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| A great sadnessIt is almost like a terrible, tragic movie.
Someone I served with, spent time with living as Christ. And he flipped out, killing other people and then himself. I feel like I let him down; that by not making sure that my brother was in good hands, I allowed this.
I don't think this feeling reflects reality. I haven't seen him in forever... but still, the other truth is that as part of the body of Christ, we feel and are affected by everything that happens to every part.
Where was God? I personally believe that he is now in heaven, even after what he did. But I can't think of a worse way to leave the world. A mother, wife and husband all dead. All that's left is a 6-year old boy.
What I am left with is yet another person dead, under the age of 55 who was in my life, and is now gone.
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| How are you important to this world?God loves you.
And has a wonderful plan for your life.
False.
God loves the world.
And has a wonderful plan for it.
But people keep screwing up.
Will you be part of the cure? Or part of the problem?
Does our nation need to repent?
NO.
Do Christians need to repent?
YES.
What from?
FROM BEING NORMAL, ORDINARY. FROM BLENDING IN WHEN THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO STICK OUT.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul says that he is glad there is heresy in the church. WHAT?
Heresy originally meant division.
Paul's point is that, if there is a man committing Oedipal-level adultery, and grossing out even the Corinthians around them, people better not all be going with the flow in the church in Corinth. Not to mention the fact that they were using their spiritual gifts in a way that would have made all of the X-men, superheros, and probably even super-villains cringe. There better be division, there better be "heresy". If you don't take a stand and shoot down people when they are standing against the truth or love, you are going with them on the way to mediocrity and plainness.
We are to live lives of peace, but not of comfort. As soon as Christians get this through their now thick and hardened skulls and hearts, then maybe at last the 3rd Great Awakening can come. Lord knows we need it.
"Therefore I say to you that..., cowards, ... will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven" Look, if God says it, He means it.
May God take the plow to the ground in our nation, and may Christians take heed of the warning/invitation in Revelation 3:20, as originally intended: for Christians to dine with Christ day by day.
Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
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| Do you think religion should be taught in schools? Why or why not?This is actually kind of an irrelevant question, since religion is already taught in schools. Every time someone is teaching anything, they teach their religion.
A more relevant question is how should religion be taught? Should one mention one's own religion and leave it at that, without allowing for other points of view? Should one force opinions of meaninglessness and ultimate puposelessness, which many include in their depiction of Evolution, without allowing for the beauty and purpose inherent in the genetic code and the niches created in ecology?
It is too late, religion is already taught in school. The question is whether people should be allowed to say that, "If you believe in a God, you must believe that the world was created in 6 24-hour days around 6,000 years ago." And likewise, if you believe in no God, must you believe in Evolution? The argumentation is so often way off the important points of this debate because noone pauses to consider what words like religion mean.
I do not believe anyone should be able to use power or privilege to force an idea on someone else. This is called proselytizing no matter what the idea is.
In any case, I say let's move on to far more important issues, such as health care for all, issues that should flow from one's belief in the ultimate purposes of life. If teaching religion in school could cause more people to take action in their communities, taking care of the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden, as opposed to escaping to their isolated gated communities, I would be all for it.
But here is a question I would leave on the table:
What are the ideas that we should be allowed to force kids in our country to believe?
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| Where is my soul wandering?I think it unlikely that anyone reading this will identify with it, because I feel really weird about it myself. I have the distinct impression that my soul has just up and left a few times recently, wandering about, returning after a bit to me.
Where is it going? Why do I not have any memories of the wandering, just of the returning?
I feel like my heart is crying out for me to hear it, but there's like this vacuum between it and where my mind could interpret it.
Is God trying to talk to me? Is there some sort of neurological explanation? Do I just need to get out of town?
I'd appreciate your prayers. I am not ashamed of my mystical side, just wary of it and I want to get a handle on what I need to understand from it.
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| FearWhen someone starts speaking about and making a big deal about how we should be afraid of something; it is true that you should be very afraid... of them. Just look at the record. Our politicians have certainly gotten us into that rut recently.
As Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who give up Liberty for Safety deserve neither." And as our good old FDR once famously said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
God does not give us a spirit that makes us afraid. He gave us the spirit of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7.
If you have stumbled in a safe land, and run with men on foot and not prevailed, how will you run with the horses? Jeremiah, somewhere.
Live with power and grace and the hope of God's kingdom in our day and age and in the age to come.
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