The Peace of God

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

This is not a biblical command to have peace but I think if we are not taking advantage of this benefit that Christ has left us then we are being awfully foolish. So recently I've been trying to be at peace and when I'm not I try to figure out why. Here are some notes from my journal about what this peace is that isn't the peace of the world but is rather the peace of God.

Peace is a triune unity of the internal components of a person. The mind, soul and spirit must all be united under a common love for God thus enabling a person to have peace despite their external circumstances. The flesh must be dead, the sin nature must be eradicated so our spirit is made pure and our minds must be purified. If all these things are accomplished a person will be able to rest secure knowing his purpose and his Lord. For this to be accomplished the sinful nature must be killed through a divine act of grace and replaced, again by divine grace, by a "spirit of righteousness". A after our sin nature is dead their is still the problem of our fleshly habits, like a an army without its general these passions and desires wander hither and yon through our parts exciting unnatural emotions, making us long for the impossible and allowing us to assume the absurd as factual. These fleshly habits must be conquered and subdued using every weapon in our hevanly arsenal. Things such as penance, self discipline, friendly counsel and study are what will allow us to wage war against the flesh, which is powerful even without the sin nature inside us. By waging war against the flesh a human subjugate his mind to Gods. By allowing Christ to supplant our sin nature and raise a substitute to take its place a human will subjugate his spirit and will to God. The soul like a weak emperor will merely follow the advice of its counselors the spirit and mind meaning that if the spirit and mind are subjugated to God the soul will quickly follow suit. The mind and the spirit will guide the soul and thus will the whole of a human be subjugated to Gods will allowing for the influx of the peace of Christ. This peace does not come from a connection between the inner parts of a person but a subjugation of each individual part to God which results in all the parts of a person being in unity with each other. In this way may one acquire the peace of God, not the peace of the world but the peace that the Godhead has amongst itself, holy and perfect, simple yet elegant, powerful and attractive. We all long for it but it must be sought out.

I believe this is why the early Christian ascetics went to such extremes to purge their bodies of sin. They didn't think that somehow they could earn their way to heaven rather they had an almost fanatical desire to commune with God and they recognized as we need to recognize in our modern era that the thing separating us from God is the flesh. Now unlike the early ascetics commune with God must not be our top priority because if it was we'd all go become hermits. Communion with God however is an essential part of Christianity and if our flesh has not been purged then we are missing out on the "joy" of knowing Christ. If all we know is that we ought to be serving Christ and can not commune with Him because we remain bound to our flesh then we are living a miserable existence and we seek joy in things of the flesh rather then the spirit which leads to living a double life and ultimately to damnation. True peace of God however is devoid of fear and lives in perfect harmony with our Creator. Let us be encouraged to pursue Him and seek His fellowship

Feel free to comment and point out the flaws of my thinking. I really appreciate it when anyone shares their opinion on what I write.

Coming Second in a Fat Man Race

So when Christmas break came rolling around this year I decided I probably ought to plan something so I dont just sit and waste away the three precious weeks that I have of relative freedom. I needed to do two things 1. Finish City of God 2 Stay on top of latin over the break so I dont forget everything I was supposed o have learned already. I finished City of God really quickly and since Latin doesn't take all day I planned to use the next week for pleasure reading. I felt I had earned a little break after City of God and so I decided to read the Harry Potter series, something I've wanted to do for awhile but because of the frivolous nature of its subject I never took the time to read it. Anyhow, thanks to Mandie Morris and the Simsbury Library I was able to borrow all seven books and finished them in just over a week. Fastest 4000 pages I've ever read, although It doesn't really mean anything important because their are still people who read them faster. Hence the reason for the title of this blog, I raced to read the Harry Potter books which is really easy and so equivalant to a fat man race but i still lost because I didn't even win the race....oh well.

I promised myself while I reading that after i was done I'd write up an opinion of the series. I'll try not to reveal too much of the stories for those who havn't read them yet or are in process of reading. So let us begin.

Worst Characters: Harry Potter
I hated that he was the hero, he was an arrogant, haughty, selfish, greedy little squirt. Never once and I actually looked for this as I read, did he say "I'm sorry" for any of the life threatening situations he dragged his friends into or for any of the problems that he caused. He always tried to justify what he had done or what happened to him by blaming something else, never or very rarely did he ever acknowledge that he was ever at fault. He had no thought for the thoughts or emotions of the girls he dated, he merely wanted them for his own emotional gratification. Lastly he never cared about the rules, his morals were the ends justify the means which obviously doesn't make sense.

Favorite Charcter: Professor Snape
He was the only one who saw Potter for what he was, a little tyke with an ego big enough to match his legend but not his actual personality. Snape was the only one who trusted Dumbelodre to the last even though Dumbeldore didn't tell him everything and even though Snape knew Harry had to be the hero of the story. Snape was in my opinion the real hero of the story.

Other Favotire Character: Luna Lovegood because she was the only girl who didn't need a boy to kiss, she was confident in who she was regardless of what other people thought of her.

Neville Longbottom because when Harry had seemingly died and all hope was lost Voldermot asked him in person to change sides and Neville replied "I'll join you when all Hell freezes over" and proceeded to cut off the snakes head.

The good and bad elements of the book: When I started the series I was warned by a few people that the books were something evil. When one reads fiction he must understand that a good fictional author is one who can totally divorce their work from reality. So while in reality, witches, wizards, werewolves, vampires, warlocks are undeniably evil in this false reality that the author created these beings are good or bad depending on the choices of that individual. When one is willing to make that jump and acknowledge that in the books witches are not evil simply because they are called witches, their is very little that makes the books evil. The code at one point to get into the ministry of magic is 6,4,2,2,4 which is assumed to relate to the satanic number 666 however that is really the only thing I found that one could say is evil. For Christians seeking justification in reading the books I actually found many Christian themes. The idea that love is more powerful then hatred, that blood must be paid to regain life, that loyalty is more important the glory. One could even draw a comparison from Harry Potter to Jesus if one is willing to make a few stretches. Harry Potter the boy who lived the one who would succumb to death to conquer death and returned from what he thought was death to save the world from the evil Voldermort closely resembles the story of Jesus who came to earth and lived to die and then return from the dead to defeat death and conquer Satan.

Ultimatlly I think the books were neither evil nor good. its just like a wand its not the wand that is good or bad its the one who carries it, such is it with books. The series was undoubtlay a waste of time and so I'd only advise reading it if you feel your able to abandon reality for a week or however long it takes you to read it because its a very good story when the reader is not distracted by the cares of reality. Much like an elongated movie, when your done with it you feel like you just woke up from a long nap and have to pick up the threads of life where you left them.

Good Old Plinky.

So I'm not going to apologize for not posting because I have my reasons, I just hope people haven't stopped checking my blog because of a shortage of posts. Seeing as how I posted fourteen days straight I think I earned myself a little slack. I wasn't going to post today either but today's Plinky question was far to thought provoking. Here it is, *drumroooooooooollllll*

If their was no consequences what is the most evil thing you would do?

A superb question and one that in my younger years I actually devoted considerable hours of daydreaming to. These thoughts normally led to daring exploits such as becoming and expert assassin/inquisitor and being a sort of Robin Hood. Making myself appear that I'm doing good but in reality I would feed off an established system of authority to make myself happy.

Those dreams however are long gone. Realistically if I could choose one evil thing to do and not get caught I'd try to bring about the downfall of some powerful organization that I dont particularly like. Not necessarily because I dont like the task that it is doing I just think the resources that organization uses could be better used elsewhere. Agenices like the DMV *scowls* or society's dedicated to the protection of animals or companies that produce "christian" media for the public to make it more appealing and less threatening. I'd use more violent means then legislation and vent my frustration on such organizations by perhaps killing the last Eight Eyed Purple Glow in the Dark Filipino Butterfly Moth Bug or possibly nudging a bicyclist who thinks he's a car and trys to take up a driving lane.

So now that you all have a glimpse into my dark side and know a bit more about the things I'd delete pretty quick if I had a bit more power and a bit less conscience, I'll go to bed and leave you to wonder what sort of foul deeds you'd commit if God went off watch.

PS. I'm reading the Harry Potter books, hardcore and trying to finish them as quickly as possible...hence my not posting. I've been holding out on a post about the books and the reasons people dislike them until after I've done, so it might be Monday or Tuesday before I get to that.

Christmas Tree Adventure 2010

Every year for the past year my family leaves my parents at home to make us hot chocolate while the rest of us go on an adventure to pick out the perfect Christmas tree. Over the years we've allowed various outsiders to observe as we participate in this sacred tradition. This year we allowed our good friend Dr. Super Genius Man John Vaz to join us. We figured we could use his extensive medical training to help us when someone was inevitably hurt in the violent games of tag we play each year while looking for the tree.

Here is the genius man himself with my youngest sister.

Nathan is lamenting the absence of a check in the card he just opened.

There we are, all bundled up and ready to go.

So begins the search. Pickings were slim as you can see.

"What about this one?"

"sorry Sarah, to short, plus theirs not enough room for presents underneath."

One hour gone and Daniel is getting tired, all the trees are starting to look the same.
and then we found it. After two hours of a meticulous run through of the entire field we happened upon "the fatty" wide and bulbous and with plenty of room underneath for presents we though we might have found "the one"

taking a second look from the other side.

Some of us were doubting that "Fatty" was the right tree for us so we played a game while we decided. Rules, real simple, catch the little remote control helicopter that Jordan has in his hands, and dont trip and die on all Christmas tree stumps.

Finally after a game of ninja it was decided that Fatty was not the tree for us and that it would be better to buy one of the ones that they had already precut and laid outfront. However we swore on oath and signed our names in blood that if the fatty is there next year we'll return and get it. String it with popcorn and give it the home it has been grown for ever since it was a little sprout.

On the tractor ride back we all agreed we had made a good decision.

and then some of us were just cold.

The last and final challenge was how do we get the tree that we did choose home? Since we sold the van we no longer have a massive car to transport things around in. We wound up lashing the tree to the roof of my dads car and drove very carefully all the way home. So ends the story of the Lagans search for a Christmas tree. A happy ending for us because we found the tree we had been wanting but a sad ending for Fatty who remains cold and shivering in the back left corner of the Christmas tree field just waiting for someone to go and pick him.

Midnight Meditations.

So without going into much detail I've been particularly frustrated recently. I dont even really no why. My life is awesome and in all honesty its really really hard to stay grumpy for any amount of time simply because their are always fun things that I could be doing...things I often am not willing to participate in like movies, video games ect... So I've been doing alot of thinking, trying to answer this question, "why do I have a lack of peace?" Trying to answer this question gave rise to numerous other questions like, "if I'm a Christian and the God I serve is the Prince of Peace then shouldn't I be at peace all the time?" Am I even a Christian? what exactly does Prince of Peace mean, perhaps, peace is something different and more complicated then merely a calmness of the inner being? All these questions have been pounding through my head day and night, haunting my dreams and making life a chore, doing the things I normally love like talking to friends or playing games with my siblings or eating or praying all proved tiring and so for the past two weeks I've allowed Satan to drag me deeper and deeper in this quagmire of guilt, remorse and self doubt. I think most of you know what sort of quagmire I'm talking about, most of us have experienced it at some point some of us are in the midst of it right now.

It wasn't until this evening that I really allowed God to give me some encouragement. Now the frustration is not gone, it is still terribly real as are all my feelings and as is this quagmire which I still need to work through but I do have some thoughts from my time with God earlier this evening which were helpful, so here they are. I'm putting them in list format to avoid being all confusing and to possibly lessen the prevalence of my grammatical errors.

I. beliefs determine our actions.
II. Our thoughts determine our beliefs
III. actions show us what we believe.
IIII. Our thoughts determine our reactions to feelings.
V. People must make mental effort to control their feelings, not to subdue hide or pretend their not there.
VI. We can not control our circumstances
VII. God can control our circumstances
VIII. Our circumstances are the barrier between allowing us to feel how our thoughts wants us to.
VIIII. To the degree that we can ignore our circumstances is the degree to which our thoughts determine our feelings.
X. God wants us to embrace reality while trusting in Him and so we can not merely abandon the world around us for a sense of spiritual bliss like the Hindu monks

In light of all these random facts which are merely the output of my mind computer not necessarily an insight I had from reading the word, a question is raised. Does God command us to feel particular ways, or does He merely expect us to act certain ways? I think the evidence is very clear that he commands us to feel things. He commands us to love, to be at peace to be humble all of which are at least have some feeling component they are not straight out commands they are more states of being. If God commands us to feel a certain way and yet we cannot control entirely how we feel without forsaking the world and being hermits then doesn't that mean that God commands us to do something we can not do? If this is true then how is that fair, how can God command us to do things we can not do then judge us guilty when we dont do them?

There is the impass at which I found myself and only tonight did God remind me of something I had written alot about in my journal a few months ago, mainly that God commands us all the time to do things we can not. He commands us to be perfect and love your neighbor as ourself and to forsake everything and follow Him these are commands that are entirely impossible to accomplish without His divine intervention. So answering my own question above "does God command us to do things we can not do?" Yes he does and He in His own perfect timing enables us to do just as He pleases. So how is it fair that God asks us to do things we can not do? It isn't
Why does God have to be fair to us He's God and the day He decides to be fair is the day I'd stop calling Him God. Justice is not treating everyone fairly, its treating them according to their worth and ability.

Tell me what you think, where I am wrong? where were my thoughts were misguided by carnal desires or the significant lack of green tea in my diet recently?

Oh I almost forgot, Over The Hills and Far Away by Nightwish is really cool. I've been listening to it all night.

Meh

So I'm not sure what to post about. I'd like to post about something intellectual that I've been learning about such as God's peace or sanctification or the defense of the gospel or the biblical God as opposed to the American perception of god but all my studies in those various fields are simply producing more questions then answers, questions to which I have no answers. So I can not blindly write about a topic that I have no answers for.

On a more exciting note, I'm hopefully going to finish getting my permit tomorrow. *fingers crossed* I went on Monday and passed the written test but failed the vision test. So I have to go and see the eye doctor, get glasses and pass the vision test. All three of which are scheduled for tomorrow. Its also Jordan's birthday, he's turning fourteen lucky guy that he is. I wish I was fourteen again. I'll do a longer post later when I have some answers to those questions.

Here's something for you all to chew on and hopefully comment on if you have any answers. Mark 1:15, read it, think about it. Depending on your translation it will say "and saying The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel" Now this is Jesus talking and he's saying believe in the gospel. Dont most modern Christians when they hear the word gospel think of the good news of Jesus birth life death and resurrection? What gospel is Jesus referring to, what good news is he telling us to believe?

Their is my question for you, if any of you have any good topics you'd like me to blog about please let me know because I'm having a difficult time coming up with things.