions, but you have not given a single response. So I tried again. Still nothing. So I tried to be provocative. Still nothing. I know of only one more way to get you to interact with me, and that is to ask you directly, through a post (this post): please reply to my earlier posts.

Christianity: A Raw Dirty Religion

2011-11-13T21:20:00.001-05:00

Today my pastor talked about how Christianity is about working through the suffering, not medicating through it, not rising above it, not denying it, but facing it down. This makes Christianity a raw and dirty religion. It's a religion that chooses to base itself in reality. God in the flesh = God getting dirty. The point isn't to get above and beyond the physical world, but to be made better while in the physical world and to work to make the physical world a better place, and a better place to be.This is an amazing and beautiful view of Christianity. One that says not to aim for monasteries in distant mountains, but in inner-city communes; right where all the bad stuff is, and right where lots of people (God's most amazing beautiful creation) are.

How To Not Become Polarized

2011-11-13T13:50:00.001-05:00

One large problem in today's society is that people are becoming polarized. This is especially true in politics and religions. People are taking one side or the other, and fail to see the common ground they share. I give in to this as much as the next person.

One thing that is very helpful for me (or would be if I followed it more) is to reflect on my activities, specifically paying attention to my consumption of news on views I don't agree with. Colbert Report is an excellent example. I love watching Colbert, but it certainly doesn't help me to view Republicans as respectable equals. Similarly, I used to have a habit of reading conservative Christian reviews of music I liked (but knew they wouldn't). Obviously that doesn't help me see our common ground either.

Ultimately, the problem with polarization is that it dehumanizes the other side, and leads us to be arrogant about our own opinions.

Doubts and Trials/Suffering

2011-11-13T13:38:00.001-05:00

As I listened to the sermon today, I hear the terms "suffering" and "trials" used. Immediately they cause me to think of my doubt. I hear about God bringing trials into our lives, and I think of the saying that if you're going through suffering then you're doing something right, because the devil is trying to stop you. And then the preacher says that there are also times when suffering comes from when you mess up.

And I wonder: What is/are the source(s) of my doubt? And how do I know if I'm persevering through them, or if I'm buckling under them?

Confession of an Elitist

2011-11-13T13:12:00.001-05:00

As Sunday School ended this morning, I made my way down to the sanctuary to for the Sunday Worship Service. I picked up a bulletin and sat down, and looked around the room. Immediately, I wanted to leave. For I realized that the people here were different from me. Some of them had different political views from me, some had different theological views, and some were even firm in their beliefs. I wanted to retreat; to go where everyone agreed with me.

But I didn't leave church. I stayed in the seat, and faced down the hard truth that not everyone agrees with me on politics and religion, and that these differences don't mean that only one of us has a relationship with God. I think part of the problem is because I view Christianity as radical. There's nothing wrong with holding that position, but it just means I need to be careful not say that only those with radical views like mine have a relationship with God.

And this is why I think it's good for people to go to churches they don't totally agree with every now and then. It reminds us that we (the individual) don't represent the entirety of Christianity.

Why

2011-11-13T13:08:00.001-05:00

Why do we sit in church, wasting the hours away listening to sermons that we forget the next day?
And why do you object to me saying this,
When neither you nor anyone else changes their lives due to a sermon but maybe once in a lifetime?

Why do we go to Sunday School, pretending to be want to change;
When we're really just there to socialize, though we could hang out at some other place?

Christianity and Masochism

2011-11-13T13:05:00.001-05:00

As I sat in church today, listening to a sermon on suffering, over and over was reminded of a comment in a movie I watched about masochistic values in Christianity. I think there is truth to this. And so I ask my readers:

What are the implications (both the problematic ones and the helpful ones) of acknowledging a connection between Masochism and Christianity (or vice versa)?

God's Literal Physical Presence

2011-11-09T10:56:00.003-05:00

One thing that has been extremely helpful in communicating with God over the summer and during this semester is picturing God as literally physically present in the room I'm in. For me, it's helpful to picture Him as somewhere out of my sight, because it feels more real.

Analogy of the Mentally Ill Child and the Father of Orphans

2011-11-09T10:54:00.001-05:00

Analogies are great. One can go into so much detail using an analogy. Analogies can be particularly helpful when thinking about God. So here is one analogy I use at times when I think of the relationship between me and God.

God is like a person who goes out into the world, which is filled with orphans trying to survive on their own, and he offers these orphans a home and a family. God provides protection and nourishment to these orphans, but also allows them to leave home, if they so choose, and He still offers them a place at home if/when they decide to return. (Also, God deeply loves these orphans and is hurt when they leave, and worried about them).

I am one of those orphans who accepted God's offer. However, in the analogy, I am an orphan with mental problems. I'm prone to sudden pouts of extreme emotions. I'm also delusional at times, and have a hard time with reality/fantasy distinctions. I also have a patchy memory at times.

The Intersection of Disagreement and Unity

2011-11-06T13:55:00.002-05:00

What should determine which church(es) you should or shouldn't make your home church?
One idea I've heard a lot is that if you find yourself in disagreement with the pastor you should stay away. Also, I've heard that if you disagree with any (minor or major) tenets of that specific church, you shouldn't make that your home church.

I disagree with these ideas. I think if you disagree with what you consider a major tenet of the church, then you probably shouldn't make it a home church. Also, if your disagreement with the pastor is serious then you probably shouldn't go. But having small disagreements with the tenets or the pastor, in my opinion, isn't enough to make it not worth staying at that church.

I think to say that about the pastor is to forget about the power of the Holy Spirit, which can talk and convict even through sermons one may disagree with. As far as tenets go...TBC

The Many Face(t)s of God

2011-11-06T13:46:00.002-05:00

As one of my favorite bands, As Cities Burn, says "I think our God isn't God if He fits inside our heads." God is incomprehensible. So in order to understand God, we use human relationships and apply them to our relationship with God. I'm not implying we don't actually have these kinds of relationships with God, but our relationship with Him is so much more than could be encompassed in one relationship. So I'm just making a list of the relationships with God that have helped me.

1) God is Our Father
God protects us. God is way smarter than we could ever be.

2)God is Our Lover
We can tell God all of our most intimate thoughts.

3) God is Our Friend
God wants to hear the small stuff in our lives as well as the large things. God wants to hang out with us.

4) God is the Leader of A Revolution of Love
God is orchestrating a restoration of universe, to make it into the best it could be. We are meant to be a part of that. We are to give all of our selves and our lives to the cause.

5) God is The One Who Save(d/s) Us
Without God we would be dead, at least spiritually, or even physically. All our life comes from.

6) God is Mother Nature
The point is two-fold. God is present in all things, because all things come from nature. Since God is all of nature, He is able to control what people do to some extent through nature.

Remember

2011-11-04T11:17:00.000-04:00

1) That God is the reason I am alive and happy today
2)That I am a part of a revolution of love
-That this revolution requires all of me
3)That every person is of infinite value
4)That relationships with God, Others, and Self is more important than anything else
5)That to truly live is to be selfless and to give all control to God
6)

Relating to God

2011-10-20T09:45:00.001-04:00

God is our friend, and our lover. He is also our Father, as well as many other things. But how is one to know how to relate to God the Friend if one hasn't had friends for years, or if all of one's friends have betrayed them? How is one to know how to relate to God as lover is all of one's lovers have been abusive? How is one to relate to God as Father, if one grew up without a Father, or grew up with an un-fatherly father?

The only answer I can think of is for the Church to tell these people how. Then the question becomes how do we tell others how to envision the perfect Father, and relate to the perfect Father, without parroting our culture's ideals?

Comment Time

2011-10-16T02:11:00.000-04:00

A person comes to a Christian event. They don't believe Jesus is the Son of God, maybe they don't believe Jesus is a central figure to their spirituality, they might not even believe in God. During this event there is worship music, some of it praises Jesus as the Son of God. How can this person participate in the worship in a meaningful way that doesn't force them to (temporarily) espouse the views of the song?

This is not a rhetorical question. It is meant to get y'all commenting

The Lion King

2011-10-16T01:43:00.001-04:00

So, I have just seen The Lion King 3D, and thus I want to get out a few comments that aren't about religious thought: The movie is a must see for all people. I could go on forever on how great it was. I could also go on about how it's a family movie, not a kid's movie, the differences, and so on. Now to religious thoughts:

At one point in The Lion King, Rafiki tells Simba that Mufasa lives on inside of him. Given that this means more than Simba is half of Mufasa (in blood), this is profound. If we see the ways in which Mufasa lives on as the essence of Mufasa's being, then we get a very interesting concept of essence/being. First, our essence/being continues in this world through memory, specifically through memorable shared experiences. This makes story-telling very important because that is also a way of continuing a person. (You could call the experience of hearing a story about a person you haven't met: a vicariously shared experience with that other person).

The second, and to me the more interesting, part of one's essence/being is the stories and lessons we teach others. Mufasa lives on in Simba through the things Simba learned from Mufasa. I find this particularly beautiful because it makes the essence of a person something more than their personality, something purer.

I think this tells us a lot about how to live our lives. We should live it in a community, with other people, so that we don't become the mysterious author of a book of wisdom. But we should also be acutely aware of the values which we embrace and the life lessons we have, and we should live so as to teach others these lessons, and to use our life to endorse. This, like most good lifestyles, is difficult to do. It requires being very personal, and being present with those around us, while also being very mindful of the long-term and at times being somewhat abstract.

To finish up, I'll just say again that I love the idea of continuing to live through the life-lessons one has taught. It gives a lot of comfort, especially in the face of the possibility of death being that which strips you of personality.

This is 500!

2011-10-06T13:53:00.002-04:00

Thanks to all who have read, and continue to read my blog. It has reached 500 views!!!
In other news, I heard some excellent words on religion from the movie "Black Is...Black Ain't" by Marlon Riggs. Paraphrased from interviews in the film:
"Religion is about bringing people together. If it doesn't do that, then it'd be better if it didn't exist. "

Who my G=d is?

2011-10-05T20:49:00.000-04:00

My G=d is a vagrant with dirty ripped clothes, shoes with holes in them, and nothing but a plastic bag for a suitcase. My Saviour is a kid in the ghetto who doesn't know how to say no to joining a gang, 'cause its what everyone else in his neighborhood is doing. My Messiah is a guy/girl who's being made fun of 'cause he/she is too tall/short/fat/weird. My Lord is a million starving children in countries with corrupt gov't. My Christ is the voiceless "illegal" immigrants who tried their hardest to get money for their families only to find that the richest country in the world is hunting them down.

" I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me. "
-Jesus (Matthew 25:35-36 The Message)

A Few Life Lessons:

2011-09-30T23:58:00.000-04:00

Here are a few life lessons I've learned in my life.

"The Meaning of Life"...This concept is very important to me. I've gone through many an existential crisis trying to figure out what it is. I've also wasted much energy, time, and money on things I thought could be "it". So, now I'm going to tell you some things that aren't "it".

Beauty: perfect beauty is unattainable. Your body is gonna get scarred. You're gonna find a flaw or shortcoming of any object.

Knowledge: The discovery of new knowledge comes at a price, often to others. Sometimes this price is too high. Other times receiving an existing piece of knowledge hurts ourselves. It's not always worth it.

Art: Similar argument to beauty. Art is subjective. We can't let people commit crimes in the name of art.

The Self: You are going to die, and be forgotten.

Others: They're gonna die and be forgotten as well. (Even the love of your life)

Experience: You can't have it all. You can't go to every concert. You can't go to every party. You're gonna miss out on plenty of great things. You're going to pass up plenty of great opportunities. You're going to choose plenty of crappy choices. You'll never make perfect choices. Life doesn't work that way.

Romance: See Others above (especially what's in the parentheses)

Many of these arguments can be generalized and applied to other things that are not "The Meaning of Life"

Now for the one good stuff. In my search for "The Meaning of Life" there is one thing I have come back to time and time again as always having meaning.

Relationships: Between any two people. Between you and God. Between you and members of Nature. Between you and yourself. We were created to be a part of a community. Relationships are innately metaphysical, and have a lot of meaning. Humans are social animals. You can't survive without relationships. Place a lot of importance on them, though not necessarily with specific people, more just in general.

(PS: I realize that I didn't list God in and of themselves (gender neutral pronoun) on either list. This is because I find it problematic to say the Creator is the Meaning of Life. That's just where I'm at at the moment.)

Live and Lean my Loves. :D

IMO

2011-09-30T23:39:00.000-04:00

So, at SCF Large Group (my college's Christian worship service) this year, I noticed a potentially trivial change that, to me, was huge [in a good way]. This change is/was: placing the message/discussion before the worship songs. I really like this change. It gives listeners/participants time to soak in the message. Plus I like the mojo you leave with after worship more than after a sermon. Just my opinion. Two thumbs up to whoever is responsible for this.

Like a Child vs. Like a Man

2011-09-30T22:48:00.000-04:00

Matthew 19:14

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

1 Corinthians 12:11

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

(Both in NIV)

So, my point in putting up these two Scriptures is not to put Paul and Jesus at odds, but rather to bring up what I feel is a divergent shift in Christian practice. On the one hand I see many Christians who seem to be trying to maintain an air of innocence, and while it is helpful to be in an atmosphere that encourages healthy behaviors and thoughts, this air of innocence often becomes one of naivety, and one that seems blind to the problems of the world. On the other hand I see Christians being real about their brokenness. But they are not only real about it, they are vocal and visible about it. The problem with them is that it sometimes seems that they aren't trying to fix their brokenness.

I'll admit that my bias is to the vocally/visibly broken group. However, as I have already demonstrated, I realize that there are many problems to this group. But more than having an issue with a particular group, I have a problem with the dichotomy, because both sides are, to some extent, reactionary. And worse yet, neither side seems to be talking to each other. What I'm trying to get at is that these two sides need to learn to talk to each other, to negotiate what childlike ways we should embrace to get closer to the Kingdom of God, and what childish ways we should put behind. There are a few clear examples of issues that these sides tend to disagree on: cussing and dirty jokes for example.

Both sides have excellent, but different emphases. We are to be on one body, one mind, and one spirit. We are to be unified. And so when we start to divide like this, we must start to negotiate along the lines of tension. Everyone won't agree on where the moral line should be drawn. That's okay. In Quakerism the point of their business meetings is to get a "sense of the meeting". What this means is that through discussion and reflection, they all come to a point where they feel that they are a body are called to go in a certain direction. It isn't about everyone agreeing, but it is about everyone feeling comfortable (in the not spiritually opposed sense) with the decision made. I think this is an excellent decision-making process both in and out of business contexts, and I suggest using it for this matter.

As I said earlier, I count myself as part of this dichotomy, and so in challenging you reader(s), I am also challenging myself. So if you see me around (and if we both have time to talk), feel free to have one of these conversations with me : )

Communion (aka Eucharist [aka Lord's Supper])

2011-09-25T18:00:00.000-04:00

Growing up in the church, communion was never a big deal. It was something we did on a monthy basis, and it was just considered something symbolic, something that represented our committment to Jesus.

But over the past year that view has changed to one where the act of communion has a lot of weight. Now, for me, the Communion is more like a sort of blood oath.

To take the bread, is take on the full responsibility of being a member of the body of Christ. It is to dedicate your whole body, and your whole life to that of Jesus. And, even scarier, it is to offer our bodies as a sacrifice to God, knowing our bodies, in literal or metaphorical ways, will be broken in the same way we break the bread when we eat it. To take the bread is to allow God to break your body.

Similarly, to take the cup is to dedicate your soul to Christ, your thoughts, your passions, all of it to Him, and to take on his passions, values, etc. as yours. To take the cup is to acknowledge that by choosing to follow Christ, we will taste blood, (once again: sometimes literal, sometimes metaphorical), whether it be through our own suffering, or the suffering of others. To take the cup is to allow God to bring suffering into your life.

Together we get this emptying of ourselves: our wants, our desires, our drives, our comforts, while trusting that God will fill us up. We also are getting these painful, but transformative experiences, trusting that God will give us the strength to get through, and to be better because of it. All in all we get this HUGELY humbling experience that we must consent to go through perpetually.

Finally I really like the imagery and the symbolism behind dipping the bread in the cup. It's like we're taking our body, and submersing (aka baptizing) it in the Holy Spirit, through the power of Jesus. It also works with the idea of allowing our blood to be spilled for God, by taking our nice dry body, and dipping it into the blood. And of course this only works if you consider yourself to be a part of the body of Christ (aka the Church (capital c is important)).

So why would we do this? Why would we allow God to bring suffering and pain into our lives, and empty out all of ourselves? What could we possibly get in return that could be equal to all that?

...Guess you'll have to read my next post to find out. (Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha)

The Follow-Up

2011-09-25T17:02:00.000-04:00

So, as I was sitting in church today, looking at all the beautiful and diverse pictures of Jesus, I realized something that I had forgotten, something that I have been looking for, for a while. And that is the answer to: "What makes Jesus' story so special so compelling? How is it any better than all the other ones? Does it simply have better values? Or is there a "Sweep-Me-Off-My-Feet" factor? I used to know what this "Sweep-Me-Off-My-Feet" factor was, but at some point in the last year or two I had forgotten it, but now I think I'm getting it back.

This morning, as I was sitting in church, I was amazed and overwhelmed by the story of Jesus' life. I saw a portrait of Jesus with a crown, radiating light, and levitating off the ground with angels at his side. And it amazed me because, here is this king, and he chooses to be born to a poor family of a subjugated nation whose religious leaders are elitist. Here is this sage, with knowledge of the deepest parts of reality, and he goes out and serves others. Jesus doesn't set up camp on some mountaintop and make people spend years to get to him. He goes out, and he gets to know people, especially the people who are open to change.

This is a complete and utter reversal of power! And Jesus calls us to join him.
The buzzword this year at SCF is "restoration". It is the core concept of our vision statement.
What Jesus is offering is restoration. He is saying that his way, is the way things were meant to be, and the way things used to be. He asks for nothing less than complete selflessness, which is REALLY REALLY hard. But what he's offered us is so much more.

I've struggled a lot with trying to find the "meaning of life", and the conclusion I keep coming to is that relationships are what matter the most. And what Jesus offers is a way to have the most wholesome and authentic relationship with others, with self, and with God. As I have heard countless preachers say, Jesus asks us to give up everything. But he offers everything back, and more. That "more" is a proper relationship with everything and everyone. Christ asks us to stop trying to control everything, and to start seeing ourselves as an integral part of the world, and as having an honest relationship with every part of that world.

Octopuses vs. Magnets

2011-09-21T00:12:00.000-04:00

So, I'm not evangelical; however I come from an evangelical background, and thus feel the need to explain/justify my choice to change.

Originally, my explanation of evangelism was a violent one. I no longer use it, but I'll describe the analogy, because I think it has its good points:

Evangelism is like beating someone on the head with a bat. The point is to get the bat in contact with brain matter. If you don't succeed the first time, it's okay because you've weakened the skull so that it will give easier next time.

This analogy wasn't so much a critique of telling people who haven't heard, as much as telling/arguing with people who have heard, didn't, and still don't accept the Gospel. The standard evangelical procedure is to present it again, and to argue proofs for the Gospel. But what bothered me was that, if the Gospel is the Truth, and people are trying to find the Truth (which is an assumption I'll make), then why does the Gospel need re-introduction or defense? Instead, it seems the evangelical strategies I heard seemed to be aimed at spreading an opinion. Just to clarity, the evangelical strategies I'm referring to are directly telling the Gospel (out of the blue) to friends and/or strangers, and to live a Christian life so as to get people to ask why you're different, and then to tell the Gospels. This evangelism seemed very confrontational. It is also disrespectful, in that it doesn't give people the space they may want, and it doesn't recognize where they are, simply where they aren't.

Nowadays I use a much more friendly analogy, and since some people seem to think that non-Evangelical means you think we should never share the Gospels I've also come up with a sort of "Non-evangelical evangelism" model, as contradictory as that may seem. So, the traditional evangelical outreach model is that of the octopus. It has arms that it reaches out to try and bring other objects closer to the center. The Non-Evangelical model of outreach is that of the magnet, where we focus on living according to Christ's life and teaching, and it is expected that this will naturally draw people towards Christianity.

I realize that my definition of Evangelical, and evangelism may be narrower than others. But I'm simply using the meanings I was taught.

PS: I am at present working on a way to articulate my suspicion/disapproval to some of the forms of the vocational position of the missionary that I have come across.

Crossing the Line vs. Walking the Walk

2011-09-20T14:52:00.000-04:00

If spiritual life is walking with God, then contemporary Christianity is obsessed with getting people to cross a certain latitude, this latitude consisting of certain beliefs that define whether or not you're a Christian.
What I want to say is not that crossing this latitude isn't important, it is, but I think Christians need to see walking with God as that of primary importance, specifically in regard to the spiritual life of non-Christians.

Last semester I straddled that latitude a lot, and it created a lot of stress and anxiety for me. It was only when I stopped caring about what side of the line I was on that I cared about walking with God again. And it was only after walking with God again that I became at peace, which made me able to have the mindset needed to tackle the questions that decide which side of the line one is on.

I feel that focusing on crossing the line polarizes people, and polarizes their experiences. If I have a number of religious experiences while my mind is using a Christian context, but I then become Atheist, or Hindu, or what-have-you, there seems to be an expectation that I must either reshape my understanding of that experience, or I must return to my old faith because of those experiences. Instead, I believe there is much room for paradox and juxtaposition, as well as flat-out uncertainty about the relationship between current belief and past experience.

So to state my main point one last time: Christians should make walking with God more important than crossing the line of Christianity when addressing spirituality, especially the spirituality of non-Christians.

(sorry if my extended use of the line/walk metaphor got a little heavy)

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

2011-09-19T13:50:00.000-04:00

There was an evangelism class held this summer at my home church, which my parents went to. So, out of interest, I stole my parent's textbook for the class one day. What I saw upset me. It was a list of steps on how to evangelize, and a list of additional suggestions that should make your evangelism more successful.

In my not-so-humble opinion, there should never be a step-by-step guide to evangelism. That's just not how it works. However, the bigger problem with such a guide is that in order for me to articulate my opposition to the existence of its genre, I must add another article to said genre.

Another genre that upsets me is that of relationship advice. What drives me crazy about this genre is that it almost always requires a sweeping generalization the doesn't include a large part of society. But once again, in order for me to fully voice my discontent with this genre, I feel that I must add to its collection.

And so I shall attempt to do what no one ever should have done, and what no one in the future should do

A Step-By-Step Guide To Evangelism

2011-09-18T14:06:00.000-04:00

How to Prepare
1. Humble Yourself
2. Be honest with yourself. About everything.
-Questions to ponder:
--Why do I want to evangelize to (name/s)?
--How do I feel about (name/s) religion/s?
--How much, and why do I care about their story/beliefs?
--Does my desire to evangelize come out of love?
--Add your own questions.

When Should I Evangelize
1. When led to by the Holy Spirit
2. When it naturally pops up in conversation*
*Note: This doesn't mean you need to actively look for chances. Let the chance come to you.

How to Evangelize
A) If it comes up in conversation, then disclose as much information as makes sense given the context of the conversation.

B) If led by the Spirit to evangelize, then start the conversation by telling the person that you want to talk to them about said subject.

Additional (but not optional) Suggestions
1. Be transparent. Answer all questions as honestly (not persuasively) as possible.
2. Respect what the other person says and believes. Remember: You don't know it all.
3. Be content with only sharing part of the Gospel.
4. If your conversation partner is ready to move to another topic, or wants to end the conversation, allow them to do so.

9/11 Reflection Pt. 1

2011-09-11T19:34:00.000-04:00

I am both humble and excited to go to a school where the tragedy of 9/11 is remembered by a peace testimony, given not only by students, or Peace and Conflict Studies professors, but also by the president of the college. I have dreamed of being at a place like this for so long, and with such intensity, that it nearly brings me to tears. And this is where I have to be choosy with my words. I'm tempted to ramble on like a school girl and then turn that into a rant o a hopeless idealist with no field experience. I'm also tempted to speculate about other commemorations today, and color them as bigoted, hateful, and jingoistic. But I shall do neither. This need to pick my words wisely reminds me of the sober reality that pacifism isn't lived out in the happy dreams of a privileged college student, but in the person willing to be scorned, imprisoned, or even beaten and killed. And sitting here typing about it doesn't make me a part of that movement. Pacifist practice is immensely more convincing than pacifist theory. I am so honored be at a college that is so in line with my values. But for that to be the take-away from the speeches I heard today would be disgraceful. And so I am writing these 9/11 blogs, to honor the speakers, so that their words may not just incite warm feelings, but may incite action, and change.

9/11 Reflection Pt. 2

2011-09-11T19:00:00.000-04:00

The most common/popular form of remembrance of the event that happened in NYC a decade ago is remembering where you were when it happened, where/when/how you heard about it (for those who didn't see it), and what happened for the rest of that day. And I could do that, but it would be pointless, because I didn't understand it at the time, at least not in terms of the big picture. I feel like it's also popular to remember those who died, and the impact their death has had on one's personal life. But I can't do that either, for there were many levels of separation between me and those who died. However, I have found one memory work recalling: The firemen (and others) who responded to the crisis, and risked their own lives to save those in the rubble, and to remove the bodies of the dead from the rubble. Their courage and their compassion, as well as their promptness is worth remembering. And it is worth remembering so that we may emulate them, next time a crisis arises.

9/11 Reflection Pt. 3

2011-09-11T18:00:00.000-04:00

At the end of the 9/11 commemoration today, we were asked to write a prayer on prayer flag. I wrote two things that I had been thinking about all through the service.And then a new idea came up, strangely enough. And this is the last thing I wrote on my prayer flag:"And if our God is for us, who could ever stop usAnd if our God is with us, than what could stand against"Do not let this be a battle anthem,but rather it a peace song,that we shall live and speak our testimony, to the deathThe message that came through this is that a peace testimony can withstand violence and hatred, but only if we are willing to keep standing for it.

9/11 Reflection Pt. 4

2011-09-11T17:00:00.000-04:00

As I've said before, I didn't completely understand the events of 9/11 when they happened in 2001. Nor did I understand them the next year in 2002. It wasn't until part way through the 9/11 commemoration in 2003, that I got why it was a tragedy. Up to that point, I had thought of the victims as only individuals, as people who lived and worked and slept, but had no family, no friends, they existed by themselves. And it was in 2003, that my eyes were opened (metaphorically) to the fact that the death of each person had profoundly impacted many, many people still living in this world. They each had mothers and fathers, all had friends and relatives of a sort, many had spouses, kids, some had siblings, maybe even twin ones. And it was when I understood that, that it all made sense. In the recent few years, I have earnestly asked the question "What is the meaning of life?" This question hurt me so much, because without an answer everything seemed meaningless. Obviously I wasn't the meaning of life, b/c I would die and be forgotten. And obviously no other human was the meaning of life for the same reason. I even didn't think God was the meaning of life, though I can no longer articulate how I came to that conclusion. But what I've found, and what has been repeated shown in my life experiences, is that the connection between humans is what matters. And this rings true about my 9/11 experience. What made me realize how horrific the events of 9/11 were in 2003, wasn't that individuals had been killed, but that those ties between the family and friends of the victims was destroyed.

Are We Really Asking For Blessings?

2011-09-05T13:28:00.003-04:00

(I wrote this on November 8, 2009

Too often we confuse blessings with favortism. "The central promise to...Abraham, was that God would bless his people so they would bless the world."* (Genesis 12:2-3)

Favoritsm is exclusive and gives way to egotism and big-headedness. Favortism is what the selfish seek. Favoritism happens to one person, and stops there.

But blessings flow on forever. Blessingsgive way to joy. Blessings cause people to share. The selfless don't ask for poverty (Proverbs 30:7-9), but for blessings so that those blessings would overlow into the lives of others.

Maybe that's our problem. We're asking for blessings, but we're looking only for favortism. Favortism is overt and obvious. But we often speak of "blessings in disguise."

We don't really want blessins, because we don't want the responsibility to bless others and we're to selfish to care enough about others to be willing to share our blessings.

But that's not the wa it's supposed to be. And now we know. So, NOW, not tomorrow, not later, NOW, is the time to change that.

*quote from "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" by Rob Bell

What would the child of Sylvia Plath and Rob Bell write? This.

2011-09-05T13:27:00.001-04:00

(I wrote this on May 18, 2010)

Somewhere, at some point in time, we went wrong. We went East of Eden. We went away from where we were supposed to be. We went away from God. (Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell) At some point in time we decided that the bell jar from out of which we see was true, instead of the words of those who made all we see through the bell jar (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath). We decided that our soul was worth more than others, justifying murder, and replaced it with a prettier name like "self-preserverance."

And look where it got us. Thousands of years later God, in a flurry of tears, sends down his soul, our last hope, our last chance for restoration, for escape from the the hell we have earne, an eternal bell jar that would forever suffocate us with our own fumes. Jesus. The Christ. The one meant to break the bell jar we put ourselves in. Someone so amazing his followers after his death (resssurection and ascension) dared to say "Jesus is President." But through the years our bell jars have ceased to be broken. In the fourth century, Constantine becomes ruler of Rome. He declares Rome a Christian nation. In order to make ALL people Christian, he has them baptized. This allows for a new interaction with the Bell Jar. Instead of the divine breaking of the bell jar, we see the human lifting of the bell jar. But the problem with lifting the bell jar is, that though it has been lifted, it still has every ability and possibility to fall back down on the soul. In a way, the baptism of a baby, was to say that the child was born without a bell jar. And from here we get the stemmings of the Holy Wars, aka the Crusades.

Going back to Constantine declaring Rome a Christian nation: Does not the Great Commission tell us (meaning Christians) to go unto ALL nations, declaring the good news of the Gospel? (Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:14-18) Therefore, if we are to go to ALL nations, that means we are NOT to be a nation. Because we cannot go unto ourselves. Andthis is why I dissent from the group "Tell Obama We're A Christian Nation."

This takes us to the present, where in wonderful, free republics any person who utters "I'm a Christian" is taken at one's word, regardless of one's true relationship with Christ. And in the SouthEastern United States (commonly known as the South) it is even a trend to be Christian. It's as if religion were a brand of clothing or a color.

It is sickening to know that a religion(for lack of a better word) that started out with its followers risking their lives simply by confessing their faith, to a religion that someone can proclaim without knowing a single fact about it, and no one will doubt that person's faith. We have gone from being loyal spouses who always put Jesus first, to selfish spouses, whoring ourselves out to other Gods and treating Jesus like a mistress instead of the legal spouse he really is.

We have gone from being a diverse group of people whose homeland is Zion, to being not-so-peculiar (Deuteronomy 14:2) American family asking for homeland security (in a nation settled by foreigners no less.)

We have gone from being a people who are neither male nor female, neither slave nor free, (Galatians 3:28) to being a people who supported slavery and oppressed women.

We have gone from being a people who vehemently supported peace, to a people who thirsted for the blood of our brothers. (And Iraq's blood cries out from the ground [Genesis 4:10])

We have become Rome. We have become the persecutors. We have become hypocrites.

Somewhere, at some point in time, we went wrong. We went East of Eden. We went away from where we were supposed to be. We went away from God.

How do we go back?

Not the Wilderness I Was Talking About

2011-08-26T17:43:00.000-04:00

I recently talked to some Friends (the capital letter is on purpose). At the end of our discussion I shared the imagery that comes to mind when I contemplate my faith. The description that I used was that of cities and camps in the midst of a wilderness. To me, Christianity is like this huge city, with lots of different people inside. I've lived inside this city my whole life, and I've been told that to leave this city, is to no longer be truly alive. But alas I have found myself outside of the city walls. I have found myself in the wilderness. And so, I do what one would expect me to do: wander in the wilderness. And as I have wondered in the wilderness I have found a wonderful little camp outside of the city. This camp is a group of people known as the Quakers. The beauty of camps is that they don't have the rigid hierarchy and don't lend to spiritual ennui. And as I have met with the people of this camp, the question has come: Who am I? And what group am I a part of? What group do I want to be a part of?

Am I still a member of the city? Or has my wondering made me a loner,a man living in the wild? And what about this camp I have come upon? Am I to settle there, even if it's just for a little while?

Reason vs. God

2011-01-23T13:31:00.000-05:00

I recently talked to someone about how to determine morality. I brought up using reason to determine it. The person said "Sure, you can have reason be the ultimate standard. That's called crowning Reason as God." (this is a paraphrase). I didn't think much of it when I heard it. But as I reviewed the conversation in my head, this quote stuck out as drastically problematic.

To me, the most important aspect of God, except for God=Love, is that God is Truth. And so for me, using reason as the ultimate standard isn't a way of replacing God, but rather it's a way of saying God is Truth, and thus does not contradict reason or logic. However, we can use imperfect logic or reason to misconstrue Truth.

The idea of God as Truth brings an interesting different perspective on our relationship with God. Human history's understanding of the world is a good parallel with our relationship with God. Overall, as time goes on our understanding of God/Truth increases by leaps and bounds. Every now and then there are epiphanies that drastically change how we view an aspect of God/Truth. But sometimes progress takes us in the wrong direction. We always have to acknowledge that we could find something out about Truth/God that disproves everything we thought was true. However, we cannot use new understandings of Truth to judge decisions of the past. We must understand that while people in the past may have made the wrong decision, given the knowledge that had access to back then, it was the best decision to make. Often, when a whole branch of knowledge comes up false (like phrenology), it dies out. And so it is with religions, and denominations. The truth always bears fruit, and thus does not die out unless it is purposefully killed off.

Harmony

2010-12-26T21:30:00.000-05:00

One of, though not the, most important characteristics of a Christian should be harmony with nature. This is an EXTREMELY important part of the Gospel, at least to me. God made all of creation, to the most loved animals, to the most beautiful sites, to the commonplace everyday and the "ugly", "disgusting" and "gross". He made them all, and therefore they are an extension of Him, and deserve the utmost respect and love.

Secondly, I want to clear up what it means to have dominion over creation. The example I will use is of a father, who has dominion over the family.
1. A father is still a part of the family regardless of how much dominion he has; if anything his dominion makes him more a part of the family. In the same way, humans are a part of Nature.
2. A father is supposed to use his dominion to help out all of the family as a whole, not just one member, and certainly not himself. In the same way, our choices should support all members of our ecosystem, not just certain ones (ie crops not "pests"), and certainly not just us.

A love of Nature, to me, is necessary to truly being a Christian. This love is embedded in us, it is in our blood. It runs through our veins.

The Wilderness

2010-12-20T21:54:00.000-05:00

That's where John the Baptizer went to prepare the way for Jesus. And that's where Jesus went just before He started his ministry. I hear all the time about being "Christ-like", and maybe one way to do that is to got into the wilderness (temporarily of course). We have been born and raised in Society, surrounded by Culture. We have learned an unwritten code of do's and don'ts for every little thing. But out in the wilderness, there is no code. All the frivolous things we make such a deal out of fade away in the wilderness. All our worries, about money and competition and other things fade. Out there we find reality. So maybe we need to go there, at least for a little while, in order to get our heads straight, so that when we interact with Society, we still know what's what. Just an idea.

Doubt

2010-09-12T11:36:00.000-04:00

1 -5 "God's kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. Five were silly and five were smart. The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. The bridegroom didn't show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep.

6"In the middle of the night someone yelled out, 'He's here! The bridegroom's here! Go out and greet him!'

7 -8"The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. The silly virgins said to the smart ones, 'Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil.'

9"They answered, 'There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.'

10"They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked.

11"Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, 'Master, we're here. Let us in.'

12"He answered, 'Do I know you? I don't think I know you.'

13"So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive."

I read this passage earlier this week, but it wasn't until a few days later that it had any meaning to me.

The virgins are like Christians, they have been invited to the wedding feast, have accepted, and are waiting to be let in. Them falling asleep, to me, was symbolic of of doubt coming, and God feeling distant and silent.

So my question is: What is the oil? There are many things that people could consider the oil.

Losing Control

2010-08-20T13:46:00.000-04:00

I was listening to Christian radio, and I heard a song that caught my attention. It went a little like this:

"I need more than a truth to believe
I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes
To sweep me off my feet It ought to be
More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance"

As you might have guessed, the song was "More Like Falling In Love" by Jason Gray.
The one line I really liked was the third line I have copied, because that, to me, is the quintessential essence of what I desire in faith. I want to be swept off my feet, to become part of something greater than myself, to be amazed, to have things happen to me that I never could of imagined, to have my actions make an impact so big that I know it wasn't just me doing something, but God in me.

People often focus on the logical aspect of faith. And I think that logic has its place in faith, for religion is often a truth-seeking business, and what is truth without logic.

But I want to emphasize the importance of the romantic aspect of faith. There are many references to our relationship with God and Christ being romantic. After all, the church is the Bride of Christ. I, personally, have felt this aspect strongly in the past few months, and in crises of faith. A lot of the romanticism of faith is emotions. And emotions are fickle. So, as always, we find a need for balance, between romance and logic.

I think one problem is that we expect God to change our lives, and yet we cling to many of the things that He would change. That's where the title for this devotion comes from. We need to lose control. We need to loosen our grip. We want God to sweep us off our feet, but at the same time we chain our feet to the ground. We are caught in the middle, compromising, negotiating with God, trying to follow Him, and keep control. But it doesn't work that way. God needs us to let Him take all control of our lives.

This is hard, and I'm far from accepting this fact, but hopefully this post will be a start. Just something to think about. It's scary, yet necessary. This is one more example of how God calls us to leave our comfort zones. And yet, only through leaving our comfort zones can we live a full and abundant life.

Could Heaven and Hell be the Same?

2010-08-15T12:37:00.000-04:00

I've come to consider Heaven as "Creation in Reverse", for I see Heaven as us becoming one with God, a part of God, no longer separate. And this has led me to wonder "What then is Hell?". And the answer I've gotten is that it is the same. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said that our concept of "good" should not be based on virtues but on God. In the same way, could we base our idea of "identity" on God? This is the key to my theory of Heaven and Hell. If this idea of accepting God as our identity is true, then those who try to follow God's Will would be in Heaven, because all that they strove for in life would be attained, while those who attempted to make their own identity outside of God would lose all they strove for in life. Those seeking to resist temptation and follow God's Will would gain ultimate self-control, while those rebelling against God would lose all self-control.

Moral Enlightenment: The Secret Message of "the Fall of Man"?

2010-08-07T16:50:00.000-04:00

I've come to view the "Fall of Man" story in the Bible from a non-literalist perspective over the last couple of months. And this new perspective has opened up a lot of interesting ideas regarding the Fall of Man.

Here's one idea, or possible interpretation of the story: The choice God gave Adam and Eve, to eat "the fruit" or not to eat "the fruit", could have been a choice of moral enlightenment

One of the problems with the creation story is why would God create Man when He had already created Angels who were superior? This interpretation gives a reason: Angels were born with moral enlightenment, but Humans (at least the first ones) were given the choice of being morally ignorant, and thus incapable of offending God.

This interpretation also yields somewhat to The Problem of Evil. Many times I have wondered why God didn't just remove the tree. But this interpretation shows that a truly loving God would give His children the possibility of enlightenment (moral in this case). No father would want to force his children to stay in the dark!

This is one idea I've come up with, it's not necessarily what I believe in regards to the Fall of Man; I'm still working on that. I'm not claiming this is correct, nor am I saying it is wrong. It is a possibility. I just want to try to show this story in a new color, 'cause if we never do that, the colors start to fade, and nobody likes that.

God is River

2010-07-15T20:20:00.000-04:00

When you first step into a river, it's dangerous. You're careful about your footing, but still you slip into the water. You have to work hard to maintain balance. Eventually, you have to get into the water, even if it's only ankle-deep, sometimes especially if it's only ankle-deep. Even when you find a safe place to sit, you are always on the verge of slipping. And even if you are on an island in the river, the river is always within hearing distance, only a short walk away. The river is deep, powerful. It's most dangerous parts are the most alluring. there are many ways to travel the river, but only one way to be submersed in it. Sometimes its undertow grabs you. Sometimes you slip. Sometimes you dive in. Sometimes you walk in. Sometimes you even dive in. But you can only be submersed by getting all of your body wet, having the river touch every part of you. When this happens, clothes only hinder you, and make-up is washed off. It is when you are closest to the river that you are in the most danger. The more of you in the water, the more you want more of you in the water. Man-made items are damaged and destroyed in the river, whether it is by the water, or the rocks, or the animals.

There are many creatures in the river. And many creatures that use the river. Most of these creatures cannot be seen unless your head is in the water. These creatures are beautiful and unlike anything seen above the water. Sometimes the water is clear, sometimes muddy. The river provides water for transportation, for cooking, for cleaning, for cleansing, and for other purposes. It provides good soil for growing plants. It provides many animals for food. Civilizations are built around rivers.

Rivers can be fast, or they can be still. They can drown out all other noise, or be silent and let you hear all. You never know when the river will suddenly get deeper. Often you cannot know what is at the bottom of the river until you stand there. The river is dangerous, but necessary. It grinds away stone, only to create sand.

The river also takes away life. It floods and overflows, and those near it are destroyed, along with all their possessions. Yet, if there is not enough water, then that also is bad. Fish are caught in the shallow end, and too many are killed. Man cannot maneuver river-vessels in shallow water.

Balance is needed. And even when the balance is disturbed, the river remains. The river changes position over time, moving slowly one way or another. You may contaminate the river, and kill all that is in it, but eventually life will come back to it. The river is always replenished. Though it is sometimes stagnant on top, there is always a current below.

The existence of the river is not dependent on us. The ways of the river are independent of us. We merely change our perception of it. And what is it's perception of us?

Characteristic 4: Awareness of One's Brokenness

2010-06-13T13:38:00.000-04:00

This is extremely important. And this I have found out the hard way. One cannot minister to the world without being intensely aware of one's brokenness. For it is because we are broken that we need Christ. We long for heaven b/c that is when we will no longer be broken. Without sensing our brokenness, be gain a false sense of independence, and we lose our need for God. One loses one's sight when one no longer sees one's brokenness. This characteristic is SO important.

Characteristic 3: Religious Freedom

2010-06-11T19:52:00.000-04:00

First off, I don't mean that a good Christian moves from one religion to another often. Though you should give yourself the religious freedom to move when you feel the conviction. However, this is meant more as an attitude to take towards others. We shouldn't be pressuring people to stay in the faith. Doing so will only cause doubtful members endless pain. This pressure is often administered strongest by family members. Older, more dominant members need to give up the spiritual reins and let some of the younger ones roam if they want (note: I'm referring more to teenagers and younger adults, though I'm not necessarily excluding younger). Even subtle pressure to stay in the family religion sends a bad message to the doubtful. It shows that you don't have enough faith in your beliefs (or those you are pressuring). It shows you don't have enough faith that your beliefs are the truth, or that the other person can properly discern the truth. I'm not saying you should have no influence. By no means! Talk to them about your faith as much as you want, but don't stop them from pursuing what they see as the truth, or from seeking it from other sources than yours. Consider the effects if someone of another faith was doing that and thereby keeping that person from what YOU see as the truth.

Religious Freedom of the Other is a must. The truth is the truth. Have faith that whatever you believe in has bestowed the other with enough discernment to know truth when he/she finds it.

Characteristic 2: Level-Headedness

2010-06-10T20:42:00.000-04:00

This is one that's meant more to benefit the beholder than to benefit those around. I've noticed times in my life when a strong calm has hovered over my mind. At these times, things seem much clearer. One of the best ways to get more level-headed is to look at the big picture. And this is why I call it a Christian characteristic. B/c when I look at the big picture I see... what else but G-d :D! Getting beyond the emotions that lay "in the moment", and realizing how little something matters is an excellent way to avoid unnecessary stress. I could go on about how it helps others around you, and ramble on, but I think you understand it well enough now.

Done :D..

Characteristic 1: Cheerfulness

2010-06-09T20:31:00.000-04:00

You know what makes my day? A happy worker. American media has started to stereotype work as hard and frustrating. And often this is true, but I'm glad to know that some people have found a job they enjoy (or at least can make the most of). A happy waiter/waitress at a restaurant is sure to bring a smile to my face (and I'm not always a smiley kinda guy). Someone with a cheerful presence makes you feel at ease, whereas a sad worker creates tension. This is b/c the sad worker makes it where you have to be careful what you say or do, lest you make his/her mood worse, but a happy worker makes you want to talk more, make jokes and such. It is a blessing to someone when you're cheerful around them (generally speaking). Not to mention the immense amount of positive effects it has on you, the cheerful one. So put on a smile, and throw away the doom and gloom for later time. And remember the good things in life (you know what they are).

Characteristics of a Christian: Overview

2010-06-08T20:25:00.000-04:00

I wanted to start this series by summarizing it, and giving its origins and what they're going to be like.

First off, I'm not using any biblical evidence to back them up. That's not to say there is none, but the nature of this series is characteristics I see in people in the general world (aka everyday life) that make life better for everyone. After all we're supposed to be the God-flavor (salt) to the Earth.

The idea for this series came to me as I started observing these traits, and wished that I had them, and that other Christians had them (so they could be a better witness).

The purpose of the series is for you to compare your life with the traits listed, and see how many you exhibit regularly, if ever. Of course, this means that over the course of this series I'll be doing the same.

Finally, know that I'M NOT SAYING THESE CHARACTERISTICS ARE TO BE ALWAYS SHOWN,

There's a time and place for everything.
The End

The Lessons in the Little Things

2010-06-04T22:28:00.000-04:00

In the book "Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions" an excellent point is made, that people too often don't see the symbolism, the moral, or the importance in the little things. Often we are too busy to sit back and appreciate the messages God is sending us through them.

I remember being told that a sermon should be centered around a verse. And that you should make bulletin points about the messages of the verse. And everything else should revolve around those points about that verse. It's funny now to me to think about that, b/c so many of my epiphanies don't come from a verse in the Bible. They often come from the world around me, the little things. And to me, this is okay. It doesn't bother me one bit, b/c God made all the little things, and the stories they tell, the lessons they give are as much God's Word as the Bible is.

I also remember one time, being told to just pray and to listen to God. And what I heard God tell me was a story regarding the bricks, and the plants, and the wind. All the elements to what God's message was right in front of me, I just hadn't taken the time to see it, or to hear it out.

That's what we need to do more in our lives. Everyone's life. Regardless of creed or belief. We need to sit back, stop rushing, look around, and listen to the little things around us that were once so unimportant.

Disharmony and the Point of No Return

2010-05-31T22:02:00.000-04:00

As I think about the world around, I realize how off balance we are. We build up, towards the sky, building layer after layer, separating each floor. We make everything into squares, with edges so sharp they cut us. In Nature, such edges are meant to keep others away, but that's all Humans seem to know. But we are not in sync with Nature, as a matter of fact, we're about as out of sync as could be. Nature would have us to be simple, and yet we only want more and more. Nature says to include everything, but we only think of ways to keep more out. Nature breaks down hierarchies to a loop that equals everything out, but we build up some, and keep others down.

It is as if we have killed Nature. We have built roads (not natural) from everywhere to anywhere. Even small towns have it. We live in houses that block all of nature from us. Don't get me wrong, we need shelter, and we need a sanctuary from Nature at times; but need we go as far as we have? There is a difference between being resourceful and utilizing the materials around you, and hurting Nature in an effort to benefit yourself. No one can call our indescribably huge mining efforts beneficial to Nature. But yet many of those minerals are essential to our lives.

This is where it gets tricky. We are not meant to always live like people stranded:
We must strike a balance.
between what we need and what we want,
and between living comfortably and living responsibly.

But when I look out, all I can think is: Have gone too far.
Can we even make up for the damagaes caused.
Is it too late try to live in harmony.
Have we passed the point of no return?

Oppression

2010-01-24T20:07:00.001-05:00

It is a proven fact that persecuted churches have the highest rate of new members. But no one has seen to connected these two dots. No one has ever seemed to come up with the idea that maybe the the reason for the high rate of new converts is the fact that it is persecuted. Jesus talked about how a grain of wheat is useless until it is crushed, and then produces many seeds. We, the church, are the Kingdom of God. And so it's just like what Jesus was saying. Until we are being oppressed, our power will not show, will not shine.
(This epiphany was partially due to Shane Claiborne's "Jesus for President")

Rob Bell asked a crucial question near the end of his book "Jesus Wants to Save Christians". It's an important question that I have no answer to. The question is:
HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND A GOSPEL WRITTEN FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE OPPRESSED,
IF WE ARE NOT OPPRESSED.

You see, Jesus was Jewish. The Jewish nation was constantly being occupied to stronger nations. During Jesus' time this stronger nation was Rome. And so all the events in the Gospels took place in an oppressed nation, and the main characters were often oppressed people.

This is very noticable, especially when you listen to our hymns. Consider how the song "It is Well" would sound to someone oppressed. Comforting right? But what about to someone is doing just fine in life. This would have very little to offer to them.

This is why in Luke 4 Jesus proclaims, reading from Isaiah
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the POOR.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the OPPRESSED will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.
In Mathew 11 Jesus says that one of the signs of Him being the Messiah is that the Message is being preached to the poor. Even in the Old Testament we hear repeated that we should help the poor (along with the orphans and widows). Jesus says that you are blessed when you are poor. John the Baptizer, prepared the people for Jesus, told them to give to the poor. In the story of Rich Man and Lazarus(the poor man), th poor man was the protagonist. In the story of the banquet, the Master (God) tells the servants to invite the poor. The shepherds, the first to be told of Jesus' birth, were definitely not rich. The lepers and the blind men that Jesus healed were poor as well.

It's obvious to see that Jesus spent most of his time with the poor and the oppressed. Consider how these facts apply to your life. If Jesus spent most of his time with the poor, instead of with the well-off middle class in their little suburbia, then shouldn't we. And what exactly does it look like in YOUR life to spend time with the poor. This is one question I am struggling with, and have no answer for. But I know that I am spending little, if any, time with the poor. And for that reason, the hymns I heard and sang this Sunday morning rang hollow in my ears. I hate to confess it, but it's true. So pray for me as I search for what it means to be a "doer of the Word, and not just hearer only"

A New Twist on an Old Classic.

2010-01-24T12:31:00.001-05:00

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is THE verse. The one that all Christians are supposed to know. The one that sums up Christianity.

In this verse, it says that all who believe in Jesus will have everlasting life. And I have ALWAYS heard "everlasting" (or "eternal") to be interpreted as "going on forever in time").

But then I thought "What if it meant everlasting in impact and meaning? What if it meant that the impact of your actions would not perish (and thus would not be in vain), but would last forever"

This would have whole new implications. It would mean that as Christians everything we do must be as close to what Christ would have done as possible (hmmm, that sounds sorta familiar, doesn't it?)

I'm not discrediting everyone else's explanation, but don't you think it's time to let this verse have some fresh air?

*Consider how this interpretation is supported by Matthew 16:19-

I will give you [Isa 22:22; Rev 1:18; 3:7 ] the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and [Matthew 18:18; John 20:23] whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed [Or shall have been bound . . . shall have been loosed] in heaven."

What it takes to be a Christian?

2010-01-24T12:23:00.000-05:00

Matthew 19:16,21

Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Simply said, it takes more than just "the sinner's prayer" to be a Christian.
Oh how few Christians there are! (and I am surely not counted amongst them)

Jesus: More Than Just A Spiritual Leader

2010-01-19T22:03:00.000-05:00

These ideas are borrowed from Shane Claiborne's "Jesus for President". I do not to claim them as my own, I simply wish to perpetuate their message.

We often see Jesus as nothing more than just some guy who died for our souls. We often take his teachings at face value. But there are many other levels that cannot be reached unless we know the context of the situation. For instance: Many Christians know the story of Jesus exorcising the many demons (Legion) from a single man. But that is often all we see. We take from the story that Jesus had power over demons, and nothing more. But there's plenty more to the story.

When Jesus did this exorcism, he was in an area that where the land was given to Roman veterans. So it would make since that the possessed man was probably an ex-Roman soldier. As a matter of fact, Legion was the name of a unit of Roman soldiers. And so we see that Legion's self-harming is symbolic of the fact that all who do violence to others do violence to themselves. The fact that the possessed man lived in the graves, where dead rioters lay, is symbolic of how one is mentally traumatized by violence.

Jesus exorcising Legion from the possessed man is symbolic of how only Jesus can save a man from his past, and that Jesus can save anyone from their past, no matter how horrific.

But the symbolism goes even further. Legion (the demons) go into a "band" of pigs. 2,000 to be exact. "band" was the name used for a unit of Roman cadets. 2,000 was the number of soldiers in a Roman legion. After the pigs become possessed, they go into the sea, and die. This being a reference to Pharaoh and his chariots (symbols of power) being swallowed in the Red Sea (Exodus 14). And so we get the strong subversive message that Jesus has the power to get rid of Rome.

And so we see new message in this story. I would urge you to try to look deeper into anything in the gospels that seems myopic (one-pointed).

ONCE AGAIN, THESE IDEAS ARE FROM SHANE CLAIBORNE'S "JESUS FOR PRESIDENT" pp114-115

The Patriotic Christian: A Murderous Heresy

2010-01-18T23:18:00.001-05:00

We Christians are all well versed in the story of the Jesus' crucifixion, one of the most important events in our spiritual lives. Or are we? Until today I had missed a critical part of the story, and chances are you've missed it too. In John's telling of the gospel, he includes the detail that the chief priests (the ones plotting to kill Jesus) shouted for Pilate to kill Jesus because he (Jesus) opposed Caesar. Caesar, of course, was the ruler of Rome, the world power at the time. So Caesar is the head of Empire, the symbol of violence, and consumerism, and religious compromise.

God called the Jewish people to be a peculiar nation. He tried to set up an oligarchy, separating them from the dictatorships that surrounded them. He set them apart by having their only king be God himself. And yet here we see the chief priests throwing away the banner of God and taking up the banner of Caesar, of Rome, of Empire. When Pilate claims that Jesus is their king, they say "We have no king but Caesar."

In case you can't make the comparison, America is much like Rome today. America has barged into many countries, taking over their government in the name of "peace". America is often provincialist, thinking that only its ways are right, only its values matter, only its language (not even its original language) is the best. Rome was THE superpower then. America is THE super power now (and that's not necessarily a good thing). American Christians have reduced religion to a list of do's and don'ts. But Christ never intended it to be that way. When Christ said he came to complete the law, not destroy it, he didn't mean we should keep treating the laws as do's and don'ts. He meant that instead of saying there are no laws, we should treat the laws differently, not as matters of the flesh, but as matters of the heart. Jesus changed the eye for an eye rule, to a cheek for a cheek rule. He took it from exact ONLY so the same damage (stopping the violence from escalating) to stand there and take it. He didn't destroy the "Eye for an Eye" rule, he completed it, he brought it into its ideal form.

I got tons of invites to join a group that said America was a Christian Nation. But I 100% disagree. CHRISTIANS BELONG TO ONLY ONE NATION. THE KINGDOM OF GOD!!! Jesus wouldv'e set up his own province or city, and had a constitution and a set of rules if he wanted there to be a Christian Nation. Jesus' teachings weren't meant to be used in the Capitol Building, they were meant to be used in everyday life.

I agree with people who say church and politics should NEVER mix. But for the opposite reason most believe. Tony Campolo said that mixing the two was like mixing ice cream and cow manure. It does nothing to the manure (gov't) but it sure messes up the ice cream (church).

We have completely messed up what it means to be the church. We've changed that entirely into "going to Church". We've taken our religion, and assigned it a day, and the rest of the week we don't have to be a good Christian. Instead, we have to be good Americans. America isn't sheer evil. But it sure ain't sheer good. And to say that it is the best, without careful research into it and other countries, is to be WILLINGLY IGNORANT.

God doesn't call us to have national alliances, or to pledge allegiance to a president. As a matter of fact, HE CALLS US NOT TO. He calls us to only pledge allegiance, to only have an alliance with Him. The King of Kings, The Lord of Lords. The God-of-the-Angel-Armies. Until we get our priorities right, we will never be able to fully understand the Will of God, let alone bring it to fruition.

These ideas are partially borrowed from Shane Claiborne's "Jesus for President". I use them not to claim them as my own, but to perpetuate their truths.

Christianity as a Relationship, Not an Ideology.

2010-01-14T21:51:00.001-05:00

We as Christians have strayed in how we address many of the topics in the Bible. We take issues like tithing and evangelism, and we stress the fact that they are part of our Christian duties, we throw out the fact that these should be done naturally, and willingly. We shouldn't do these out of guilty or a "sense of duty". I propose that, if anything, we ditch the idea of them as "duties" and think of them more as markers or signifiers of a person's Christian faith. Jesus took this position when it came to loving one another. He didn't say it was our duty, but rather that others would know that we followed Jesus b/c of our love.

Following Christ shouldn't be a list of duties and a list of ideas that one has to believe. Instead it should be more like a relationship. In fact, it should be like a marriage. John the Beloved took up this perspective. He constantly described the church as "the Bride of Christ". Of course it is one's duty to love one's husband, but we don't get people to love their spouse more through guilt, or even through telling them directly. Instead we try to fix their relationship. And that is what we should do in the Church. We should not start by telling people to tithe more. Instead, when we see that someone isn't doing their "duties", we should consider it a red flag, and we should try to help heal their relationship. Fight the problem at the source. We shouldn't go out there and tell people what to do, that's legalism. We should focus on the relationship the person has with Christ.

The Power of God

2009-06-21T13:13:00.000-04:00

Psalm 27:1
Light, space, zest— that's God!
So, with him on my side I'm fearless,
afraid of no one and nothing.

2 Corinthians 4:9
We've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken.

Can you believe it? God is still on our side. Light and space are on our side, our side. Can you take it in? The Creator and Sustainer of the ENTIRE UNIVERSE is on your side Doesn’t it feel good knowing that Existence itself is for us?

Romans 8:31

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Wow! You should be jumping out of your seats when you hear that. You should be shouting “Amen!”. This is not just any god that is on our side. This is God, the one and only. This is Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh. God first identifies himself as Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh in Exodus 3:14 when Moses asks God what name to say when he tells the Israelites that he spoke to God. And God says “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh. Tell them Ehyeh sent you.” This is an amazing self-description. In English, tenses are determined by time, so we have the past, present, and future. But in Hebrew, tenses are determined by completion, so they really only have two: the perfect (or complete) and the imperfect (the incomplete). So when God says his name is Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh, he doesn’t just mean “I AM WHO I AM” he also means “I AM WHO I WILL BE”, or “I WILL BE WHO I AM”. This is an amazing show of God’s transcendence of time. God declares that he exists outside of time, but is somehow also the source of existence, which is within time. We can’t even wrap our heads around what it means for a timeless God to be on our side.

We're talking about a God so powerful the Ancient Hebrews dared not even speak the name of God, but only write and silently read it. If the Torah was read aloud they would replace God’s name (which we know today as Jehovah or Yahweh) with the words Adonai (meaning my God). Or if not referring to the Torah they would refer to God’s name as Hashem (meaning the name).
Where has that awe of God gone, for surely the awesomeness of God hasn’t dwindled? Why have we become so complacent with using God’s name that we even fall into the temptation of using it in vain? When someone asks us who we believe in, why aren’t we trembling when say his name, the name of the Creator, the Sustainer, the Judge, and the Wrathful Jealous God? When we pray, why don’t we say “Adonai, my God” instead of “God Almighty?” What makes us so audacious that we think we deserve to call to the Creator of the Universe by name and ask for the patience to wait five minutes in the grocery line? Why would we ever dare call out the name of the One who invented physics and chemistry, just to simply ask for a passing grade on a physics or chemistry test? What ever made us think we had the right to call on the name of the One who created us down to last subatomic particle, asking for the peace to know that our cold will pass away in time?
The good news is that we do have the right to call on His name. Even better news is that when we call on His name, He comes to help. The Book of Psalms consists of time after time when David called to the Lord, and the Lord answered.

Psalm 56:9
My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help.
This I know: God is on my side!

Listen to it! God acts! How amazing is it to know that not only does the God of Existence claim to be on our side, but He proves it. God is alive and active in our life! Do you hear me?! He is working in YOUR life! Praise God for that. . When you go to bed at night it’s not just the locked doors that keep the thieves out. God’s standing there on the front porch. And when he sees robbers looking at your house, He does a little Jedi mind trick. “This is not the house you’re looking for.” God has that much power. When a loved one is getting surgery, it isn’t just the doctor in there, God is steadying his hand, making sure he doesn’t slip up and make a mistake. God does that . Why should you be afraid of telling your friends about your faith, when your faith has saved you from countless troubles, most of which you will never even know about, because that is how great God is. When you go out into your regular ordinary life, remember these verses, and remember their powerful truths. Remember that God is on your side, and because of that you can be fearless.

Faith Pt. 1 of 5

2009-06-19T16:04:00.000-04:00

“Followers of Jesus, like artists, have understood that we have to keep going, exploring what it means to live in harmony with God and each other. The Christian faith tradition is filled with growth and change and transformation.”-Rob Bell

We are called to interact with God. How amazing is that?! We actually have the ability to live one-on-one with God, in a new way. I’m talking about a personal relationship with God that no one in the past has had, like no one else in the present is having, and like no one in the future can have. This is the ultimate definition of a once in a lifetime chance. Our faith is a personal faith. It is my faith and your faith. And what’s amazing is that we can disagree on little things like doctrine still profess that the other has faith in the same Lord, the same Jesus. We can both realize that neither one of us will ever know who was truly right. That’s mind-blowing!

Faith is not a moment of declaration. It is a process. It is a dialogue between you and God. And in this dialogue God points out the bad areas of your life. As Dave Edwards said at youth camp this summer: God pokes at the bruises, giving you the uncomfortable pain known as conviction. Faith is changing your life as God tells you to, and asking God for the strength to keep it that way. Because for it to be a dialogue you must participate and speak.

Faith Pt. 2 of 5

2009-06-19T16:03:00.001-04:00

Faith is digging deep into your Bible, not to gain a notch on the “Holy-meter” or to keep from looking like a heathen in front of your Christian friends, but to find out God’s Will in your life. There’s a reason why the Scripture is called God’s LIVING Word. God has an uncanny way of getting your eyes to focus on the perfect verse. Many times, after only looking through scripture for a minute or two, I would come across a verse that dealt with something I was going through, and it would have a direct application to my life.

One such moment happened this summer during FLIP camp. The name of the camp was FLIP because the focus was on flipping your life right-side up for Jesus. During the week, God had shown me that I treasured a good relationship with my friends more than following Christ. I had actually just finished telling the youth group about how you don’t always need a concordance, because God can guide you to a verse that deals with what you’re going through. I was searching through 1 Peter, looking for a verse that had been used in a book I had just read. Instead I came across this verse:

1 Pete 4:4-5 “4-5 Of course, your old friends don't understand why you don't join in with the old gang anymore. But you don't have to give an account to them. They're the ones who will be called on the carpet—and before God himself.” Amazing!...

If you still don’t believe me, go home and try it for yourself. Pray that God will direct you to a meaningful verse, and then start flipping. See what happens.

Faith is wanting God. Needing God. Seeking God. Pursuing God. Knowing God. And knowing that you need God. Our relationship with God and Jesus is an intimate romantic one. We are to be infatuated with God. After all God is already infatuated with us. Ephesians 1:3 says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” God has already showered us with gifts infinitely better than roses and chocolate. He’s standing next to us, waiting for us to take His hand and say “Yes.” Jesus gave up everything, He gave up choirs of angels singing Him praises night and day; He gave up a world in which physical pain does not exist. He gave up being directly in the presence of God the Father. He gave up all that to be with us, straying, forgetful, hesitant followers who wrong Him over and over. And yet He still decided to give it all up for us. We should be in love with Him just for that. You should have your heart flittering just to know that the Creator of the Universe wants to hear you speak.

We should be constantly singing praises for all that He’s given us: Good enough health to be here. Look at all the beauty in nature. We all have friends and family who love us. We are blessed with unimaginable wealth. But for all that we are given, what do we give back to God? We claim to believe in God, but do we ever prove it?

Faith Pt. 3 of 5

2009-06-19T16:02:00.000-04:00

That’s where faith comes in. Faith is not just believing, but it is acting on belief. Faith isn’t just believing in God, or even just knowing what His will is but doing what God tells you to. Faith is taking risks. Rob Bell compared Christians to artists. The most famous artists are those who took risks. The Impressionists (Renoir, Monet) painted emotions at the risk of being called sloppy. The Surrealists (Picasso, Salvador Dali) painted unimaginable scenes at the risk of being called childish and weird. The Abstractionists took the biggest risk of all, painting as they saw fit at the risk of loosing their title as artists. God calls us to take risks. God asked Mary to take a huge risk. Mary was only about fourteen when God asked her to be the mother of Jesus. Not being married at the time, this would plunge Mary headfirst into scandal. Paul constantly risked his life for speaking the message even as he was taken to court.

In the book “Jesus Freaks 2: Revolutionaries” are many true and amazing stories of when God saved his people. Here is one such story: The year: 2001. The place: North Korea. In a small house a mother and son are crying. Tears of joy and sorrow mix and mingle as they both realize what has just happened. The son, “Kim” has just given his life to Christ after hearing his mother tell the story of Christ. But earlier this same day Kim witnessed the execution of his best friend by the government for being a Christian. Kim knows full well the risk he takes in declaring his faith in Christ. Fast forward to the present. As far as is known, Kim is still alive, risking his life to smuggle God’s Word into China.

That’s the great thing. God keeps his end of the deal. He follows through just like how He does his part of the talking in the dialogue, and how He loves us infinitely, and you know He does right? Romans 8: 38-39 says: “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Isn’t that amazing?!

Faith Pt. 4 of 5

2009-06-19T16:01:00.000-04:00

So when you take a step out of your comfort zone for Jesus, He’s got your back. In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus says “"Stand up for me against world opinion and I'll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I'll cover for you?.” Even more amazing is that you won’t have to do it, that He’ll do it for you. He’ll be your personal guide right there with you the whole time. 24/7 assistance year-round. Now some of you are thinking “Hold up Brent. Did I just here you say He’ll do it for me? As in, if I don’t want to tell my friends to stop cussing, then I don’t have to, ‘cause He will?”

No, not at all. What I mean is, that when the time comes to stick your neck out for Jesus, like say when you see someone in the grocery store who needs encouragement, when the time comes to encourage them, if you’re afraid to say something, if you think they’ll just stare at you, or if you’re afraid you’ll stutter and make a fool of yourself, don’t worry. Just keep it all in perspective.

Galatians 2:20 says: “It is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me.” That means that you don’t have to say anything, but Christ THROUGH you does. So if they laugh at you and mock you, it’s okay. Matthew 5:11 says “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.” And sometimes we will be mocked for standing up for Christ. John 15:20 says: “Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.” So if they give you a hard time because of your faith, that only means they have first given Jesus a hard time. And if Jesus is being made fun of, I want to be made fun of. Wherever my God goes, I will follow. Not to say that I’ll try to make myself a laughing stock, but that I’ll stand up for my God even if it causes me to become one.

You see, that’s the flip side of Galatians 2:20. On the one side, it says we don’t need to fear doing as God tells us, for it is not really us but Christ himself doing it. But on the other side, we HAVE to do as God tells us. If we don’t we’re hindering Christ. Don’t get me wrong, we aren’t STOPPING Christ, for none of us can do that, but we are hindering his image and his actions. When you are called to stop a bad conversation, and you don’t, you are silencing Christ’s voice in that situation. Just take a moment to soak that in.

You are being a negative witness for Christ. This is Christ telling us to “Go Big or Go Home.” Right after He tells us to stand up for Him, Christ tells us in verses 34-38 of Matthew 10 that “If you prefer father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me. If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me.” That’s a tough thing to hear in a world where Christians are trying to preserve family values. God doesn’t just ask us to say we believe in Him, He asks us to prove it.

Faith Pt. 5 of 5

2009-06-19T16:00:00.001-04:00

James 2 says “14What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
18I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
19 -20You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.[a] Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
21 -24Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar. You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. Don’t you see that the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?
25 -26The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.”
James is saying that without works we are spiritually dead. Yet at the same time, if you do works without faith, you as well are spiritually dead. True faith shows itself through action.
So who do you have faith in? And if you say Jesus are you willing to prove it? Prove it to your friends. Prove it to the needy, the hungry, the homeless.

A God-Minded People

2009-06-17T11:32:00.000-04:00

We are to be God-minded people. We must be persistent in our focus on God. Not persistent on others, but persistent on ourselves. We must persist that God comes first, not us. We must be revolutionaries of thought. A revolutionary never puts down his banner and never, NEVER puts anything before his cause. Jesus is our cause.

"But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon ploughed into the soil for compost. By a seeming fate, commonly called necessity, they...lay up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal." H.D. Thoreau in Walden.

As Thoreu points out, when we work only to better ourselves, we gain nothing and lose everything. We work for money that can be embezzled, and reputations that lies can ruin. Why not work instead for the immutable omniscient God?

Matthew 10:39

"If your first concern is yourself, you'll never find yourself. but if you forget yourself, and come to me, you'll find both yourself and me." - Jesus (The Message)

"He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it" - Jesus (KJV)

Beliefs and Doctrine

2009-06-17T11:21:00.000-04:00

Our relationship with God is an exciting one. We are to test our beliefs and doctrine like kids in a laboratory. We must see which ones seem to reveal themselves in our life.

It's like an everchanging puzzle where we constantly take out pieces and put in different ones, but the picture remains the same (the picture being of course God).

We can only have an exciting relationship if we try new things, make changes and take risks for God. Doing these things (if they are God's will) reveals more about God in our lives.

We must constantly realize that our vision of faith is not completely correct. At the same time we must remember that past followers were never completely incorrect.