Thoughts On The Newtown Shooting

Encase you didn't know, 26 people were murdered by a lone gunman  in an elementary school not too far from my house. The nation is pretty disturbed by the news.

 I have a problem with the way people are responding to this. Evil finally rears it's head and what do we do? We cry, and collect donations, and pray for the souls of the kids who are already dead. What are we thinking? all those things are important but honestly when evil shows itself the answer isn't too cry about it, the answer is to get rid of it. Everyone who has felt their heart ache for the families of those slain shouldn't go cry for an hour until they feel better. They should fall to their knees and in prayer search themselves to know whether any of the evil which showed itself in Newtown resides in them as well. Teachers should seek to teach more than just information but teach character so that the students they produce will be like the third grader who told his teacher during the evacuation, "don't worry I know Karate I'll lead the class outside" Parents, in addition to "hugging their kids close" should learn to love them and discipline them to keep them far from evil.
It seems an imbalance exists between things that are of secondary importance and things that are of primary important. Secondary level priorities are, tributes to those who are already dead, trying to convince ourselves that those who died are in heaven, (wherever and whatever place these news anchors believe heaven actually is I have no idea) passing legislation to ensure such acts don't happen again. Primary priorities are taking responsibility as parents for our kids, as siblings for our siblings and as teachers for our students to ensure that we are being influences who fight evil wherever we see it. Evil reared it's head in Newtown but it's poison is everywhere and being the sort of person who seeks out the evil first in themselves than in the people and situations around them should be the top level priorities.

It's frustrating for me to hear people say, "we don't have all the answers but we do have each other" or something similar to that. Now I'm not frustrated because the statement isn't true, I'm frustrated because people take that statement and use it as an excuse for circumstances in which they do have answers but the answers are too hard to deal with. The answer to evil is not gun laws, or mental illness treatments or greater security at schools. The answer to evil is every man searching himself for the evil that resides within. It's amazing how most sane people have no conception of what goes on beneath the surface of their own mind or soul. Until each individual takes it upon himself to know himself and the nature of humanity, evil will have the upper hand because evil has complete control over the areas within you which you don't seek to understand. I suppose this is getting off topic and I don't fault President Obama or Governor Malloy, for the speeches they had to give, I fault the common citizen all throughout this great country who will feel bad but do nothing, who will donate money but refuse to offer actual help. Evil is like a vast army destroying everything in its path. It comes, devours a land and departs. The people left in it's wake, rather than try to build an army and stop the evil will just rebuild, go back to life as normal and try to forget that evil is still a vast army pillaging the land. What we need is people who do more than rebuild we need to go out, find evil and destroy it as ruthlessly as it killed 26 people in Newtown. 

Don't worry about things you can't fix. Most of us can't change the facts that 26 people were murdered and that their families are now broken and a whole community is shocked. What we can change is our own reaction to evil and how we will defend ourselves when it comes knocking. Rather than crying or feeling depressed next time we remember the deaths of small children, let them be catalysts for us to do the right. Remember that the same evil which killed those children is the same evil that makes you self centered and proud, it's the same evil that makes you lazy and makes you argue with your parents or spouse. We can honor the dead and strike at their killer through the systematic extermination of evil in our own lives. Is it terrible 26 people were shot? yes! absolutely. However I think it's more terrible that 26 people were shot, thousands of dollars can be spent on community events, speeches will be made and hardly anyone will give thought to the finding and eliminating the killer as far as it is in their power to do so.

You can tell by the repetition and incoherence of this post that I didn't plan this out, it's just been an outflow of my frustration as I've watched the news and such.

Can a Good God Command Genocide?

An interesting question was posed at church last week by our pastor. He asked the congregation to break up into small groups for a few minutes and discuss this question: How could a good God command Joshua to massacre the entire population of Jericho. We are working through the book of Joshua in church and obviously this is an issue that it's not easy to just skip over. After we discussed the question for a few minutes we had an open mic time for people who wanted to share what their group had come up with.

Obviously I shared my opinion and predictably my thoughts sounded much better as thoughts in my head then they did as words coming out of my mouth for the whole church to hear. Anyway, I've thought more about the question and am hoping that perhaps I can put my thoughts better into a blogpost then I did into what I said on Sunday.


Question: How could a good God command the Israelites to kill  everyone in Jericho? (Joshua 6:21)

A difficult question for sure and one which often pricks sensative nerves. To answer it properly and to answer most important questions we must first be able to acknowledge the sensativity of the question but not let fear of being wrong, or of emotional pain be a hinderance to us finding the truth. When we have put our reason in authority over our flesh to gurantee our questioning won't be undone by improper feelings we can proceed. After thinking about it it seems that the question itself is nonsensical. By this I mean the question answers itself. Because if God exists then He must be good. He must be good because an absolute good can not exist outside of God. Therefore if good exists then God must exist and God must be the source of good. Try figuring out where an absolute standard of good can come from if God does not create it. You can't, the best you can come up with is a human standard of goodness that seems right based on your personal experiance and what you know about the world but ultimately it contradicts itself.

In essence the quesiton is asking, can a good God do something evil. This is simlar to asking can you be you and not you at the same time. So in summary I think its simply a bad question that non Christians have invented to confuse Christians who aren't confident enough to say the question is a lame one.

Now I'm not trying to ignore the issue, I'm simply saying that specific question is not a fair question to ask because of the wording. To try to answer it is like to try and fight someone with your hands tied and blindfolded. Some Christians are fit enough that they could still win such a fight but for the rest of us we need to change the question. Questions I think we should ask relating to this topic are these, " What are some reasons why a good God might destroy Jericho?", "Why is God good?" "Did God really tell them to kill everyone in Jericho?" Was killing everyone in Jericho an evil action?" These are questions that have clear answers. Which I'm not going to give because I'm already bored and if I'm bored of writing I'm sure you're bored of reading.

If none of that made sense then the most important thing I learned from thinking about this question is this, sometimes when a quesiton is too hard to answer, rewording it often makes it easier. It's like math, oftentimes the fastest way to solve a problem is to simplify it first.




 

Some Cool Truths.

       If you study mathematics you know that to understand the more complex mathematics of Phsyics and calculus you need a foundational knowledge of things like addition and subtraction. Likewise in Christianity there exists certain foundational truths which are necessary for the understanding of Christianitys more complex beliefs. My brother in sixth grade math came over and watched for a little bit as I was studying College Mathematics. It would not be fair for me to expect him to graph polar functions or calculate standard deviation. In Christianity it's often the case that people try to answer really hard questions without understanding the foundational peices necessary to actually understand the answer to a difficult question. If I told my brother step by step how to calculate standard deviation he wouldn't understand, not because the words aren't english or because I explain it poorly but simply because  his mind hasn't reached the mathematical height capable of understanding such things. Just this past week in youthgroup one of the girls, in eight grade asked, "if Jesus pays for all my sins why do I have to repent of my sins and try not to do them anymore?". It is a fantastic question and a necessary question but the answer is not easily understood by a girl who spends most of her time at school or ins ome form of entertainment. Similarly with Atheists, they ask questions like, "how can God be all loving and still send people to hell forever?" And it's not that answers don't exist but rather that they aren't capable of processing the answer.

In light of this common problem because its something we all struggle with. I've come up with three foundational truths which will help us when trying to answer harder questions.

Statement 1: Somethings are more important to God than a human life.
Statement 2: Jesus was not a pacafist
Statement 3: A more holy life is a happier life.

I'll prove these very quickly.

     Statement 1: Somethings are more important to God than a human life. Three examples. First, God sacrafices an Israelite man to teach everyone who reads the bible the importance of trusting God to provide for us. (Numbers 15:32-35) Second, God killed Ananias and Sapphira to teach all of humanitiy that we must not test God and lie againts the Holy Spirit. (Acts 5) Third, God killed His own Son Jesus that all of humanity might find life through the death of His son. (Matthew 26-27) Basically God has made some commands which must be kept, some promies which must not be violated and certain ideas which are so important that taking a human life is justified in defense of them. I'm not writing this to lessen the value of the human life. It's easy though to get our values imbalanced when we place a human's life above God's will.

 

Statement 2: Jesus was not a pacafist. We have two examples in scripture of Jesus coming to earth before he was incarnated in a physical body. Judges 6:11 and Joshua 5:13-15. In both these examples Jesus comes to earth and commands his followers to wage war againts certain peoples. Because of our current culture which is very much weak and very much self destructive we are afraid to think of Jesus as a passionate, oppiniated, intolerant person. We forget passages like Matthew 10:34 do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. If these examples do not fit your eartnest study of scripture just remember that Jesus is one with the Father and between them there can be no discord. When God commands people to be killed as we've seen above Jesus is an approval.  

 

Statement 3: A Holy life is a happier life. It's sadly prominent in our culture for Christians to ask questions, how much of _____ can I do before God says it's sin. Ranging in everything from the words we use to the thoughts we think to the shows we watch and the people we hang out with. "Balance is the key" or something similar to that are phrases very popular because they seem to reconcile our love for the world and our desire to do God's will. "Some people will perhaps object that all these rules of holy living unto God in all that we do, are too great a restraint upon human life; that it will be made too anxious a state, by thus introducing a regard to God in all our actions; and that by depriving ourselves of so many seemingly innocent pleasures, we shall render our lives dull, uneasy, and melancholy." I'm not in the mood to write tons more tonight and this post is already long. Basically I think anyone who will deny themselves of the innocent pleasures of life for the sake of seeing God more clearly will not regret the sacrafice.

 

That is all goodnight friends. :)  

 

 

Is Christianity Simple or Complex?

     A friend asked me today whether Christianity was simple or complex and I have been thinking more about the question throughout the day. I think this is one of those questions that can not be answered in a single word. Christianitiy is not entirely simple or entirely complex. Some parts of the religion are very simple and I'd submit the most important and essential parts are simple enough for a child to fully grasp. The complexity comes in when other things get mixed into Christianity. The primary culprit of the complexity of Christianity is sin and the second culprit is us.
     Let me say that Christianity is first a lifestyle and then it is a belief system. A christian then is one who's lifestyle identifies that person with Christ and in addition to that lifestyle are the various beliefs and dogmas that must be adopted. Now before the fall back in Genesis 3 all man knew was good and Christianity was very simple. What did man know, 1st, that God had created Him. (Genesis 2:7) 2nd, God had created him to do God's work. (Genesis 2:15) All Adam knew was good, he had no concept of evil and so life was very simple. Adam's purpose was to get up and enjoy God's blessings and presence while seeing to the duties God had assigned him such as Eve, the animals, and the garden. I think that really all that's required to be a Christian are those two beliefs. We must recognize that God created us which wil keep us submissive. Then we must find our purpose, in doing God's work this will keep us busy. Sadly the story does get more complex but lets not forget the initial simplicity of what God intended.
     So the fall happens and sin enteres the world and suddenyl following God becomes complex. Now to be a Christian still requires the same simple beliefs but since sin has entered the world a whole host of problems have grown up. As sin grew in the physical world and also in the spiritual world different remedies were required to stem its spread. The most important of these remedies is the life, death and ressurection of Christ which once again opens the gates of heaven that humans might walk with God as Adam did in the garden. So we have now added another core belief to the simplicity of the Christian life. In adition to knowing that God created me and that I am here to do His work I must also accept the mystical rebirth through the ressurection of Jesus Christ. A distinction exists though between understanding and applying. So if I understand that Jesus died that I might very literally have His relationship with God and His rightessness for myself then the way has been opened for me to have those things. However if I do not apply that understanding I merely sit outside the gates and mock the truth by thinking about it but not living it out.
     That was a bit of a ramble, back to my original question. Basically my answer is this, "as sin becomes more prominent in your life or the world around you the more complex your life will become. The essential truths of Christianity remain awesomely simple. It's the relationships between truth and our lives which are complex. Like most relationships the problems are usually all with, "the other person" and so it is in this case. God and His word are simple and we are the problem with the relationship because we are always trying to manipulate God's truth so that we can still get what we want. Rather then go on a whole rant about our human tendency to rationalize sinning b convincing ourselves we're doing God's will, I will end this post here.


"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

II Peter 1:4

Somethings I've been Thinking About

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Oh give us strength to face our day

With Courage as Thy sons of old,

To lift our voices in prophecies

Against the gods of stone and gold;

Give us to see and understand

The heart of man and to forgive,

Give us the faith to touch Thy hand,

Teach us, O living Lord, to live. 

The picture of the book from which this came isn't loading for some reason. You'll just have to imagine an awesome little book from 1932 with a black cover and golden lettering. I got it at my libraries booksale a few weeks ago. I read certain sections each day as part of my morning and evening times of prayer. I'm sure there isn't anything particularly special about the book but God has been using it to help me enjoy prayer more. Which is really cool, because being brought up in a Christian home there is always this pressure of, "oh I need to pray and read my bible" so its actually cool when you realize, doing those things really do help and are preferably to say playing video games and hanging out with friends.

  

This is part of the lists I've been making of the various commands and promises of God found in scripture.  It's not very big yet and I'm only through the gospels. I'm thinking of starting Psalms next but we'll see.

  

This is the book I need to teach the  freshman at my church this year. It's a difficult thing because I don't really like the book. I mean it's a fine book in that it doesn't have much wrong information in it but it's not my style. So teaching it will be difficult. I also wouldn't say the topic is worthy of a whole book. Peace is worthy of a book but how to be a peacemaker is not. Simply because when your a Christian and a slave to God being a peacemaker won't be very difficult. So if your a true Christian who doesn't believe any of this mamby pamby, stuff that, "God will give you everything you want and take nothing from you", junk, then when a person does something wrong to you then you can look to Christ who had it infinity worse than you and learn to forgive by sacrafixing what you want for the sake of Christ who died for you. I don't think being a peacemaker is about having a certain set of methods which you apply to teach situation of conflict. A peacemaker is a person with the mindset of Christ who is utterly selfish and totally sacrificial.

We'll see my first lesson is tomorrow and I'm praying hard that God will be honored by it. Goodnight for now. I'll write again later this week. Have a good evening.

Two things for you readers today.. 

     First and most exciting are dumpling!!!. We have a new person around the house called a Tobster. His real name none of us can pronounce and his family came over for dinner before going back to china. While they were here the grandma just happened to decide to make dumplings. Even though she couldn't speak English and had never been to America before I don't think it was hard for her to figure out how to successfully win over every single Lagan at the house.  Food is a universal language and she new the language by heart..

So here she is teaching her son, the Tobster's father how to make the dumplings.

Here they are just before being fried. We knew she was good when mom asked if she wanted to put broccoli in them and she refused via translator by saying, "only meat"

     Second is something I've been thinking about which some of you might find interesting. Yesterday I was sitting out in the woods with a pot of tea and some books. I leaned back and looked up and started looking around me. It's amazing how reaching a new level of introspection allows you to see the world around you differently too. Anyway, I don't usually notice specific leaves, I usually miss the leaves for the forest and see the beautiful tree without noticing the hundreds of thousands of leaves who sacrifice to make the tree beautiful. As I mused over these things I thought the leaf a fitting analogy for the Christian. The pictures aren't very good but if you look closely, not many of the leaves are perfect, most of them have some sort of blemish some hole or tear. These are things the leaf had no say in. As Christians we also have many things keeping us from being the ideal person because of things we are not responsible for. I can not help being dumber then Blaise Pascal, I can work just as hard as he did and read the same books and study the same bible but his mind was simply more powerful then mine will ever be this side of eternity. He was in essence a bigger leaf not because he made himself bigger but simply because he was made that way. Other leafs have whole pieces torn off. Many Christians have entire portions of their lives torn from them. Many Christians because of poor parenting, or inept church leadership, or any number of other things have had great parts of life destroyed and now they must somehow struggle to harvest the light of the sun with only a portion of their former strength.

      I know the analogy can be broken down and made to look foolish pretty quickly but the point is this. The leaf doesn't stop giving nutrients to the tree because a caterpillar decided to snack on him, or because "that leaf over there is so much bigger then me" Each leaf no matter how small, torn up, disfigured, mistreated or unloved continues to take in as much sunlight as its resources allow without bothering about the other leafs and how they are doing. Basically they don't stop working because they got the short end of the stick. (hehehe see what I did there?)

      As Christians we are leaves attached to the Body of Christ or the Church taking in nutrients and energy from God.. Its often the trouble in church that we bother about what the rest of the church members are doing instead of getting down to business and using what God has given us to give back to the church. We think, if only I was higher up on the tree, or if only I was a bigger leaf, or if only I didn't get covered in frost last night and thus are dissatisfied and rendered useless for godly work. We think this way because we don't realize that God put us where He did for a reason. He wanted you lower on the tree so you could be the beauty that inspires the person walking beneath. He wanted you to be a small leaf because he knows you can only bear so much responsibility and were you bigger He knows you'd fail. He let you get covered in frost to protect all the young leaves behind you.
     It's all a matter of perspective and when were willing to see from God's perspective; when we look at our lives in the light of eternity, the things of this world do in fact grow strangely insignificant and life takes on real meaning and value. To work then, each man to his chores. From the headmaster down to the lowest maid let idleness cease. For the hardworking household is the happiest of groups and proud will its members be when the Master returns and finds His lands well kept.

Thoughts From Under My Willow Tree #1

This is my willow tree.

So I've been spending a fair amount of time underneath my willow tree

either late at night or early in the morning and watching the moon make its journey brings so many mysterious stories, symbolic references and just a general feeling of mystique which I like. I mean I'm hoping the mystique comes more because I'm trying to commune more with God but the moon definitely adds to the atmosphere. Anyway this morning was pretty cool because I had asked God the night before to help me get up early so I could come back out and talk more with Him. Being the good guy that He is, He decided that the best time for that would be 3:55 and so at that blessed hour I awoke, not to an annoying alarm or a sibling slamming a door. I just awoke with a great feeling of God's presence it wasn't something super miraculous or awe inspiring, just a quiet awareness of God as if He was saying, "I'm here and we now have all morning to talk." As an added bonus I got to hear the rooster crow at a nearby farm. I'd never heard a rooster actually welcome the day before so I found that it was super cool. 

Next cool thing, after finishing Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret and Watchmen Nee's The Normal Christian Life I've realized how I'm lacking in practical everyday faith. So starting today I begin compiling a list of all the promises of God made too me as well as a list of the commands God gives to me in the scriptures. My goal is to finish the New Testament this week. By finish I mean read through it and make not of the promises and commands which I understand to apply directly to current Christians. So we'll see how that works out, I'd like to post portions of those lists as I create them but we'll see. An encouraging thing I've noticed just from my reading today from the Gospels was that Jesus has a tendency to pair a command with a promise. 

For example Luke 12:22 says, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat nor about your body, what you will put on." A command, Jesus says, "don't be anxious" a straightforward but very difficult task if that's all He said. Fortunately for us God is not a tyrant who simply demands and does not supply. After His command He gives us perspective in the next verse, Luke12:23 For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. When we adopt this perspective we are ready for what He says in verse 31, "Instead, seek His kingdom and these things will be added to you." Rather than be anxious we are given a replacement task, do not worry and with all the time you have freed up now that your not worrying seek His kingdom and the things you worried about will be taken care of. I have been encouraged as I've read the gospels today how God doesn't command without specific reasons and His promises are never forgotten. 

That's all for now, carry on.

An Update On Life

 

I tried earlier to make a video blogpost but my movie was too long and I wasn't able to upload it. Soon I'd like to have a youtube channel for all sorts of movies but for now I'm going to attempt at reawakening my long slumbering blog. My guess is she will not be too pleased and will fight hard making my posts infrequant but we'll see. For tonight I'm going to try and explain where I hope this blog will go in the future as well as providing a quick summary of where my life has been going in the past months.

 

Previously my goal for this blog was to encourage and teach my fellow believers by creating well thought out blogposts about life, God, the scriptures and other like things. You say, "what? that was your purpose? I never would have guessed" I'l be the first to admit I did not do well in meetin that original goal but I've always been a proponent of setting goals higher then I can reach and in failure I'm still further along then I was before I set the goal meaning I'm ahead. Not that it justifies me failing to meet my goal for this blog, hence my changing of this blogs purpose. I've realized I'm neither smart enough nor adequatly in command of the english language to write well ordered constructive works of didactic worth. Therefore, as the blogs new title indicates, I'm simply going to comment and keep record of God's hands as they move in my life, both dicating my circumstances and molding me into conformatiy with the image of His son. I hope people will still find this blog worth reading as it will continue to bear testimoney to the great God whom we serve but it's purpose will no longer be for you the reader but rather for me the author.

 

That being said I proceed to a list of signifcant things which have happened to me this summer.

 

I graduated highschool.

As of next Thursday I will have earned 66 credits towards my BA in History.

I turned 18 last Saturday

I've found piano, frisbee, and certain relationships to be holding me back as a Christian and I've dropped them, at least temporarily to engage more in prayer, study of the scriptures and the reading of the Saints.

I bought my first tobacco pipe on my birthday and while I still enjoy it my expectations were not met.

I attended a good friends wedding in mid July down in North Carolina which was definitly a highlight of my summer. I got to meet two friends who I haven't seen, ever and I got to see a good friend get married to an awesome guy who I didn't find fault with, which if you know me is not an easy thing to do because I find faults in most everything.

 

 

 

 

A good weekday for me looks like this:

I. Between 5-6 I wake up to study the bible and pray and try not to fall back asleep before 7 when I have breakfast.

II. Between 7:30 and 8 we'll have family quiet time and by 9 I've usually started my college work.

III. By 12:30 I'm sick of college and facebook and I"m hungry so I'll eat.

IV 1:30 will see the end of lunch cleanup and I'll try to find a good book to read and if I haven't already drunk a pot of tea in the morning I'll make some for the afternoon.

V. If I can make it till 4 without falling asleep I'll help with the daily housecleanup and then help with dinner

VI. Dinner usually runs from 5:30ish until 7:00 when we have finished cleaningup and the coffee is brewing.

VII. 7-10 is dedicated to things like blogging, skyping/IMing with friends, prayer, smoking, writing emails and such.

 

 

VIII. Usually by ten I'm in bed unless something cool is happening

 

Note this schedule does not include, unlooked for Star Wars Battlefront II or SuperSmash Brothers Brawl games with siblings, random snacks, unforseen work oppurtunities, familiy or friendship emergencies, mom's "adventures" which are like homeschooler field trips and a host of other unkown things which arise during an average day. I'm so thankful to God for this season of my life which doesn't have me boxed into school or work from 8-5 and I'm excited to see where God leads me as I seek Him. I already feel Him as He works his magic in me as I've read Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Life and Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret which I hope to blog about soon.

 

Well that is me as of tonight, I know lots of what I say will be misunderstood and misinterpreted because of my poor use of language and because of sin reigning in so many of our hearts. Therefore I entrust myself and this post to God as well as you who read it, may we receive in humility the grace of God which He bestows upon those unashamed of Him both in word and in deed.

 

"1 Peter 2:11-12 "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

 

 

Crucifying The Flesh

I hope this is thought provoking and I'd love to get some discussion going so any comments, or differing opinions from mine are welcome.

I’ve been puzzling over why so many people who call themselves Christians have a very hard time sacrificing things to further their understanding of God.  Most Christians can count on the fingers of one hand how many times they’ve directly heard from God.  Christians are supposed to conquer, redeem and save the world not to putter around half in the world half in eternity waiting in immaturity for Christ to return and fix everything.

An answer explaining our great weakness is that many of us come to the cross of Christ but we never get on our own cross. We bow before Christ in shame at our sin but we never crucify ourselves with Christ as we are told to do in Galatians 5:24 This results in a group of people who simply trust Christ to forgive sins without trusting Christ to change them. So we continue our whole lives as sinners without ever embracing the true reason for Christ's incarnation. Which was not to forgive us from sin but to free us from sin's bondage, now and in eternity. Galatians 5:24 “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Practically speaking how does one do this. Well the process of crucifying must be done alone. We walk in the footsteps of our savior and master Jesus Christ so let's follow Him. Matthew 26:56 “Then all the disciples left him and fled.” Christ was left alone to meet His fate, none of His disciplies, his friends, his family could do it for Him and if you ever crucify your flesh for Christ you’ll have to do it yourself. After being left alone Christ was humiliated. He was stripped, beaten(Matthew 26:67), mocked and misjudged (Matthew 27:34) all as preparation for the cross. Christians if they desire true godliness must also travel a journey of humiliation. We must learn that we are not necessary to God’s plan, that we are mere grains of sand in a cosmic beachhead, that our lives are merely a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (James 4:14) THe world was not created for us and we were not created to be glorified. We were created to be image bearers of God’s greatness, glorifying Him in all that we do. Until we humbly submit to our own smallness we will be at odds with the plans of God for this world. After being humiliated Jesus walked the road to his own death. Without fear and without regret our Lord wavered not in his resolve to bring glory to the Father. He never looked back. Lot’s wife looked back because she had bound herself to the temporal things she loved, her house, her friends, her money, her worldliness and she was forever crystallized as a memoriam to the snare that worldliness is. (Genesis 19:26) As Christians today walking the straight and narrow way we must not look longingly back at the palace of self indulgence from whence we came.  We must not be ashamed of our humiliation, of our rejection of worldly things. To follow in the bloody footsteps of our maker in pain and discomfort is a greater honor than wearing a kings crown or any other really cool thing you’d like to do on this side of eternity.

Finally in loneliness for none could come with Him, in humiliation for He had been beaten beyond recognition our Lord ascended Golgotha where he was nailed to the cross and lost all His rights. (Matthew 27:35) So it will be with us as well if we ever get nailed to the cross we will lose all our rights. No longer can we claim we are being mistreated, or wronged because a crucified person has no rights. Upon the cross Jesus had his mind on only two things, those entrusted to Him and the Father whom He trusted. His mother who He was responsible for He entrusted to another (John 19:26-27) and He entrusted Himself to His Father (Luke 24:46) Those crucified with Christ will follow this example. In the midst of excruciating pain our thoughts will be far from us, resting in love on the people God has entrusted to us, our friends, our families, our schools, our communities, our churches and our nations. When we crucify ourselves we abandon the road of self glorification and began to walk on the high road of God glorification.

It is amazing how crucifying yourself to the world makes one totally invulnerable to anything but oneself. Just think, how can you harm a person who doesn’t care about themselves? You can only harm a person by harming what they care about and if all you care about is Christ you can’t be harmed. Sure you may suffer pain, heartache, grief, stress and all the other results of living in a sin filled world but once an individual submits to Christ, totally and without reserve he is completely invincible to the attacks of other people, the devil and in submission to Christ he will be saved from himself. So do not hurt yourself more by only coming to the cross of Christ and not getting on the cross yourself. Do not waste the gift Christ gave you and merely allow Him to forgive sin, let Him free you from sin and death. Submit in humility to the tutelage of the only man who ever really knew how to love, Jesus Christ.

Thoughts From My Life

                   I don't even know if I'd be content to be content. All those smiling faces I see everyday stare absently into nothingness make me want to throttle something evil. At least birds sing in their nothingness and add some beauty to the world. But these people seeing nothing beyond the immediate and knowing nothing beyond themselves comment on recent sports, new books, food, weather and gossip. Knowing that I myself am one of them burns my heart with shame. Can they really be happy talking about such things, things that are hear today and gone tomorrow? Is it possible that underneath the crust of fine feelings a volcano, perhaps one they don't even know about, awaits a moment to erupt. Isn't life more then a game with lots of variables? Doesn't every breath we breathe bring us closer to a final encounter with a holy God who will hold us accountable for what we did and didn't do with our time on earth? How will people justify watching every episode of Psyche before such a God? How will we justify indulging our passions in food movies and laziness? What words will Everyman be able to conjure before God when asks how we stewarded divine blessings? 

                Perhaps one day I'll see what everyone else sees and become content to sit still....until I'm propelled to move by some harsh slap from reality. Perhaps a failing grade, perhaps a killed friend, perhaps a night in jail or a speeding ticket, fear of a being poor, these are the things which motivate the ever smiling Everyman to do something. I realize I'm very distrustful of all this. But why shouldn't I be? Don't we all live on a planet which is mostly composed of molten fire? The outside looks fine and good but who has plumbed to the depths of the earth? Why should humanity be any different? Don't we look fine on the outside but inside rages a fire most people have only ever felt but never controlled which often erupts in fits of rage, sulkiness, depression, moodiness or insanity? Is it not right to be distrustful of someone whose forgotten that they are a ticking time bomb, hijacked and prone to blow at an unknown time. No, perhaps that is too much. Not "a" ticking time bomb but rather a multiplicity of time bombs some big, some small, all dangerous. 

             Why do I write this? Because I wanted to write a blogpost and this is what came out easiest. Perhaps, it might alert people to the destructive fire within themselves, which is useful, only when under control. Comment if you like or just be confused by my lack of sense and inability to use good punctuation. Oh and have a happy Easter :)

Wisdom From Thomas A'Kempis

On Peace and Spiritual Progress


We could enjoy much peace if we did not busy ourselves with what other people say and do, for this is no concern of ours. How can anyone remain long at peace who meddles in other people's affairs; who seeks occasion to gad about, and who makes little or no attempt at recollection? Blessed are the single-hearted (Matt. 5:8) for they shall enjoy much peace (Psalm 37:2).

How were some of the Saints so perfect and contemplative? It is because they strove with all their might to mortify in themselves all wordly desires, and could thus cling to God in their inmost heart, and offer themselves freely and wholly to Him. But we are held too firmly by our passions, and are too much concerned with the passing affairs of the world. We seldom completely master a single fault, and have little zealfor our daily progress; therefore we remain spiritually cold ortepid.

If only we were completely dead to self, and free from inner conflict, we could savour spiritual things, and win experience of heavenly contemplation. But the greatest, and indeed the whole obstacle to our advance is that we are not free from passions and lusts, nor do we strive to follow the perfect way of the Saints. But when we encounter even a little trouble, we are quickly discouraged, and turn to human comfort.

If we strove to stand firm in the struggle like men of valour, we should not fail to experience the help of our Lord from heaven. For He is ever ready to help all who fight, trusting His grace; He also affords us occasions to fight that we may conquer. If we rely only on the outward observances of religion, our devotion will rapidly wane. But let us lay the axe to the root (Matt 3:10), that, being cleansed from our passions, we may possess our souls in peace.

If each year we would root out one fault, we should soon become perfect. But, alas, the opposite is often the case, that we were better and purer in the beginning of our conversion than after many years of our profession. Our zeal and virtue would grow daily; but it is now held to be a fine thing if a man retains even a little of his first fervour. If only we would do a little violence to ourselves at first, we would later be able to do everything easily and gladly.

It is hard to give up old habits, and harder still to conquer our own wills. But if you cannot overcome in small and easy things, how will you succeed in greater? Resist your evil inclinations in the beginning, and break off evil habits, lest they gradually involve you in greater difficulties. Oh, if you could only know how great a peace for yourself and how great a joy for your fellows your good endeavour would win, you would have greater care for your spiritual progress.

A Day Out of School

 Today I took the day off from school and traveled with my family + third cousin + third cousin's friend to the beach where we successfully brought up the value of Connecticut Tourism by a landmark worth seeing. Introducing.........The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

  Before you is our landscape with the three primary laborers. Josh Lagan who offered substantial support to the operation was injured and could not be present for the final picture.

We arrived at 10:00 AM and the promised 80 degrees and sunny weather was tardy. 

Despite the foreboding weather and serious lack of beach going beverages we managed to break ground with enthusiasm. 

Shortly after we broke ground our reinforcements arrived with speakers an Ipod and the previously mentioned beverages.

Slowly, after hours of careful planning by our programmers.... 

...expert moderating skilzs.

....first rate photographers.....
  

....artistic designers.....

....focus....

....and a sacrifice....

We managed to sculpt the base elements of beach into a piece of art. Following are just some pictures of the finished work after roughly 7 hours of work using 6 shovels, 2 buckets, washed up lumber and several thousand pounds of sand

From the front. 

.

View of the back. 

Small Temple to Ishtar 

The Entryway 

Combined these two pictures make up the entire working force of the castle. And now I'm done. I hope you all enjoyed our sculpture. I'm sure by now that some singularly unappreciative thugs have bulldozed our hard work into nothingness. May they have received many bruised bones in the process. "Curse their foul feet"

What is Christian Life?

I apologize for I am only reposting something which I posted on facebook. I don't have much time to come up with separate writings for both.



If I had to simplify the Christian life into a single phrase it would be this, “seek the Lord in humility” All the problems of poor upbringing, confusing religious experience, lack of spiritual discipline, denominational differences and secular academic training fall away when a person is willing to take this simple phrase and apply it to every level of their existence. Every level meaning relationally, educationally, mentally, physically and spiritually. Seeking the Lord in humility is an active process without a very clear methodology or means of doing it. This only means that God works differently in different people so seeking God is something one must do alone which can not be planned out for you by another. General guidelines are pray like your life depends on it, because it does. Read the bible like you need to memorize it because we should. Study other people who have sought the Lord in Humility and apply what they did which is helpful to you. Above all experiment. Obviously you don't do something that offends God but most everything is fair game. Maybe seeking the Lord will mean learning martial arts, maybe it will mean living on blow pops and gumballs for a week maybe it will mean beating yourself and only eating once every other day.  Regardless of how you do it, seeking God out of humility will produce all things pertaining to life and godliness, aka...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control. (disclaimer some people are more disposed to certain virtues then others)
    
"To seek", is to actively engage in a search for something which one does not yet have. "The Lord", is God who created the world, who died for our sins, is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. Humility is the necessary character trait which distinguishes the Christian from the scientist or academic student who simply knows about God. People learn about God as an area of study to satisfy their intellectual craving. Some desire relationship and comfort so they seek a God who promises them such things, or they simple want to go to “heaven” and pursue God to that end.. Humility though sets apart the Christian from the world of academia and the world of self love for it is the eternally growing realization of the utter inadequacy for a human to do or attain anything which has any ultimate significance or worth in a world that matters. Solomon tells us, “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. “ Left to itself such humility would undoubtedly kill a human or at least reduce him to some sub human creature who’s heart still beats but within whom dwells no good thing. However their is no way around this truth. No matter how you section it or define it your life has no significance.  The greatest men of history are but straws in the cosmic bonfire.
                                                                                                                  
*sidenote* I believe this truth, the truth that the human life devoid of “the Lord” is completely vain, can explain why most people act the way they do. Many people consciously or in their hearts no that they their lives are but ashes and dust so they strive to give themselves meaning through any means possible, all of which are false and lead to self destruction. Some find it in self appreciation and the creation of a false self image others in the affections of other people creating those obnoxious talkers who can’t stop talking for five minutes without having their feelings hurts. We all have this need to have meaning but none of have it which is why people must be doing something, or they must ignore reality to find peace in such things like nihilism and Buddhism.

Assuming them that what I have written is true, that human existance is just a drawn out process of decay, I will explain where hope is to be found. Hope, meaning, purpose, “life” and the word of God are in Jesus Christ the Lord. We must seek the Lord for in Him is the way, the truth, and the life. Picture Jesus as the trade route through which we gain access to the things unknown or unattainable on earth. Because Christ is human we can know Him, because Christ is God He can know us for we can't know ourselves apart from Christ. The eternity of Christ gives our actions, for good or ill, significance forever. The true substance of Christ, meaning the complete lack of falsity gives our life meaning and substance. The wisdom of Christ gives us truth. Of primary importance the mercy of Christ which gives us access. So we pray, "Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner"

So then let us seek the Lord with humility. For apart from seeking their is no finding, only wandering lost in a world of shadow. Apart from the Lord their is no reality, though we might seek life, He is the substance which can be trusted to stand firm when all else passes like smoke through our desperately needy hands. Apart from humility there is no realization of our true need. Humility is the first step, the narrow gate on the road to godliness which like air must be breathed deeply and continually for “life” to be sustained. So what is human existence with Christ and without Christ? If one does not seek the Lord in humility, life will be a weary experience in which the best one can do is eat drink and make merry for death comes like a whirlwind turning all one's efforts to dust. If a life is spent seeking the Lord in humility, I don't know what will happen, it will be a life with no falsity and full of value, full of all things proper to God in who's image we were created.

A Short Response

I am writing a new post in response to the comment Mary replied with to my November 29th post.

I feel bad because I'm going to write so little in comparison to what Mary wrote and its obvious she put alot of thought and research into what she said, something I don't do enough of. Fortunately I'm not going to disagree very much so we won't have to fight.

So, my question in response to all Mary's well thought ought responses is, "why do we still sin after we are saved?" I agree with you that in the eyes of God we totally pure, Christ's sacrifice literally destroyed the consequences of our sin for those who accept Him as Lord. Yet sin, still reigns within many parts of us. St Paul writes in II Corinthians 3:18 "And we all with unveiled face , beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Christ died and saves us, making us see the Glory of God then we progress by stages into the image of God who having purified our inner soul(guaranteeing eternal salvation) then proceeds outward perfecting all our thoughts, actions, motives, emotions and desires from his initial stronghold in our heart.

So perhaps I worded my original post wrong but I do believe that the Christian has a responsibility to live the life God has given them. We were once dead in our Sin and Christ has given us life, we must now walk in life neither forsaking Christ nor ignoring the commands He's given us and the life He's entrusted to us.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Colossians 3:1-10

I hope this answers everything you commented on. In my earlier post I wasn't trying to say we can eradicate sin on our own, I wasn't trying to say that apart from Christ we can do anything good for in me and my flesh is no good thing. Let me know what you think and where I messed up again.

Thoughts on the Jesus Prayer

 

        

 

          "Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner"

 

It’s amazing the depth and meaning which can be incorporated into one small phrase. It takes two seconds to say but could be contemplated on for months and not properly understood. Personally I have been amazed at the intricate detail in this simple prayer. I believe, that just as a botanist can spend hours admiring the blossoms of a perfect flower, we as spiritual beings ought to enjoy the beauty of a well ordered prayer. I divided the prayer into three parts. (Lord) (Jesus Christ Son of God) (have mercy on me a sinner).

         

   We begin with “Lord” for it is first and foremost the role of Him to whom we pray. Being Lord is God’s function more then anything else. Some say He is our friend but He is not a friend until He is our Lord. Others say He is our Savior but He is not our Savior until He is our Lord. We know not His help until we recognize Him as Lord and so before we make any sort of request or plea we must remind ourselves whose presence we are in. We are not merely asking a favor from a friend or paying for a snack from a vending machine. In true prayer we stand before the Lord of glory who was, and is, and is to come with fire and sword to judge the living and the dead. Having begun with Lord, and being reminded of our lowliness before Him we proceed onward.

            “Jesus Christ Son of God” What title can compare to such a one as this? These are the credentials of our Lord. We desire this Lord and love Him not because He is Him in whom all power abides. No we serve Him because He is Jesus Christ Son of God. We say Jesus, meaning “Yahweh saves” that we might not forget what type of God we serve. The Lord who we plead before, is not merely a ruler though He rules, He is not a power hungry dictator for He needs no nothing, neither power nor us. So we call Him Jesus for He saves. Christ is the “Messiah” the promised one. He is not a mass produced product. Christ is unlike any being in the cosmos. The God Man, He bore our sin yet was perfect and conquered death, sin and judgment so we might come before Him and pray.  “Son of God” gives Jesus authority. We pray to Him for he has power from the Father and can thus answer our prayers. We do not pray to Mary or our parents or Saints believing they in themselves do anything for us beyond praying themselves on our behalf to God who is one with the Son. Thus we are not elevating an unworthy person when we call Jesus Christ Son of God, Lord we are merely in word giving him the honor He has more then merited and which we can only acknowledge and never repay. 

          If we have heeded all that’s been before then we are now ready to humbly make our request. Note that we ask not for any specific thing, for that would assume we know what we need. Rather then arrogantly asserting our own foolishness on the divine we recognize His sovereignty  and wisdom by simply asking for His unmerited, undeserved gift of whatever He deems fit for us. Then, lest we retain any vestige of the spirit of pride we condemn ourselves as “sinner”. Indeed a proper term for all of us. This label is to remind us that we are not bartering with the Lord. It is not as though the Lord needs our lives and so He grants us mercy in exchange for servitude. It is only because of His infinite love that we might even enter God’s presence. To forget this, to think we are something other then sinners is to spit on the mercy He’s already poured out on us at Golgotha. May we never be guilty of such disrespect. May God only ever be honored. 





                                    This is my desk after I finished cleaning my room after Christmas.