WardWritings

Notes on a Page

2010-09-28T22:52:00.003-04:00

My entire life has been surrounded by music. My mother loved music and played it all the time, in the car, in the house and on a crappy tape player whenever we'd be outside. I'm thankful for that. I love music too and can really appreciate all kinds. I started singing in church when I was just six or seven (If you'd like to hear the first time I believe Cathy Lorton still has it on tape). My mom made me take piano lessons when I was in elementary school. I took Saxophone Lessons in Jr. High. I was in a very good Choir in High School for four years. I've taken a few music theory classes. I've played the guitar for at least ten years now and have played and sang in numerous bands with numerous purposes.

I love music. It's a part of who I am. With all that I've written to this point, you'll probably be shocked to learn that I can't read music at all. I guess I can a little, but not in any practical way. Tonight I pulled out an old keyboard that a friend gave us a couple of years ago and I'm determined to be good at the piano for once in my life. I printed out some sheet music for a song that I like and began staring at the jumbled lines and dots that make up this so called music.

I can hear music, I can play music, I can feel music so why can't I read music? It's honestly very frustrating to me. I've had many teachers try and help me by learning little tricks here and there, but they've never seemed to stick in my brain.

When I look down at that sheet music I don't see notes on a page, I see dots and lines that are somehow supposed to mean something. Now if I sit there long enough, I can use the formulas that I've leaned over the years to slowly start to peck out the song in front of me. After about an hour tonight I got past the first page. But that's not really reading it, from there I just have to play it from memory. The notes on the page never translate to music to me.

There is a point to this babbling, just keep reading. I've found that those who do get it, who can read the music off the page think less of those of us who can't. Through out my life they have always stressed to me the importance of being able to get this. They've always told me how easy it is and if I just worked harder I'd get it and then everything would be right with the world.

But that's not true. First of all, I'm not going to get it. My brain just isn't wired to get it and in a way I'm glad about that. I've noticed that when many sit down at a piano and play the notes on the page their doing nothing more than solving an algebra problem. They're using the formula they've learned to get the right answer. I know people who can read music, but can't play something from their heart. They can recreate what's been written on a page but they can never make music. I'm glad that I can make music. I'm glad that I can feel it in my soul.

So here's the point. I think that sometimes we (me included) religious elitists who think we know all of the biblical backgrounds, historical contexts, and theological formulas simply are solving an algebra problem to see if we can't get the right answer. Meanwhile there are those who are living out their deeply spiritual lives who could never articulate their lives in this world using anything biblical or theological. They don't know the right language or the right formulas. And we look down on them. We think that they're missing the point. We think that they're missing out on something great and grand when in reality their living something great and grand, their feeling something great and grand, they're making a spiritual symphony with every breath they breathe and we are missing it all.

God is not there to be studied and analyzed. God is there to walk with, to speak to, to sing to and to be heard. When you lock yourself in your study you aren't feeling Him because He is out in the world. He is in all of the places that you may never have dreamed or even feared to go. The sad thing is that there are others who are already there. They are living lives that they may not call spiritual or religious, but are far more spiritual than some of us have ever dreamed.

Sometimes it's time to stop quoting the bible. It's time to stop reading books and listening to sermons and it's time to live. It's time to feel God in this world that He has created with the people that He loves. It's time to stop recreating things that are already written and start making music in the world around us.

American Mythology

2010-06-02T01:46:00.013-04:00

I came across this term recently in a post at www.jesusmanifesto.com. In this post, the author makes the point that Christians should consider whether or not it is appropriate, as believers in Christ and His Kingdom, to celebrate American holidays. He actually calls them America's "holy days." He is trying to make the point that America has a religion all it's own. I agree with the point that there is a very strong civil religion in America and it blurs the lines too often with true Christianity. The lie that this nation was "founded on Christianity" pervades the understanding of even the skeptic.

This post goes as far as to claim that this American mythology attempts to offer a new soteriology, one where soldiers have brought us freedom with the "ultimate sacrifice." These words were used by his priest before concluding mass with America the Beautiful.

This is my attempt to take up this challenge. I will consider this option and see if his argument is worthwhile or not. My initial reaction to this was that celebrating American holidays are not the same a celebrating religious holidays. There is a different motivation and a different reason for each.

Have the lines been blurred between American holidays and our Christian Holy days?

Many days that are significant or recognized in Christianity are now either National Holidays, or days celebrated in ways that are void of it's religious meaning. For example, Christmas, Easter, Mardi Gras, St. Patricks day, St. Valentines day, etc. Many people in America celebrate these days with no knowledge or even concern for their meaning or purpose. The same goes for days like Memorial day. The media does a good job of trying to force it down our throats why we celebrate these American holidays, but unfortunately the message doesn't get communicated to many. So for these people who don't understand or care why, there is no difference between the two categories. Unfortunately this group is a group that I believe is growing exponentially.

So for the common person in this growing group of indifferent people, there is no difference and the lines are clearly blurred. In some ways, by making Significant religious days National holidays, America itself is blurring the lines.

With more thought I can see why the author has some more issues. On the so-called "secular" side it is pretty hard to distinguish which holiday is which and why. What about the religious side?

The author of the post points out that his priest blurred the lines by ending Mass not with a Doxology or a Blessing, but with an American patriotic hymn. In many Protestant and a growing number of Roman Catholic churches you will find the American flag on the platform behind where the pastor or priest stands to deliver the the homily. This seems pretty Innocent, but it's not. There are a lot of churches now that you would be hard pressed to find a cross in the "sanctuary," but you can't move the freaking American flag or the pastor will get fired.

When we have songs in our hymnals like "America the Beautiful." We are equating that with all of our Hymns about God. Is that right? Is there something wrong with putting equal importance on America or our government as we do God within the walls of the Sanctuary? The lines are clearly being blurred on the religious side as well.

So What?

Is this a problem? If so what do we do? Do we abstain from celebrating non religious holidays so that the days that are special on the Christian calendar stand out as something more significant in our lives? Do we inform others? Do we simply take time to educate others on the days and their meanings? Do we do nothing at all?

I'm leaving this open. I have considered. I think there is something here, but I'm not sure that the answer offered is the one that we should take. More than anything else I want to spark thought and dialogue. Please respond to this. This is important. Please think about it and think about what should be done, if anything.

Looking ahead

2009-08-31T22:39:00.002-04:00

So I was driving home tonight from work and I immediately turned my radio to 720 AM to see if the Cubs were still playing. Ahh, the comforting voices of Pat and Ron telling me that Ryan Theriot was coming up to bat.

I love listening to Cubs games. Really I enjoy listening to just about any baseball game on the radio. There's just something nostalgic about the hole thing. It makes me feel like I'm living out the golden age of America.

I realized that there was a problem with the way I had been listening to the games lately. This will take a little bit of explaining for those of you who aren't baseball fans. First of all the cubs haven't won the World Series in a really long time (I won't get caught up in number). The past few years, the Cubs have had a really good and competitive team and they've been projected to win by a lot of baseball talking heads for the past three years. The good news for Cubs fans is that they've been really competitive.

This means that when I've been listening to the games I've been thinking about how this game will effect how the cubs are ranked. I've been thinking of how it effects their chances of making the playoffs and doing well in the playoffs. However, over the past month or so the Cubs completely fell apart and it looks like they may not make it into the playoffs at all.

I realized that listening tonight was different. It was the first time that I was listening to a game not wanting them to win simply because of how it ranked them. I just wanted them to win this game tonight. It was only about tonight, it was only about this game. I enjoyed it a lot more. If they lost it didn't really mean anything. I just enjoyed it.

I think that most of us have a problem. This problem has nothing to do with baseball. We live in a society that is all about status and getting ahead or making progress. Just like I had been listening to baseball games thinking about how it positioned my team for the future, most of us are living life the same way. We live each moment wondering how it's going to position us for what's next. I don't think that there's anything inherently wrong with this. The problem is that it prevents us from enjoying the moment. We don't enjoy life. We don't enjoy what's happening right now, because we're so focussed on what's happening next.

I'm a geek. No... really. I'm about to lose you hear so stick with me please and keep reading. I like Star Wars. In episode one, two of the Jedi's are standing in a room. The two Jedi's are Obi Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn. Obi Wan is thinking about some things that are going to take place and Qui Gon warns him not to do this. Obi Wan replies "But Master Yoda says to be mindful of the future." and Qui Gon replies, "But not at the expense of the present."

Be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the present. This is a great philosophy. This is what I'm getting at

We are so concerned and worried about the future that we lose the present moments in life. This is wrong.

Jesus tells us to not worry about tomorrow. Most of us take this lightly, but I'm not sure that we should. We need to wrestle with this and understand what Jesus meant. We need to take Jesus seriously. Jesus' words are not always easy to digest and they don't always lead us to the conclusions that we had hoped for, but it's Jesus. Jesus doesn't always seem to make sense, but I've always found Him to be right, even when common sense dictates otherwise.

Are we the new Pharisees?

2009-07-25T12:49:00.000-04:00

I wrote this in response to a blog that I read giving ideas for revisions to allow for the drinking of "de-alcoholized wine." These would've been revisions for the manual in the Church of the Nazarene. If you're not Nazarene don't think that this can't apply to you. Many American Protestants hold on to the same beliefs about alcohol. This is really for all Christians who hold on to this stance.

This is all absolutely ridiculous. The stance held by the denomination (as well as other protestant denominations) is completely pharisaical. I'm sorry but as I read the Bible, the pedagogical nature of the law has been fulfilled in Christ and is no longer the way things operate. Protestant Christians, at least in America, have not caught on. We're afraid people may sin so we make new laws that prohibit them from doing something that is not a sin.

I think if God wanted us to not drink alcoholic beverages He would have told us not to partake. More importantly if He didn't want us to partake, then He most definitely would not have used it as an element for the sacrament, Eucharist. God is clearly okay with me drinking alcohol, why is the Church of the Nazarene (and so many other Protestant Denominations) against it? Aren't we supposed to be on the same side as God? Instead we're on the same side as the Pharisees. We tell people that they can't be a member of our "holy club" if they partake of alcoholic beverages. We make them feel as if they can't be part of God's church, as if they're not Christians or something. We make up our own laws, rules and regulations to try to "help" people live holy lives. Our intent may be good, but it is still wrong. Instead all we really do is alienate a world that can't understand why we won't let them in when our own Bible doesn't condemn it and when our own God doesn't have a problem with it.

I am reminded of the words of Jesus, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces."

How do we think we know better than God?

I would conclude that we are the new Pharisees. The only problem with that is that they even saw no harm in drinking alcohol.

What Matters More???

2009-07-24T17:26:00.008-04:00

Wow! For those of you who followed the Derek Webb fiasco to the end... Congrats are in order. I did the best I could and was there compiling music at the very end of it. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's ok. Please keep reading!

One of my favorite Singer Songwriters is Derek Webb. He recently released an album called The Stockholm Syndrome. There was a lot of controversy surrounding this album that delayed it's release and ultimately resulted in two separate albums to appease the more conservative crowd.

The main song of controversy is titled What Matters More? I'll include the lyrics here for you to read and the video of the song.

You say you always treat people like you like to be
I guess you love being hated for your sexuality
You love when people put words in your mouth
'Bout what you believe, make you sound like a freak

'Cause if you really believe what you say you believe
You wouldn't be so damn reckless with the words you speak
Wouldn't silently consent when the liars speak
Denyin' all the dyin' of the remedy

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?

If I can tell what's in your heart by what comes out of your mouth
Then it sure looks to me like being straight is all it's about
It looks like being hated for all the wrong things
Like chasin' the wind while the pendulum swings

'Cause we can talk and debate until we're blue in the face
About the language and tradition that he's comin' to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit
About 50,000 people who are dyin' today

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?

So the question is... What Matters More?

I've thought about this a lot, even before Derek released this album I had been pressed with these questions. Several months before I heard word of this song, I was listening to an old podcast of Rob Bell. In this particular sermon Rob is talking about a conversation that Jesus had with the Pharisees. During this conversation Jesus says

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness."

What is Jesus getting at? According to Rob, and I agree with him, Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they've gotten down the legal things. They know the do's and do not's of religion. Where they are lacking is in carrying out justice, showing mercy, having faith in God and His sovereignty. They've neglected the "weightier" issues. Some translations say that they've neglected the "more important" issues. Being agents of justice and showing people mercy are more important than tithing?!?! That seems to be what Jesus is saying. Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness are more important than the legal side of things. In fact it's this legalism that gets the Pharisees in so much trouble with Jesus.

What's important to note is that Jesus does not say that tithing is not important. It is important, in fact he goes on to say that we should to the weightier things without neglecting the others. We should do justice, show mercy without neglecting to obey those personal things that God has placed on us.

So what's my point? What do these have in common? The question that Derek asks is, "What matters more?" What matters more, the fact that there are gay people in our world or that children are starving to death? What matters more? That a new state has allowed for homosexual union, or that 50,000 people died yesterday and you didn't even shed a tear? He's not asking which one matters at all. He's asking which one matters MORE? I think that Jesus would say that the justice and mercy issues matter more. Saving the starving and diseased children.

Is that what we Christians think is more important?

I don't think that it is. Almost without fail each week I get a new e-mail in my inbox telling me to take some action against homosexuality. I either need to boycott Ford because they're advertising during a show that shows to guys kissing, or I need to write my congressman about some new law or bill that prevents people from carrying out hate crimes against homosexuals (That's another post entirely). More time, effort and money from Christians goes into a fight against homosexuals that is a one sided fight.

When I want to take action that will help prevent the spread of malaria I go to Bill Gates. That's not a Christian organization. When I want to take action that would help get clean drinking water to literally millions of people who don't have it, then I go to One.org. That's not a Christian organization.

We Christians have forgotten to concern ourselves with the things of Christ! We are so caught up in our Pharisee attitudes and our legalism that we don't show justice or mercy to a world that is in misery! A world that God loves, a world that Christ died for! His message and His gospel is not just a ticket to Heaven, but a call for a lifestyle that fights on the side of justice and mercy.

We "Christians" don't act like Christ! Hollywood is concerning themselves with the "more important" issues and yet we think that we have the right to call ourselves righteous in God's site. We think we have the right to say that we are Holy and living Holy lives simply because we are obeying the rules.

If that's what Holiness is than I, along with the Fathers of the Church have seriously misread the Bible.

So what matter's more to you as a Christian? What are you going to do? Where is your time, effort and money going to go?

There is one more quote from Derek that I would like to share. There is a verse in his song called This Too Shall Be Made Right.

I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide

Let's join together and concern oursleves with the more important matters, not neglecting the others.

To Neda

2009-06-22T19:27:00.003-04:00

I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of my cell phone's alarm clock. I turned it off quickly so that I wouldn't accidentally wake up my son Caedmon. I rolled around for a while and waited for him to get up. When I finally heard him talking in his crib I got him and we went downstairs to fix some breakfast. I didn't think much about the events of the day. I didn't have a lot hanging on my mind. I was simply enjoying the morning with my child. Shortly my thoughts turned to you.

What did you do Saturday morning? Did you have breakfast with your father? Did you contemplate the events of the day? The grave events that were about to take place? How did you picture it all? I know that I would have pictured it differently. I would have pictured people with signs marching around and chanting cheesy slogans in hopes that someone may notice, that maybe my voice would be heard. Maybe even hoping that a news camera would catch me.

Did you think about dying? Did you think about what was actually going to happen? The rumors were that things could get violent. Did you know that they would or did you assume that they would not?

The government banished the media from your country. You probably were not expecting to be found by a news camera, but you were found by a camera. Was it as you hoped it would be? Was it as you thought it might be?

I am sorry. I am sorry that you lived in a place where you had to be afraid of your own government. I am sorry that you had to suffer a painful death. I am sorry that your family now bears the burden of your death. I am sorry if this is not what you were expecting. If this wasn't what you thought was going to happen.

Even though I am terribly sorry, I hope that you are not. I hope that you are not sorry about your death for a cause that you believed in. I hope that you are not sorry that you showed the world that one person, especially one woman, can make a difference. I hope you are not sorry that you have now become the face of this resistance and the rally cry for hope.

Please know that I hope that you did not die in vain. I hope that your voice is not only heard, but listened to. I hope that your family can take some kind of solice in the fact that you died for a cause, and I hope they do not stop believing in that cause now that you are gone.

I am not sure that I can join you in your fight. I'm not sure that I can ever completely understand what you were fighting for. I can join you in your fight against the oppression. No matter what your views are you did not deserve to die. I can stand with your brothers and sisters in opposition to the cause of their suffering. I hope that because of you the world can join me in that stand.

Thank you Neda, may you never be forgotten.

Give a What???

2009-05-20T19:12:00.004-04:00

I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night
-Tony Campolo

Derek Webb is at it again. Imagine that. Derek Webb is striking up controversy. I never would have guessed it. I never thought I'd live to see the day. Okay, so that was all sarcasm. I am a huge fan of Derek Webb. I think he's a great musician and great lyricist and a great fly on the rear of the horse we call the church. So what is he up too now?

Derek Web has written an album called "Stockholm Syndrome." Take into consideration Derek's past and the title of the new album and you can only imagine what the problems are. There are apparently some problems that are brewing between the label and him. Derek sent out an e-mail warning people that the album may be delayed.

After this announcement rumors started flying around the blogosphere that all the controversy revolved around one word... "Shit." See the quote above. The rumor was that the entire controversy was that Derek had this word in a song and refused to take it out because he was using it in a similar way that Tony did in the previously mentioned quote. If that's the case then you can see how it would change the entire meaning of the song.

That's not all. After that surfaced a lot of people were upset. Many individuals claimed that he should just change the word and get over it. Alas, he sends out a second e-mail. In this e-mail he did a few different things. First of all, he affirmed that this was not a hoax. This is real. Secondly, he assured his readers that the controversy was over more than just one word. Again rumors began to fly around. The current theory is that there is also a song that condemns the way the church has treated homosexuals. Wow, can we get anymore controversial then gays and "shit." He has also admitted that this album does deal somewhat with economics.

This is probably more than a rumor, at least on the issue of language. In the spirit of Toni Campolo's quote Derek is planning on starting is new activist website at www.giveashit.org

.

So what? Well I'll tell you what! We need to discuss these issues. I am a huge supporter of Derek Webb. I don't always agree with him, but I'm pretty sure that's not his goal. I know that his goal is to get people to do what I'm doing now. Discuss the issues and come to real conclusions not just the conclusions we've always been taught.

There's actually more to the story. It is possible that some of this is a game to get people involved and thinking. Derek said that he was going to have to get creative to legally get around his label. This has gone as far as secret coded e-mails and tweets. Even going into coffee shops with secret code words. It's become very elaborate and there is a huge following trying to get this album out there as it is leaked out in a very non traditional fashion. Even if this is a game, it's a fun one and it's working.

Missing Link?

2009-05-20T09:36:00.012-04:00

"Unless we are actively looking or listening for something, there is a real and distinct possibility it will simply fail to reach our conscious awareness, at least not at the levels that are desired"

-Dr. Richard G. Colling

I realize that I am about to tread on some dangerous territory. There is a warning that you'll hear about blogging. Anything that you put up on the internet is there forever even if you delete it someday. This makes what I'm about to write even more dangerous for me. I feel that the truth is needed and that recent events may lead to an even more dangerous area for many conservative Christians. I am writing about the controversial subject of the theory of evolution.

Yesterday stories came out about the discovery of the "missing link." It's so energizing and gathering so much momentum that even Google is supporting this. If you go to the Google search page you will see that they have designed their logo in a way that reflects this story. It's catching on fast.

I see a few problems with this. Instead of shedding more light on the theory of evolution I believe that it is only going to cause more division. I have read as much information as is out there at this moment. According to what I have read, Scientists can confirm that this is an ancestor to a lemur. It is not clear that it is an ancestor to other primates. Jen Franzen, a scientist on the team that has studied this for the past two years stated,

We're not dealing with our grand, grand, grandmother, but perhaps with our grand, grand, grand aunt

Because of the fact that there is some uncertainty (at least at this moment) this is going to cause larger divisions. Those who believe in the theory of evolution are going to find it very easy to rally behind this and see it as evidence that Darwin's theory of evolution is fact. They will be even more certain of this theory. Those who don't agree with this theory will find it easy to say that this is not close enough to prove anything, putting them even more on the defensive.

It is possible that more information will soon be available and this may prove to be closer than we all think. It's possible that this will be the most important scientific discovery of our times. It's possible that this will move Darwin's theory into the realm of scientific fact. If that's the case, this is where things get really bad.

If this happens, there are many Christians who will decide to no longer believe in God, or at least not Judeo-Christian God of the Bible. There will also be many Christians who will use this as even more of a reason to reject the value of reliability of science. Why is this? Why would this cause such a great schism, or at least widen an already existing schism?

There are many scientists who have been trying to prepare conservative Christians for this event. Scientists such as Dr. Francis S. Collins, former director of the human genome project. What Collins and many others have realized is that there is a false premise that created much of this debate. The premise is that for Darwin's theory of evolution to be verified, the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible must be myth. This idea leads Christians to say "God is not myth, therefore Darwin's evolution has to be false." It also leads many others to say, "Evolution happened, therefore God must be myth." Collins, and many others, disagree with the premise that leads us to these conclusions.

In his book, The Language of God Collins makes the argument that it is possible to agree with Darwin's theory of evolution and still believe in the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible. Dr. Richard Colling made this same argument before Collins did, in his book Random Designer. Many of these scientists have been publicly rejected by the conservative Christian community. They may start gaining some popularity if recent discoveries make Darwin's theory even more likely.

I do not know whether I agree with Darwin's theory of evolution. I do see it as a possibility. If science some day "proves" this theory, I will submit to the knowledge of those who know more than I. I am a part of a Christian denomination that allows me to take this stance. This is where the Church of the Nazarene stands,

The Church of the Nazarene believes in the biblical account
of creation ("In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth . . ."—Genesis 1:1).We oppose any godless
interpretation of the origin of the universe and of humankind.
However, the church accepts as valid all scientifically
verifiable discoveries in geology and other natural phenomena,
for we firmly believe that God is the Creator. (Articles I.
1., V. 5.1, VII.) (2005)

I believe that Christians can believe in God and the Bible and still agree with the theory of evolution. We need to quit preaching the false premise that these two cannot coexist. We need to show that they can and it's possible that they do. If we don't start now, then as more scientific discoveries are made we are going to drive more people away out of ignorance or drive more people into ignorance.

New Camera

2009-04-23T01:49:00.001-04:00

This is the Madison St. Bridge in Chicago, IL. I'm playing with my new camera. Notice how the light streaks below the bridge. Thanks to pastorbuhro for showing me how to do that. I'm having fun with it and being in Chicago.

Beautiful Reconciliation

2009-04-09T17:03:00.000-04:00

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created...all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together... For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind... he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him...

- St. Paul (Colossians 1)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself... and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ...

-St. Paul (2 Corinthians 5)

There is a belief that I hold. I'm not the only one who holds this belief. Many Christians today hold this belief and many in the early church held this belief. This belief has been consistantly held by the church over several centuries.

So what is it already? It is the fact that when Adam and Eve "fell" in the Garden of Eden and God removed them, all of creation fell. Part of the reason for believing this is that God created everything together. God didn't create things in isolation from each other, but God created things in a way that they are all interconnected. If this is true then when Adam and Eve fell it makes sense that all of creation fell at the same time.

If you read the verses above you can see Paul's theology in light of this belief. Paul believed that all things were created through and for the Son. After the fall all things needed to be reconciled back to God. Without going into much detail we know that the death on the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ has accomplished the means of this reconciliation. Paul doesn't stop with this. Paul believes that through this we who believe in Christ have become a new creation.

Paul also believes that we are ambassadors of this reconciliation. We are called to bring this reconciliation to all of creation. It would be easy to say, "I'm a new creation, let me sit back and enjoy it." Paul's argument is that we cannot. We are now, as part of this new creation, ambassadors with a mission.

This isn't exactly something new. Most of us hear these kinds of things at church all of the time. We have to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. The great commission tells us to be ambassadors. There is something in here that we don't often hear preaches. Paul refers to reconciling the "whole world" and "all creation" he even gets as specific to say "all things visible and invisible, all things in heaven and on earth." Paul is talking about EVERYTHING, not just people.

God wants to reconcile everything to Him, everything He created, everything He loves and we are His ambassadors. We know how we can be ambassadors to other people. There are warehouses full of books on the subject and there have been millions of sermons preached on it.

My real point and my real question is this. How can we be ambassadors in the reconciliation of the entire earth? Maybe it's time we start thinking about this. Maybe it's about time we start doing something about this. Maybe it's about time we act like the ambassadors that God expects us to be.

The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God

-St. John of Damascus

More Than a Fairy Tale

2009-04-08T12:26:00.004-04:00

My wife is amazed by some of the most common things. At least, those things that I have always viewed as common. She is amazed at how cell phones work or the internet. She doesn't grasp the concept of different algorithms of code being send via electricity through a wire into a metal box and somehow showing up as a picture of a video on a screen. She accepts that this is somehow true because she sees it everyday, but she is still amazed by it.

This may not seem like a stretch for most of us. Most of us can't read binary and most of us don't even know the definition of a hexadecimal system. So it's easy for us o understand how one might be amazed at this.

A better example of what I'm talking about is how Kim views UPS and FedEx. Kim doesn't understand how she can send something this afternoon from Indiana and it could be at someones door in Texas the next morning. She's amazed. She doesn't understand how a system could be so fast and efficient. She uses this as proof that Santa Clause is real. FedEx and UPS simply stole his secret and now they can deliver packages around the world over night.

This may seem simple or even silly, but it's actually very profound. Too often in life we get caught up with life itself. We simply expect our computers to turn on and our cell phones to connect. We don't understand how they work we just expect them too. We are rarely amazed by these little things. I think we need to be more often.

There are those things that do amaze us, at least for a little while. Things like Space Shuttles. There are really big things that we don't understand but are still amazed at. When something HUGE happens that we can't explain we are amazed.

How often are we amazed with God?

I fear that we've treated God the same way we've treated Santa Claus. He's more of a fairy tale to us. We explain away miracles and His involvement in our lives as coincidence. We really aren't amazed out how we breath and how gravity holds us on the earth. We take God and His provisions for granted more than the internet or UPS. Why? Because we've turned Him into a fairy tale. He's not really real. He's an idea of goodwill, not a loving grace filled Savior.

Let's not allow this to continue. Spend time today contemplating God's involvement in your life. How has He shown Himself to you? Do you find that amazing?

Eco Theology

2009-04-08T00:21:00.002-04:00

I just transfered all of my posts from another blog I've had to this blog. There are a couple reasons I did this. One reason was for efficiency. It's easier to maintain one blog vs. two. I've already proven that it's difficult for me to maintain the one so and I don't want to entirely abandon the other blog I had started.

Another reason for doing this was because of purpose. I had started the other blog because I felt that the purpose was different than the purpose of this blog. The truth is that the purpose of this blog i pretty general and has room for a lot of different things. Now that I have come to grips with that I want to turn all blogging attention to this blog alone.

The reason that I started the other blog is because I wish to address a theological issue that I feel has been ignored by most of the church today. Many might not agree that Ecology or the environment comes down to a theological issue, but I believe very strongly that it does. The point of that blog was to shed some light on the theological nature of ecological issues. I hope that this ultimately helps us walk closer with Christ and that we may live more obedient lives for Him.

The blog entries that were transfered are as follows: Dominion, Smog in Heaven?, First Book Review, Does God Really Care??, A Moral Issue? and Not Alarmist Theology.

There were a few comments to these posts and I have not been able to get them to transfer over yet, but I will continue trying. In the mean time, please feel free to go back and look at these and comment often.

Pomo Part 2

2009-04-07T23:18:00.002-04:00

Back in September of '05 I posted some of my general feelings about postmodernism. I would like for you to read it and then read this post. There are a couple of reasons. First of all, you'll understand what I'm talking about when I make a reference to it. Secondly, and probably most important, you'll realize one of the purposes of this blog. One pf the purposes is for me to see how I have grown and changed over time. I think this will be evident by comparing the two posts. I could simply delete the old post and post my current thoughts alone, but I don't want to ignore or deny who I am or who I've been.

If you read that earlier post you'll realize one thing first and foremost. I was not to fond of this thing called postmodernism. There are many in the church today who currently hold this view and I can completely relate because of how I felt at one point in time.

Today I like postmodernism. I am not claiming to be a "true postmodern" or anything like that. I don't think that it's something that you can exactly agree with or disagree with. It's simply a philosophical and cultural shift that must be acknowledged. The reason I say that I like it is because it has cause American Protestant Christians to evaluate this thing they call Christianity and it has caused them to be more serious about their faith and more honest about it as well.

I don't think one can help being a postmodern anymore than they can help being Western. It's just a fact and it must be accepted and understood.

As I mentioned, there are two main influences of postmoderism today. The first is philosophical. This is where I began to start acting like a little kid, because the philosophers labeled as postmodern fascinate me. They challenge so much of what we think and how we think and I love being challenged. Unfortunately the church has not offered much in this area. Theology (done in philosophical ways) still operated heavily in a modern context and has for the most part ignored postmodernism. This is sad because I believe that the church can offer a lot in this area just as it was able to offer a lot in the beginning of modernism. Stanley Grenz was begining to offer up some material in this area before his death and I'm hoping that there will be many to pick up his torch.

The other area is cultural. This is where things have become very controversial. The fact is that the "secular" part of society has taken culture postmodernism and embraced it. I believe that this is where our fundamental problem is. The church began to equate postmodernism with what they saw as "secular." If postmodernism is purely a secular movement and away from the church then it makes sense that the church challenge it. Another problem is that postmodernism challenges everything modern and today's protestant church's are deeply rooted in modernism. This makes it appear as though postmodernism challenges the church, which is not exactly the case.

I believe, along with many others, that we as the church need to begin to see the church in a different light. We need to understand that the church, Scripture, theology and even God existed before modernism and they will continue to exist after modernism is dead. If we can understand this one truth then we can begin understanding the role of the church in this cultural shift.

Unfortunately we are already seeing church who can't make this shift close their doors or die out. We must embrace this thing called postmodernism. It is not evil it is simply a change in history. There have been changes like this before and there will be changes like his after and God will still be God and He will still call us to follow and worship Him.

Tweeting in church!

2009-04-06T00:44:00.003-04:00

The other day I read this post on a blog that I recently began reading.

Tweeting during church

Here was my response...

I think your reaction is a little overboard. At one point in time paper notes for the sermon was a new thing, then we had power point. I don't see the difference between asking people to write down notes from the sermon and asking them to tweet their thoughts. I actually do see a difference. I think that there are more beneficial outcomes from asking others to tweet.

One benefit is that you can get on twitter that evening and see what people got out of your sermon. You know what you said, but you don't always know what others hear.

Another benefit is that if someone misses church due to illness or other they can get real time responses from their family and friends.

One more benefit is that if people in the congregation generally like the sermons and say good things about it then their followers may be inclined to ask about visiting.

Are other people going to be doing other things on their cell phones? Absolutely! They always are. This is no different than offering them a pen and paper. They can pass notes or doodle. You're not offering any more distraction, you're only offering a different one. Those who are distraction prone will still be distracted. You're offering a different incentive.

I find it very interesting that the man who calls himself The Gadget Pastor was advocating the abandonment of gadgets when it comes to a practical application in ministry. I think it's really easy to see these "gadgets" as aids to our levels of administrative productivity and yet ignore them or reject them when it comes to creatively using them for ministry.

So I'm a Turtle

2009-04-05T23:50:00.003-04:00

Turtle
To many guys my age this may sound cool. If you're around 25 years old and a male your first thoughts may drift to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtls. This isn't what this is about. This is about the second post I ever made on this blog. In summary a turtle is someone who likes to start things but rarely, if ever, sees them through to fruition.

This blog is a prime example of why I'm a turtle. I started this blog back in 2004 and I've only published 19 posts. This is my attempt to fight the turtle within and stay with this blog.

Updates
I want to get you up to date on my life to this point. The last time I posted was shortly after Luke's death, in July 2007. Since then a lot has happened. The most important of all things is that Kim gave birth to our firstborn son, Caedmon Asher Ward. He's the cutest baby ever. In July of this year she will give birth to our second born son, Cohen Isaiah Ward.

I also finished school. I graduated from the Community College of the Air Force with my Associates in Health Science and from Indiana Wesleyan University with my B.A. in Religion/Philosophy. I am now working on my MDiv.

We moved a couple of times. I am also looking for a job. I think that cathces everyone up.

Future

What is in store for this blog? I really don't have a clear answer for that. I want to try to post regularly. I think I can do this and I will do my best. I will continue to post my thoughts about religion etc. I really want to do some book reviews. I'm working on a few books that I'm about to finish. I will quickly get some reviews up. I may also use this as a place to interact with other blogs out there and hopefully introduce you to more blogs.

I hope you come back and comment often!

Not Alarmist Theology

2008-06-10T19:26:00.000-04:00

I was listening to a local Christian radio station the other day. Unfortunately, this is not something that I often do, because the content is usually neither challenging or sound, theologically or Biblically. This moment proved my suspicions. There was a guest on this particular program who had just written a book and was discussing his theological views trying to encourage listeners to buy his book.
The host addressed concerns of the environment and questioned how Christians should respond. This author addressed this with some agitation in his voice. He said that Christians should not be like the world. The world is reacting to concerns of global warming, therefore Christians should not react to this. If Christians do they will look as ridiculous as those who chain themselves to trees. He was making the argument that all individuals who bought in to the idea of global warming were simply crazy. He was also making the argument that Christians who were concerned about the environment were going to appear just as crazy. This means that I am crazy. That is, if you buy in to his arguments.
I have a few remarks about this. My first remark is one that I have emphasized before. I think it is very sad and very disturbing that the secular community has taken a strong lead on this and the "church," at least the American Protestant Conservative community, has been of the groups holding us back from making significant progress. We have bought so much into "conservative" politics that it has tainted the way we view God's creation.
I also want to make another point. I think that this man created a false dichotomy. He seemed to be making the argument that you are either a sane individual who does not care about the environment at all, or you are a crazy radical who chains herself to trees. This is not true. Too often we have been taught that things are black and white and there is never any gray. This simply does not agree with reality. This type of thinking is often the culprit in extremest thinking or alarmist reactions. The truth is that we are all different and many of us react at different levels on a large scale that has two opposite points and many in between.
I agree that Christians should not do anything that will make us look crazy (at least nothing in the environmental realm), however we do have a responsibility to act if we know that something is wrong. I see this in the Bible, time after time, story after story. It seems that one of the many themes in the Bible is that knowledge equals responsibility. If we know that we are supposed to be taking care of God's creation and we know that it is in a bad state, then we have the responsibility to act. I'm not going to tell people who chain themselves to trees that they are necessarily wrong. I am going to argue that this is not the message I am trying to convey nor the theological conclusion I am trying to come to. I am arguing that we are called to act, that may be different depending on calling and conviction.
Not all Christians who believe that we should take care of this creation agree with the alarmists who preach gloom and doom. Another theme throughout the Bible is a strong theme of hope. Grace offers beautiful hope of redemption for those who are completely broken. I believe that God offers that same beautiful hope of redemption for a fallen creation.

A Moral Issue?

2008-03-11T19:22:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading a message that Pope John Paul gave back in 1990. It was titled, "Peace with God the Creator, and Peace with all His Creation." It was a very good theological as well as practical look at the issue of an ecological crisis. He covered many different aspects. He covered the fact that all mankind have a responsibility to God's creation. He covered the fact the each government, nation or state has a responsibility to the land that they reign over. He also covered the fact that as human beings we have a global responsibility. All governments and all peoples have a need to band together to face the ecological crisis we face.
It is now 18 years later. When the former Pope gave this message I was 8 years old. At that age I don't think I ever new much about any ecological crisis. I remember some people talking about recycling and I remember my public elementary school making a big deal about earth day and taking care of our planet. What is somewhat disturbing to me is that I don't ever remember my private Christian elementary school ever addressing earth day. At the public school I went to they made a whole day of planting a tree and learning how to separate recyclables, but the Christian elementary school I attended a few years later never addressed the day once. 18 years after Pope John Paul II gave this message I'm afraid to say that it must have fallen on deaf ears.
I have a lingering question in my mind after reading this message. Is this a moral crisis? Is the ecological crisis one that somehow demands some kind of action? If that action is not taken, are we somehow held morally responsible? This seems like a complex question, for it has many different types of responses and can be dealt with on many different levels, but I'm going to try to keep it simple for the purpose of this article.
First, Does this crisis require some sort of action? I'm kind of cheating at this point. There is a question to ask before this. The true first question is, is there an true ecological crisis? I'm going to operate with the assumption that there is. I know that there is a lot of debate over this and I'm not willing to get into all of that at this moment, so just go along with me that there is an ecological crisis and I will address that question in a later entry.
So does this crisis require action? I believe that it does. First we must realize that there are possible actions. According to the most recent scientific findings around the globe there seems to be a majority consensus that we have not come to the "point of no return" as for as global warming is concerned. This means that we can change the course of this ecological crisis. 18 years after the Pope gave this message and there is still hope for us to change. The action is simple. Anything that reduces greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere. There are several ways we can do this and I really want to address many of them in later entries. Now we are required to carry out this action to stop this global crisis. Humans are the primary contributing factor to the release of greenhouse gases so we must also be the primary means of change to stop this. We are now required to act if we are to stop this ecological crisis.
So now we get to the real question. If we do not act and stop this, are we acting immoral? I would argue that we are. If we do not act we are causing the oppression, suffering and even death of an unknown number of all nature including human beings. This is immoral. If we cause the suffering and death of others whether present or future we are being an oppressing force. I am reminded of a quote by C. S. Lewis. "What we call Man's power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument."
Based upon the one fact of what we are doing to others causes it to be a moral issue. I believe there is much more to this but I also promised to try to keep this simple. The Pope also believed this to be a moral issue. In fact, he ended this message by making that idea very clear to all.

Does God Really Care??

2008-01-22T19:23:00.000-05:00

It's very easy to come to a point in our thoughts on the environment where we truly begin to wonder if God really cares. Does He actually care about the ozone layer? Does He really concern Himself with thoughts of trees? I think the trees are of a very significant importance so I won't completely address them until later. I remember reading an article by Rich Mullins where he emphasized the fact that God loves lilies. Does He? In Matthew Jesus tells us to consider them and how much God takes care of them and how much more God will take care of us.

We often read those verses and realize that God loves us a lot. What we fail to realize is that God loves lilies a lot, He just loves us more. The fact that He loves us more indicates that he loves lilies. We read over that. We tend to be so selfish and only focus on how much God loves us. God loves His creation, Jesus tells us that. Not only does God love lilies, but He also loves birds.

God loves plants and animals, this is what Jesus tells us. God loves them a lot. God loves them so much that He wants to meet their every need. God wants to take care of them so that they don't want. The amazing fact is that He loves us even more than that. If we skip over the fact that God loves the plants and animals then that verse loses so much of the passion behind it, we miss the true story of love that Jesus is telling us. We cannot ignore the fact that God loves His creation.

In Genesis we learn how God created the Earth. We learn every day and everything in order and for what purpose. Genesis is a beautiful explanation of Gods care and love for His creation. After each moment of creation God steps back and admits that He thinks His creation is good. After He creates man and woman, he says that it's not just good, but it's very good. God thinks that we are very good. Again we tend to ignore the fact that God also thinks that the rest of creation is good, just not very good. If we overlook this fact we simply miss the true depth of this verse, we miss what God truly thinks of us.

My point in all of this is that God loves us so much, and He thinks so much of us. We cannot forget that He also loves His creation. The fact that He loves us more and think more of us does not negate the fact that he loves and cares for the rest of creation. If God loves and cares for plants and animals it still hurts Him when He thinks of how we treat them. We treat them as if they are nothing to be loved or cared about at all, we don't even act as if they are a creation of the Almighty.

First Book Review

2007-12-16T19:47:00.000-05:00

I was pretty upset when I was first trying to find resources on ecological responsibility from a Christian Point of view. I stumbled across this book when putting together a presentation, and O thank God that I did. This book led me to other resources on this topic and I was very enlightened by the contents of the book itself. I was even more delighted when I was told by a friend who worked at out school library that this was one of the most checked out books. That is encouraging because it means that many people are becoming familiar with the ideas that are conveyed in the book. It is somewhat discouraging because I think that more people should put these ideas into action.

The book is not necessarily a deep theological book. This is encouraging to most but to some it may be a discouraging bit of news. Don't let that fact deter you from reading this book. This book is all about practical biblical principals which, if practiced well, results in good theology. The author is a medical doctor who converted to Christianity. This means that he is not a well of historical theology, orthodoxy and heresies. I was very impressed with how well he knows the Bible. That is always the best foundation you can have, and he most definitely does.

What I liked most about the book was how he took some good Christian ideas and showed how, if practiced correctly, they are good for the environment. I want to give you an example, but I'm limiting info from the book because I would prefer that you read it. An example of this is marriage. As Christians we don't like the idea of divorce and we believe that marriages should stay in tact. He shows how this is not only a moral decay, but a moral decay which has an impact on the environment. If you split a home that means there are two homes using energy instead of one, two televisions, two furnaces, two refrigerators, etc. That is just an example. The author really follows the ideas of Pope John Paul II with the idea that the environment is not the issue, it is the sin that leads to the degradation to the environment.

Not only does he show how moral decay leads us to creation destroying lifestyles, he also shows us how to lead Christian lives in regard to ecology. He does this by giving many personal examples. He admits that he and his family are on a journey and are by no means the perfect ecological friendly family, but he fives some examples of successful changes that they have made. Also, near the end of the book he has some very useful appendixes to help you understand the gravity of the situation and your impact on the situation.

To sum up, this is a great read that I would recommend to anyone.

Smog in Heaven?

2007-11-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

I am starting to wonder if the portrait of Heaven that was on the flannel board in Sunday School is even close to the real thing. The flannel board always showed a bright yellow place that had white clouds and streets of gold and a see that was sparkling clear like crystal. I wonder because I'm not so sure we understand some things that Jesus was talking about.

Matthew 6:10 "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

I don't think that Jesus meant that we should do everything to make earth look like that thing on the flannel board. I do think that He told us to pray and ask God that His will and His kingdom be carried out on earth just like it is in Heaven. Of that's the case then most of us should stop praying. I was taught as a child not to pray for something unless I really truly meant it. I shouldn't ask for God to help my enemy until I truly desired God help for them. Do we truly desire Heaven on Earth? Do we truly desire the things of God here where we live? I think we do, and yet I can't help but notice that we don't tale care of this Earth as if we truly wanted it to be His. We don't treat this planet like a possession of the creator. We do not treat it as if we really expected it to be Heaven on Earth.

I believe that the Scripture teaches pretty clearly that all of creation fell and must be reconciled to God. I'll get into that more later, but that point leads me to the next. We don't treat the Earth as if we truly believe that it can be reconciled to God and that all of creation can be redeemed?

With the way that we put our prayer into action, we must believe that there's going to be smog in Heaven.

Dominion

2007-11-01T17:06:00.000-04:00

"Then God said, 'Let us make man[1] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" -Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

What does this passage mean? We are given dominion over the Earth. Does this mean we are able to do whatever we please to the earth as long as it is too our advantage and suffer no recourse or feel no sense of obligation to any standard or rule?

I have heard many Christians say that God has given us dominion and so we are allowed to depleat the earth of all it's resources. We are allowed to use the resources of the earth as we please and feel no responsibility (at least religious responsibility) to take care of the earth in any specific way. I like to think of a Father who fixed up a car for his son and gave it to his son, even so far as to put the title in his son's name. If the son goes out and totals that car because he was driving recklessly, the Father would be furious with his son. I'm not saying whether or not God is furious with us, I'm simply making the point that I believe God does care what we do to this earth that He created for us. Instead of recklessness we should respond with respect. God created this world and everything in it Himself, but even more important than that, He created it with us in mind. We should be extremely reverent in the presence of the beauty of nature. I'm not arguing that we should worship nature but rather adore the complex beauty of it all and let it show us more about the Creator.

Luke

2007-07-19T14:03:00.002-04:00

I have had a lot on my mind over the past few days. A good friend recently passed away. I don't really have much of a platform to discuss what's going through my mind and how I feel so I'm going to use this.

Luke was many things to many people, just as we all are. To most he was an amazing guitarist. Luke was by far the best guitarist I've ever known. In his few short years on earth and his few years playing the guitar he has already mastered it far beyond what most people could ever dream. I personally feel that he was better than a lot of professionals out there today. Luke loved music and it showed. Every time I talked to Luke the conversation would always turn to music somehow, and usually ended in a conversation about Tourniquet, Stryper, Demon Hunter, Killswitch Engage, or any other band out there that had good guitar in it. Luke always has been and always will be a musical inspiration to me. He was amazing in that respect.

Luke was more than just a good musician, he was also an amazing Christian. Luke was not trained or taught in the inner circles of theology or Biblical study, yet he always loved to learn about that stuff. He loved to discuss the things of God on a deeper level than just what you'd hear at church. He was one of the few people that I would talk to and know that I didn't have to be afraid of getting too deep or to serious because when it came to God Luke just wanted to soak it all in and talk about it as long as we could. This was another area where Luke was an inspiration and always will be. At first I thought he was a musician and that's all most musicians care about, but then he joined Bible quizzing. Luke was by far the best quizzer on his team. I remember sitting down with him a church camp one year and he was excited because we had just received our quizzing books for that year. We sat down and started memorizing the verses even though the quizzing season was months away. That was Luke, hungry for God and His Word.

A few years ago I was excited to find out that Luke and I would be going to the same college. I was blessed to spend that time with him. During that first year at school we had the opportunity to play in a worship band together and I was again blessed to be a musician playing with someone as talented as Luke. I was also blessed with long car rides from the school to church and back. This is where Luke and I help most of our deeper discussions. Luke was fun and serious all at the same time. Luke was unique and there will never be anyone like him.

A few weeks ago I was looking for a guitarist to help me out in a service. My thoughts immediately went to Luke. I gave Luke a call to see if there was anyway he was going to be able to help me out, but it was too short notice and kind of a far drive from his apartment. That was okay, and it was actually the response I had expected, but I took the opportunity to talk to Luke and find out what was going on in his life. He told me everything was good. He spoke some about school and Jessica and some about some friends we had in common. As all our conversations did, we soon started talking about music as he told me about this new awesome band he was playing in and how he felt like this was going somewhere and how successful he thought it would be. He talked about the band for awhile and was excited about it, but then got even more excited as he told about a Bible study he had started for the band and he was very excited about how God was going to use that. That was Luke. He was very passionate about his music, but he was more passionate about God.

I will truly miss Luke, we all will.

Spykes? Who cares?

2007-04-13T09:35:00.003-04:00

I recently got this e-mail.

"These new products appear to be marketed for young people. Also, as they begin to appear, officers may not realize that these bottles contain alcoholic beverages. They are the size and shape of many small perfume or mouth wash bottles. With the different colors of liquid they could/will be easily overlooked by patrol officers, especially in a woman’s purse. These are small (2.5 - 3 oz) malt beverage at 12% alcohol in very slick bottles.

They are put out by Anheuser Busch, and they are only available in a handful of states thus far. They are being marketed as something to add to beer to improve the flavor, or to pour over ice. They come in four flavors:

Spicy Mango

Hot Melons

Hot Chocolate

Spicy Lime

They are retailing in Michigan for $0.75 up to $1.00 each."

Upon further research I found that there are organizations accusing the company of intentionally marketing to children. They say that it's obvious to see by the flavors chosen. These organizations are spending time and money to stop this.

These are real, but the claims that are made about them are stupid. The company advertises them using this phrase.

"Spykes is a malt-based beverage with caffeine, ginseng and guarana. Spykes mixes well with beer to add alcohol, caffeine and unique flavor and can also be chilled and consumed as a shooter."

First of all. You can get a "shot" of any alcoholic beverage at just about any restaurant that's not fast food. People have been drinking alcohol in shots for hundreds of years, this is nothing new. Secondly flavored alcohol is nothing new. Go to Applebees, Joe's Crab Shack, Cheeseburger in Paradise, or any other restaurant and they have alcoholic beverages with whip cream and hot chocolate on them, or made from a fruit base (just like the spykes). They are simply coming out with a new thing that markets to current alcohol drinkers, mainly women in their 20's and 30's. This is nothing new, just a new bottle. They are not marketing to kids and it's stupid to even make that claim. Can't these people find real issues to put their time and money into. I'm pretty sure that less than 1/6th of the world's population has safe drinking water, their are Christians who are still persecuted daily and killed daily for their faith. There are still people dying in Darfur because of a genocide that the U.S. doesn't seem to care enough about to even put it on the news. There are still thousands of children a day who die because we use all of the worlds resources to feed our obesity. There are still thousands of Mexican slaves in Florida, Texas and California that the government doesn't feel worthy enough of a cause to put any real time or money into investigated and stopping slave rings. There are still drugs being smuggled into the country. There are thousands of homeless people in the State that you live in. So why do we care about the same drink in a new bottle?? Excuse me if I don't seem to care.

Some Clarification

2007-02-09T15:54:00.001-05:00

I'm writing this post for two main reasons. The first is because I haven't posted in a long time and I need to put something on here. I apologize for having posted nothing all year. The second reason is to clarify my last post. I wanted to do this earlier, but I didn't want to lose any of the effect (if there was any to begin with).

I believe very strongly in the Body of Christ. I believe very strongly the the church is the Body and Bride of Christ. I also believe that it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate the Body of Christ in American Protestantism. I believe that we, as American Protestants, are not functioning in the way intended by Christ who is the head. I have more on this, but this is a progressive study for me. My goal is to draw out what we can truly learn from Scripture and post something concrete on this topic. For now, I felt it important to at least address. There will definitely be more coming on that topic.

There are a few more upcoming posts that I've been working on as well. The first will probably be on viewing the world as Christ views the world. The second will be a continuation on my Postmodernism discussion.

The Body?

2006-09-08T11:28:00.003-04:00

"If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be."
-St. Paul

Something happened recently that caused me to sit down and evaluate the body of Christ. What is the body of Christ? Most Christians would answer, "the Church." I would have to agree with that answer. The problem is I don't think most Christians actually know what they're talking about when they say it.
What is the church? Is it the local congregation I attend? No, it has to be more than that. Is it the denomination's district that my church is in? No, it must be more than that. Is it the denomination's region that my church is in? No, I must be more. Is it my denomination? No, that's just arrogant thinking. Up to this point most would be agreeing with me undoubtedly. Is the Church all protestant churches? Is it? Is that the body of Christ?

It can't be. I mean, after all Episcopalians are going Hell, they allow homosexuals in their churches.

What about those Baptists? We all know they're theology just isn't sound.

What about those Calvinists? They don't believe in the real attributes of God.

What about those Wesleyans? They think you have to be perfect.

What about those Pentecostals? They think they're better than everyone else. They believe in speaking in tongues, when they're most likely possessed.

Is the Church all churches? It can't be.

What about those Catholics? They pray to Marry and think that the communion bread is real flesh. They believe in infant baptism. They believe that you can get drunk on Friday and be forgiven on Sunday. I mean who really believes God will forgive them?

What about Orthodox churches? They light candles and pray to saints. They worship Icons. They can't make it to heaven.

If this is true, if this is how I believe then I'm only left with one answer.

There is no body of Christ.

Protestant Penance?

2006-07-20T19:48:00.001-04:00

When I was younger I was taught that all sin is equal. Sin is sin, no matter what it is it still leads to Hell. That's how I was raised. Is this right? Is this the way it works? Does any sin cause us to immediately fall from God's grace entirely? Maybe, just maybe, there is more to consider here. Just think this out with me for a moment.

We must understand one thing first. There is a legal aspect to sin. There is an aspect to sin that makes us guilty no matter what. This mainly comes from original sin, but it also comes from any sin we commit. There is also a relational aspect to sin. This is where our discussion must begin. Imagine that I take two dollars from my wife's purse and I try to hide it from her. This could be considered lying or stealing or even both. This could obviously be an issue if my wife discovers that I tried to lie to her. Now imagine I cheat on my wife with another woman. The issues would be much bigger over that situation than the first. Which problem do you think would affect my relationship with my wife more? That's obvious, and I don't think I need to explain why. Now imagine your relationship with God. It is a relationship that needs attention more that any other relationship we have. Imagine if I steal two dollars from my wife, or cheat on her. Each of those would affect my relationship with God in different ways. Each situation would require a different kind of attention.

The Bible tells us that if we draw near to God then He will draw near to us. This implies that there are things that God has left up to us that can strengthen our relationship with Him and draw us closer, or things that can damage the relationship and take us farther from Him (In a relationship way). If this is true than those sins we commit are the very things that can damage that relationship. This means that we must do our part to help mend that relationship.

At this point I want to break to admit that anything we do that strengthens our Relationship with God is by His grace alone, but we must make the choice to act in accordance with that grace and fully accept it. It is a costly grace that costs us our lives and obedience.

Now on with it. If there are things we can do to help mend and strengthen our relationship with God we must do them. I call these acts penance. Penance is a spiritual act of worship, submission and confession. (For those familiar with Catholicism I'm referring to Penance as a virtue, not necessarily Pence as a sacrament unless God leads you to follow it as such). Anyway, we are called to do our part in this relationship. This is more than just going to the altar and asking for forgiveness. Forgiveness covers the legal aspect, but what mends the relationship? Must we do that or leave it up to God. I recently told some teens at my church that we are called to live lifestyles of worship and this requires us to actively serve God. This is also what helps that relationship. Active service to God and to those He loves and calls us to serve. We should love penance, it is a form of disciplining our sinful behavior and the Bible says that without discipline to correct our action we are like illegitimate children. I want to be a child of God; I want to have a strong, close relationship with my Father. I may not enjoy penance, but I need it.

Dissatisfaction

2006-06-14T08:19:00.001-04:00

Why can’t we just be satisfied with what we have or where we are?

It seems as if those who have nothing would give anything to have something, and those who have everything would give it all to have more. We live in a dissatisfied world. A world that isn’t content with anything.

What cause discontentment, or dissatisfaction. There are 3 main things. Imagine your favorite sports team. This could be baseball, basketball, football or any other sport that you choose. Imagine that during the off-season your team made an amazing trade. They got the best player in the league. They got a player to fill the one spot they needed help with. Now imagine that 3 games into the season he gets hurt. You would be dissatisfied. Why? Because that isn’t the result you expected. The first cause of dissatisfaction is a lack of expected results. What if he played just as well as you imagined, but they still didn’t win the championship? That’s the second cause. Expected results didn’t fix the problem. They aren’t a championship team even with the best player. What if they got this guy but they had to trade away 5 of their best guys to get him. That’s the third one; the cost is too much for the expected results. Theses are the things that cause people to be dissatisfied. 1) Lack of expected results, 2) Expected results don’t solve problem, 3) Cost outweighs benefits of expected results.

St. Paul wrote in Philippians “…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”

There are some questions I have when I hear this. The first is “How do I do something through Christ’s Strength?” God gives us strength to do His will and to live the life that He has called us to live. So doing something through Christ simply means following God’s will. So that brings up another question “How do I know God’s will?” Well there are three ways we can know God’s will. One is to read the Bible that He’s given us because there are instructions in here on how to obey God’s will. Second is to pray. When we pray we don’t only ask God for stuff, but we also listen and if we are truly listening to God He’ll tell us anything we need to know at that time. Third is to seek out advice. The Bible tells us to seek the advice of those who are righteous. In other words get advice from people who you know have a good relationship with God.

Another question that comes to mind is “What does Paul mean by all things?” Does this mean I can be superman? Faster than a bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Of course it doesn’t. It means that with Christs strength we can do anything that God calls us to do. We don’t have to be anxious about what’s going to happen to us in the future. We don’t have to be worried about money, food, or clothes. This also means we don’t have to be afraid of failure. The Bible says if God is for us, who can be against us. If we are doing what God calls us to do we don’t need to be afraid of failure.

So how is all of this the secret to being content? We gave the three reason why people are dissatisfied, so lets look back at those. First this guarantees expected results God’s ultimate plan always works out. Second it guarantees to solve the problem. Not only does God’s plan always work out, but it always works. Third is that the cost ultimate cost for these results has already been paid by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. This means that there is no room for not being content. If follow God He will make it happen.

My Beloved

2006-06-06T11:35:00.002-04:00

This is a short and sweet entry. My wife brought it to my attention the other day that I have yet to talk about her at all in this blog so the entry is dedicated to her. For those of you who don't know, I am married. My wife's name is Kim. She is amazingly beautiful. We were married on August 6, 2005. She is such an amazing person. Every character flaw I find in myself she is the exact complement to and I thank God for that. She is a very passionate and caring person who helps me to want to be better everyday. I love her and thought that everyone should know. As Derrek Webb puts it she is the "wife of my youth, and my drug of choice."

Theology for Culture

2006-05-26T17:58:00.001-04:00

It appears to me that there is an increasing amount of 20 somethings converting to Catholicism and Orthodoxy. By 20 something I mean people in there 20’s or younger. Why is this? What is it about electric guitars, catchy worship music, and hip young pastors that is turning people away? Shouldn’t it be the exact opposite? I’ll tell you the answer. People aren’t interested in the style of worship or the catch phrases that the minister says all the time. They aren’t interested in cultural relevance or even pot luck dinners. People are interested in God. This, I’m afraid, is the reason they are leaving the Protestant tradition. The protestant tradition has turned into nothing more than a cookie cutter religion. What popular now, camp meetings? All right lets have twice as many as that other church that just increased their numbers and maybe we’ll get even more. This is faulty logic and faulty theology. The Catholic and Orthodox Church’s haven’t done what’s popular or what works; they’ve done what God wants. That’s the difference. God is the difference. Now, you must read me carefully or you might get that I’m saying that our protestant churches today don’t care about God, but rather numbers. Never mind, that is what I’m saying. I’m saying that protestant churches have given up on God and put their trust in culture and issues. What issues are hot button issues, then that’s what we’re about today. What will we be about tomorrow? Who knows. The Catholic and Orthodox churches have stayed virtually the same for centuries and they’ve always been about God. You can isolate a few places in history where this isn’t the case, but if you study further you’ll find that’s exactly the case. We need to have a hunger for God and for being the body of Christ. Theology has been traded for culture and we need to trade it back.

A Bumpy Ride

2006-05-10T20:44:00.002-04:00

Right now I am in a most dreadful place. I am in San Antonio, TX. It’s not that there is anything inherently wrong with San Antonio; I simply have a personal prejudice. As I walk to the shoppet down the street I am bombarded with unpleasant sights. I see uniforms dormitories with three levels stretched down the road. I see young “trainee’s” marching from building to building. I see freakishly mutated rabbit that are indigenous to this area of the country. These sights are all reminders of my 7 week stay here at Lackland AFB almost three years ago. This is where I went to Basic Military Training and I’m staying in a lodging facility within walking distance of the Basic Training area of the base. That is the explanation for my prejudice, because Basic Training was not fun and is not something I like to reflect on too often. I can’t say I enjoy reliving those memories as I might others. This is off the topic at hand. I flew here to do two-weeks of training. Many in my unit had the privilege of doing there trainging in Germany, some in Florida, and other nice places. I get sent to the place that every Air Force member has many bad memories form. As you may understand now, I was not the most enthused about going here.

I’ve said all this to help you understand my state of mind as I was on the flight down here. I had many problems that I had been dealing with prior to the flight and many of them were left unresolved and may have had some serious impacts on my stay here. So I was not in the best of moods when suddenly the captain turned on the fasten seat belt sign. I was a bit curious because we hadn’t started our descent yet. He came over the intercom and told us that there was a large storm over San Antonio and we were going to be experiencing turbulence on the way down. I have been on many flights before this and hadn’t experienced any significant amount of turbulence ever. I can say that I have now. There was a lady to my right who began to grip the arm of her seat and tightly shut her eyes. I imagine she was probably praying, which I must confess I said a prayer or two during this event as well. I did have a different attitude though. I kept my eyes wide open the entire time because I was amazed at the complexity of the clouds that surrounded us. They were beautiful. They were thick and full and rippling all over one another. I had never seen clouds that looked like this before. It was amazing. Then it hit me. The lady to my right couldn’t see any of this. She couldn’t be moved by the magnitude of the natural power that literally consumed us. It was an experience that she will explain quite differently than you’re reading now.

I suddenly realized that this is one of those memories that I have to download into my brains hard drive for easy access. This is a perfect sappy sermon illustration. (Warning: now going into sermon mode) You see all of life is like this experience. Different events are explained in different ways by those who experienced them because they have different attitudes. There are those with white knuckles holding on for dear life, and there are those who simply enjoy the ride. I was not, nor should I ever be, the captain of the plane. I had absolutely no control over the events which surrounded me, but I did have control over my attitude. I could do nothing to make the plane ride smoother, but I did know that the captain had instruments that allowed him to see through the clouds. He could see the altitude of the plane, how level it was, how fast it was going and many more things that I had no idea of. I shouldn’t have been in control of the plane because even if I could see the instruments I would have no clue as to how they are read. I trusted the pilot of the plane, and because I allowed myself to trust him, I was able to enjoy everything around me; even those things that made the ride bumpy were amazing to see.

There are many who get tangled up and discouraged by so many things in religion and theology. There are a lot of hard questions with even harder answers. Sometimes we can get so caught up in these issues and trying to make things right and smooth that we miss the joy that is supposed to be at the center of our very beings. We forget Christ. The same thing happens in life. We get so busy and so worried with life’s issues and problems that we forget Christ. I know this to be true because I know so many Christians who have no joy. So to end this I will leave you with a quote from St. Ignatius.

“For let us either fear the wrath to come, or let us love the present joy in the life that now is; and let our present and true joy be only this, to be found in Christ Jesus, that we may truly live. Do not at any time desire so much as even to breathe apart from Him. For He is my hope; He is my boast; He is my never-failing riches…”

Sanctified???

2006-04-07T09:15:00.001-04:00

I've struggled with this issue at some length now and I've just hit a revelation. I think it's more due to the fact that I am learning more about the beliefs of the great spiritual leaders of the past. For instance, John Wesley believed that Sanctification had to do with pure motivation out of love. I agree and this is not where my revelation comes. Wesley believed that at initial salvation one stopped sinning. Willful sin ceases at salvation, not sanctification. That is something that a lot of pastors need to learn. The more I think and pray and read about this, the more I agree with it. If you read Paul and John, they seem to agree with the same thing. So if this is salvation, what is sanctification?
In the past I've heard that this is the definition of Entire Sanctification, or at least the big part of it. IT'S NOT!!! Sanctification has nothing to do with how you don't act. Sanctification has everything to do with what is truly in your heart. It is easy for a "baby Christian" to abstain from things that they know are sinful things to do. It is not as easy for them to consecrate themselves entirely to God and allow Him to work this grace in them. I agree more with Wesley now, than I ever have. We cannot focus on the "absence" of sinful behavior. We have to focus on a heart of pure love. Am I sanctified? By no means can I claim entire Sanctification, but I can claim entire consecration, and claim that God is working in me. Maybe He's preparing me, maybe not. I know that everything must happen in God's timing and according to His plan so I'll wait patiently, and actively.

Passing the Time

2006-03-29T10:43:00.001-05:00

If you follow or even lightly follow this blog, you may be wondering what has happened to me. Well here it goes. I have started a new job working for a medical transport service that consists of working very long hours. I am still going to school full time. I'm attempting to keep my marriage a happy one by contributing as much time as I can to it. Recently I have changed my major. I changed it from a Christian Ministries major to a Religion/Philosophy. I did this for a few reasons. I have alot of ministry experience for a person in my scholastic standing and most of the classes I've been taking haven't been adressing my situation and therefore have been very poor learning experiences. I also did this due to a hightened serious interest in grad school. The last reason for this is simply beacause I want to graduate as early as possible and this change in degrees will allow me to stop taking classes that teach me how to organize songs in a worship service when I do that at least twice a week. I need to be able to understand the Bible, people, and ideas and then explain this to congregants. I also need to understand this and how to apply it to life, my own specifically. Who cares about organizing songs or playing politics in the church if my life (heart, soul, mind, and strength) is not confronted, consumed, and completely invaded by God and His Word (Christ). I must leave on that note. But now you have some idea of what's going on in my head and in my life.

...

2006-01-09T23:07:00.002-05:00

'Cause nothing is beyond You
You stand beyond the reach
Of our vain imaginations
Our misguided piety
The heavens stretch to hold You
And deep cries out to deep
Singing that nothing is beyond You
Nothing is beyond You
-Rich Mullins

Dear Lord,
I'm sorry. I'm sorry for trying to figure you out with my arogant theology. What you really want for me is just to know you. I'm sorry for my works based faith. No matter how much I preach against it I still let the ways of this world pull me back into going through the motions. I'm sorry for my hollow prayers. I'm sorry for praying for my meals, when it's just a rushed formality so I can further fuel my glutteny. I'm sorry for feeling abandonded by you when I know that nothing can separate me from your love. I'm sorry for being the pharisee in the temple praying loud about my good works when I should be the humble sinner who knows he's worthless. I'm sorry for boasting about anything other than my weakness. I'm sorry for putting you in my box, or at least trying to do so. God please leave my box. Please leave what I've made you in my mind. Be who you are in my life, not who I want you to be. Break my image of you so that I may see who you are... no... break my image of you so I nolonger seek to find who you are, but keep me blinded so I forever will seek to simply know you.

You Can't Legalize Morality

2006-01-07T23:46:00.001-05:00

Why don't Christians understand this concept. Once and a while I find myself listening to Christian Radio(it's not all bad). On almost every radio show something comes up about changing the way our government works. There are two good examples, abortion and homosexuality. According to these shows we need to vote for the right people, or sign the right petitions, or maybe even write letters to the right congressman, and we can do alot of good for America. I'm not sure if anyone pays much attention or not, but there isn't much good that our government can do period. Look at how badly the government especially on the local level screwed up when it came to saving lives of people caught in Katrina. It failed us. Why are we so convinced that the government won't drop the ball on our spiritual wellbeing (that is if we ever get them to pick the ball up)? Why do we listen to "preachers" on t.v. who tell us who to vote for and why?

I have one simple question that might clear alot of this up. What Would Jesus Do? Would Jesus try to get the lawmakers and government officials to change according to His standards? Would Jesus camp out on the White House lawn? Would Jesus picket clinics with hateful signs? Lets take a look at what Jesus did. He came to help in a time that was extremely screwed up by dirty politics. The local Judean governments were extremely corrupt, but compared to the more powerful Roman government, the Jews looked like saints. What did Jesus do. If I remember currectly he went straight to Rome and went on a hunger strike with nasty signs about the Caesar, because they laid babies in their dumps to die when they decided they didn't want them. (Or maybe that was a story Pat Robinson told). Jesus didn't do that at all. He could've let the zealots in a revolt, but he didn't. Jesus knew what we apparently haven't learned. To change the world peoples hearts must be changed. You can't legalize a change of heart, and yet that's exactly what we try to do. President Bush was voted in by people who hold this ideology. Have we seen a moral shift or change. If we're honest we answer no.

To change this nation and this world, we must show the love of Christ. We must get our hands dirty with sinners and show them that Christ is the only thing that makes us clean. We are obligated to love our neighboor, not shun them as they walk out the doors from having an abortion. This is nopt what Christ did, and this is not what we should do. I will go as far as to say those who picket abortion clinics are sinning in their actions, because they are not doing what God has called us to do and teach love to others and walk in His laws and His love daily. This government was created by man to serve man, that is how every government is established. This is why, like every government before it, ours too will fall. The question is, will the church survive when this happens. It will if we are not bound to this government and if people are Christians because of Christ's love, not man's laws.

Persecution or not?

2005-09-27T13:30:00.002-04:00

So I get out of a lecture in one of my classes about early church persecution and I'm thinking to myself, blessed? How in the world is this a blessing? So I started trying to mentally put myself in the shoes of the persecuted. What would I do if everytime I tried to talk I suddenly remembered that my tongue had been cut out of my mouth. What if I had to live the rest of my life knowing that my eyes had been burned from thier sockets? Would I have what it takes? Do I have what it takes? I fully believe that God loves us and I don't think He wants us to suffer, but how do I explain, "Blessed are you when men revile and persecute you..." Blessed? How? Would I praise God or curse men? Would it remind me that God loves me, or that some other perrson controls me. I know all the "churchy" answers, but they seem hollow if you try to put this into perspective.
If you think about all the men and women who have come back from wars with post traumatic stress sindrome, and think of how that has effected the rest of their lives you might begin to see. What if there was a wave of strong persecution where I live. Would I show signs of pts? most of all how would that effect my love for Christ? In some ways I pray that I never have to face the answer to this, but in other ways I feel as if I may never know unless I am faced with it. Do I NEED to be persecuted or not?

Postmodernism

2005-09-22T16:26:00.001-04:00

Why does the term postmodernism scare most Christians to death? I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of it myself, but I also don't think that we should run from it. I'm not sure I agree with everything the "Emergant Church" has to offer, but at least they're trying to do something about it. I had a proffesor tell me that he's glad that he's older and is done leading a church, because he's not sure how to handle the question of postmodernism in the church.

The church should not and cannot become postmodern. If we conform to postmodernism we will crumble soon after. But in the same way we can't avoid the situation all together or else the church will die out. We have to somehow change in a way that we can reach those who have a postmodern worldview. We cn't sit inside the church and do nothing and say that God will do all of the work to bring people into the church, and open they're minds to think the way that we do while their in the pews so that we can reach them. No! Jesus told us to go out and reach the world. We must face it. For the present time our culture, at least here in America, is shifting. What are we as the body of Christ going to do about it? What can we do about it? I have some thoughts to answer these questions, but for now, I'm just posting the main thought and point. I'll come to some more concrete solutions later. I really just need to experience more of this and think more of it out.

Bad Sunday School

2005-09-14T18:12:00.001-04:00

Growing up in a protestant Christian church I learned many things that I later found out to be heretical. I’m not convinced that those who taught me intentionally lied to me about the Truth found in the word of God. I’m not even convinced that they are completely at fault for their actions. I do believe that it is their fault to the extent that they should have been good students of the Word and found out the Truth for themselves. I do have to say that they probably assumed that those who taught them were trustworthy enough and knew what they were talking about. I’m sure this has been happening for more years than we realize, but my goal here is not to trace this problem to its roots, just simply to state and discuss the problem that we know exists. Also I’m not here to state this as a problem with the protestant church, but I do believe this problem is more concentrated in the protestant church.

My biggest example of this is the idea of Jesus’ divinity. I was raised knowing that Jesus was God, and the Son of God. This is Truth. I was also taught that Jesus was fully man and fully human. This is also Truth. My problem came when nobody explained that to me, and the ideas that were conveyed to me about Jesus’ divinity were that they canceled out His humanity. That may or may not make much sense, but the rest of this is for another time. My point is just to show that we can be misled because our leaders in the church are uneducated.

Why are the reasons for this? A big one I’ve already mentioned I’ll call generational stupidity. This is one uneducated person teaching something that’s wrong to someone else, who in turn teaches it to someone else. This is probably the second most common reason. Another reason is lazy stupidity. This is someone not taking the time to prepare and actually study the word and what it is really saying, not just what they might think it says. I’m not convinced that this is extremely prevalent, but it does exist. These are two problems that are with the teacher, but neither one of them is biggest reason for all of this.

The number one reason is something that I call administrative stupidity. This comes from a pastor or youth pastor, or whoever puts the teacher in their position. Unfortunately the church as a whole faces this problem. Why does this happen? It happens for a few reasons. One is that there aren’t enough Sunday school teachers out there in the church to fill all of the slots that we need. Not enough people volunteer to teach and so the pastor (used loosely, this could be whoever is in charge of Christian Education in the church) feels as if he has no choice. Another reason is that a Sunday school program is unguided and unmotivated. The Christian Education program has been written off in a lot of churches so a lot of pastors pay no attention and put whoever in charge to fill a slot. The last reason is that the pastor gets excited about certain people being in the church and feels he must plug them in somewhere, and the Christian Education department takes the hit.

Some people may sympathize with some of these excuses, but I do not at all. If volunteers are low, do you sacrifice the Truth to fill a slot? If ambition is low, do you not make a mission for Christian Education because the congregation just doesn’t seem interested? Or do you plug people who need to learn into teaching positions, just so they’ll feel important and continue to come? Absolutely not! These are all excuses of laziness on the pastors’ end. Our churches need to take the Spiritual Education of its congregants very seriously. I was once asked what is worse, a moral sin or a doctrinal sin? If make a moral sin, you suffer, but others may not. If you propagate bad doctrine and bad theology, you cause many to stumble. Our churches are responsible for handing out bad theology in candy wrappers in Sunday school. This needs to be fixed.

I do have some ideas on what to do about this problem but it’ll have to be continued at another time…

Sufficient Savior

2005-01-10T18:21:00.003-05:00

Many times, most of us ask God for something that if we were honest with ourselves we'd admit we don't really need. Alot of times that's for money. Sometimes it's for a new car. Sometimes it might even be to finally meet that dream date, or have the courage to talk to them. Whatever it may be, we've asked for it. What makes us think that we're worthy of all of this stuff? That may seem like a rough or stupid question, but it's an honest one. Who are we that God should give us our hearts desire? I've been thinking about that question alot lately.

I started off my college "career" at ONU (Olivet Nazarene University) and had planned everything out. I knew what I was going to do, how I was going to do it, and where I was going to end up when I was finished. I was a Youth Ministry major and a Communications minor. I was going to graduate in four years and then try to get a job in the heart of the great city of Chicago. When I graduated High School i had graduated with a superiority complex. I didn't exactly think that I was better than everyone else, just more spiritual (which resulted in thinking I was better). For some reason, i felt like I was more in tune with God than anyone else I knew. There were several reasons why I believed this, but none of that matters in this discussion. The point is I "knew" where God was leading me and how I was going to get there. At this point if I could buzz I would, because I was totally wrong.

After my Freshman year of college I found out that my parents hadn't been paying my bill as I had been lead to believe. I couldn't register for classes until I paid off my $4,600 bill. So I worked in an iron foundry over the summer and then attended class at Ivy Tech State College in Anderson Indiana for the next school year. I had finally paid off the debt, but still didn't have enough money or financial aid to go to Olivet or any other school that would teach me how to be a minister (sarcasim). So I joined the Air Force Reserves.

I figured I could go into the Air Force Reserves and get more money for school. I was right about that, but wrong about a few other items. I wanted to be a CA (Chaplains Assistant), but that was out of the question. The waiting list for that was too long. I had to pick a job that had a short Tech School after Basic Training so that I could get back to school on time after summer. I ended up going with fuels. I singed up, got my physicals and was waiting for the official date i was going to get shipped off. I heard back from my recruiter a few days after. He told me that I had ben given the Army color vision test and had to come in and retake it. I did that and failed, so I went with the only job left that had a bonus... Medic.

The problem with this job is that it had a 14.5 week Tech Scool, then a 6.5 week clinical phase, then a 90 day OJT (On the job training). After it was all done with I had been in traingin for almost 11 months. Needless to say, I didn't get back to school in the fall, or in the spring. I finally had to get back to school the following year. Now I've told you that history to get to a very simple point. Don't shoot me if you don't think it's worth your time, you're the one who chose to read this far.

I finally got back to school. While I was in trainging and the following summer God blessed me with stuff. I had enough money to get a new car, a new laptop, a new desktop, a new cell phone, etc. I had alot of gizmos and gadgets. If you don't know me, I'm a really big geek so all of this made me really happy. I got used to this lifestyle of having money and believe me, it was nice. Before I go any further you must understand something. I didn't totally blow everything I had. I told a friend at one point in time, that I was never letting my checking account go below $1,000 but I had more than that when I told him. I was keeping plenty in the bank. I was giving my tithe, plus I was giving to extra things like missionary needs. I was helping friends out here and there if they needed it. I wasn't using the money to forget about God, the church, or other people. You have to understand this before I continue.

Right before school started I had alot of my big bills hit all at once, when I started school in the fall I only had $1,500 in the bank. that wasn't as much as I was used to. I knew that GOd would provide, and I didn't have to have much faith to know that this would hold me over untill I could find a job. Then everything got turned upside down. I found out that the state had made an error and i wasn't elligable for $4,000 that they thought I would be. So my bill for school grew by $4,000 overnight, by the end of that week I had to pay $1,400 just to make my first monthly payment. My dad had retired and couldn't help me out, and my mother constatly thinks she's on the brink of bankruptcy, although she's far from it, and made it know that she couldn't possibly help me out.

I soon found out why Marion, Indiana is not considerd a good town to live in. The unempoyment rate is huge. There were no jobes available for me on or off campus. by the begining of the next month I was already in debt and had no idea of how I was going to cover my bills. Slowly but surely God started providing. After about another month I got a low paying job, but a job none the less. I was getting enough money to cover things. I wasn't paying everthing on time or in full, but I was getting them enough money that they weren't sending me nastly leters and things of that nature. Every month I was getting deeper in debt, but I was not in danger of suffering immediate consequences (other than a bad credit report). Countless times I have asked God for other jobs to open up, or for my parents to be able to help, or for an old relative I never knew to misteriously leave me a million dollars. Nothing ever happens, other than me getting just enough to get by.

This may seem sad, or bad, but if you think about it, this is utterly amazing. I asked who are we that we should ask for outlandish things that we don't need. The answer is that we are the beloved. We can ask God for things like that as long as our faith in him doesn't spend on it. God will give us exactly what we need, when we need it. He never gives more and He never gives less. It may seem like it sometimes, but that's not the case. If God hadn't given me all that money, I wouldn't have been able to write a $700 check to a missionary who needed it. I wouldn't have been able to help ou talot of people. I also wouldn't have ever thought about getting a new car, but my other car died for good shortly after. God knew what I needed and what others needed and He did what He did to fulfill His plan.

Now I don't have as much money, but i'm still getting by and can help other people in other ways with the talents God has given me. The point of me writing this is simple. Sometimes we want God to be giving, and give us thigs abundantly, but if He did that for everone, we could never know that He cares for us. God could never pay attention to our needs and just shower us with gifts, but that's not how He works. He loves us as indaviduals, and he takes care of our indavidual needs. I would much rather have a sufficient God, because He knows me intamatley and I can see that in how He blesses me.

Am I a Turtle

2004-10-15T16:25:00.001-04:00

I was in a class today when my prof basically called me a turtle. He said this to the entire class, not to me individually. He said that most ministers are turtles and he could tell that most of us are. What was this guy talking about? I really had no clue. He started to explain himself. He said the reason is that turtles lay their eggs by the beach and then leave them to hatch and live on their own. At this point I became more confused. Then he continued by telling us that our eggs are proects, homework, church ministries, games, books, and many other things. We have an idea, we get excited about it and we start with it at full force, then we leave it unfinished.
WHOA!!!! I am a turtle. Little did he know (or did he) that what he was saying was exactly true of myself. I love to get ideas and start putting things in motion, but then I eventually get very busy with other things, ideas, and comitments and I leave them behind. So what? What's wrong with that?
We are supposed to be Christlike. What if Jesus hadn't finished what He came here to do? What if at the garden Jesus was praying and said "I'm passing this cup." What if he didn't die on the cross to become the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, and to show us His undying oerfect love for us. What if He didn't rise again to conquor death, the grave, and Satan? What if Jesus were a turtle? The point is that He wasn't and i shouldn't be either. I need to ask daily for God's strength, stamina, and endurance to complete the work that He has already began through me. I need to crucify the turtle within.

First Blog

2004-10-15T02:26:00.001-04:00

This is my first blog. I was actually inspired to do this because I read some of jacob's blogs. We'll see were this leads. i hope that it's to some very insightful things, not only in my life but the the lives of any who read this. I hope to see for myself a better view of Christ in my own life through this. This is actually my sole prurpose for this blog.