I pose a question.
Even though God could easily change the world if He wanted to, turn it upside down(he did it with 12 men in the time of the early church), is that His plan?
Is it God's plan for the world to be changed? In revelation, it seems that He wants to eliminate it and make a new one.
Now don't get me wrong. I firmly believe that God wants to change individuals. And I also believe He wants us to be a part of that work.
But all of this "changing the world for Christ" stuff sounds more like we're trying to patch up a failing system with religious ideas. I'm not entirely sure anymore that God wants to change the world...because our current system doesn't work. It isn't in need of change or "tweaking." It is in need of being eliminated entirely.
Man is in the business of making systems.
God is(from what I have understood through scripture) in the business of making life where there previously was none.
After all, Christ came to earth...and when He did, it wasn't to get rid of their system. It wasn't to give Rome the boot. It wasn't to overthrow Herod. It wasn't even to defame the hypocritical pharisees. It was to bring us life. He said it Himself... "I have come that they may life and have it to the full." He also said that His kingdom was not of this world.
When Christ ascended to heaven, the Roman empire remained intact, the hypocritical pharisees still remained the primary religious authority in Jerusalem. What changed was not the world, it was rather the people(some of them, anyway) that were in it. These people then spread this contagious life to others. The world still continued largely as it was for a while until the integration of Christianity into the upper echelon of the Roman empire...which, let's just be honest, resulted in the collapse of their civilization...yet it also paved the way for the rapid spread of the gospel throughout the entire world.
Some, I believe, mistake this to mean that God's is interested in changing the whole world. But I say it was simply because God wanted to save many. Individuals, that is. Like you. And me. The only time Christianity turned into anything ugly is when man tried to transform it into another earthly system.
These are just thoughts of mine. Take them carefully. Don't believe something that I said without examining the facts for yourself. I could be wrong about some things.
But it is intriguing. Go check it out.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
My Ugly Addiction is Uglier than Yours
Well, actually I don't know that for certain.
But I've realized that I have a terrible, terrible propensity to sacrifice what is good for the sake of pleasing others.
Imagine that. Me, trying so hard to please others. This has been the deepest, darkest struggle of mine since I can remember. I still find myself trying so hard to validate myself through pleasing others.
Sometimes I really don't even know why I do it anymore because it doesn't make me happy.
It started as something harmless and juvenile--when I was younger, people made fun of me, excluded me. I was "the good kid" who never got the innuendos or memos. Whatever ounce of approval I could find from someone, I clung to it passionately. I was passive. Even when I was assertive(which was rare), it wasn't even because of my own convictions nearly so much as my fear of being rejected by people who might have been disappointed if I were not assertive.
To this day, I still groan over this weakness. It is far more crippling to me than anything else. It keeps me from being pleasing to God(because I'm too concerned with other, far less important matters). It keeps me from being the leader that my wife desires me to be, the leader that she has expressed her desire for me to be. It keeps me from making solid decisions. It keeps me from saving money. It keeps me from doing my spiritual work to its fullest extent.
I want so badly for you to always be satisfied with me, for you to never have a negative thing to say or a jest to point at me, I literally tear myself apart over it. I daily sterilize myself and guard myself, defend myself from every possible failure, even if it means never doing anything of consequence.
Congratulations. You have just met the real Andy Good.
What do I do? Where do I start?
I don't even know how to even begin battling this problem. I feel bound.
But I've realized that I have a terrible, terrible propensity to sacrifice what is good for the sake of pleasing others.
Imagine that. Me, trying so hard to please others. This has been the deepest, darkest struggle of mine since I can remember. I still find myself trying so hard to validate myself through pleasing others.
Sometimes I really don't even know why I do it anymore because it doesn't make me happy.
It started as something harmless and juvenile--when I was younger, people made fun of me, excluded me. I was "the good kid" who never got the innuendos or memos. Whatever ounce of approval I could find from someone, I clung to it passionately. I was passive. Even when I was assertive(which was rare), it wasn't even because of my own convictions nearly so much as my fear of being rejected by people who might have been disappointed if I were not assertive.
To this day, I still groan over this weakness. It is far more crippling to me than anything else. It keeps me from being pleasing to God(because I'm too concerned with other, far less important matters). It keeps me from being the leader that my wife desires me to be, the leader that she has expressed her desire for me to be. It keeps me from making solid decisions. It keeps me from saving money. It keeps me from doing my spiritual work to its fullest extent.
I want so badly for you to always be satisfied with me, for you to never have a negative thing to say or a jest to point at me, I literally tear myself apart over it. I daily sterilize myself and guard myself, defend myself from every possible failure, even if it means never doing anything of consequence.
Congratulations. You have just met the real Andy Good.
What do I do? Where do I start?
I don't even know how to even begin battling this problem. I feel bound.
Friday, October 17, 2008
What Every Believer Should Believe
Today on another blog of mine, I got a random, rather hostile message from someone who is apparently an atheist who found my blog.
In effect, he basically said that my life is meaningless and teaching my son about Jesus would make my son's life also meaningless. He equated teaching my son about Jesus to something similar as stomping my son into dust.
I wasn't really offended, though I could understand why some people would be.
But it just got me to thinking about something rather relevant.
Scripture teaches clearly that God has a purpose for everything and everyone. Of course, He has different purposes for different things...that's another matter for another day. But what I mean to say is that the world is God's fiction. And for every character, He has a purpose.
Therefore, it should never leave from a believer's lips that anyone's life is meaningless. That is degrading to the work of God and it is a lie.
Atheism would have men argue that either everything is already meaningless(which is a self-contradiction to their argument), or that everyone has meaning unless they are religious. Then they are just cattle or maladroital mass unless they "come to their senses" and renounce our faith.
The position of atheism is a degrading one, a demeaning stance to our place as human beings.
Therefore, the position of believers should be one that brings special relevance to human beings and with that special relevance, an equally special responsibility.
Not even the life someone completely atheistic is entirely meaningless. God has a plan for everything and everyone. We may not know what it is, but He already has it set in stone. To say that anyone is without meaning or purpose is a slam against the sovereignty of God.
What every believer should believe is that every person has a place. I recognize that not all do believe this, but they all should believe it.
In contrast, the atheist tends to hold to his religion of the elite, that unless you believe their point-of-view, your life is subsequently meaningless, you serve no purpose, you do no good, you are only a wad of walking phlegm. You become eligible for social euthanization, despite the fact that you are still a human being.
I think that even if Christianity were false(which it is not), I would still choose it over atheism. I would rather live my life with optimism and joy instead of that sort of dread and cynicism.
The hope in Christianity is the restoration of man to a place of glory and closeness to Christ.
But the hope of atheism always has to do with eliminating something...especially Christianity.
I suppose if they had their wish, they would have run out of things to live for...which is a tragedy.
What every believer should believe is that even those atheists which believe what I have just stated should be treated as though they were deliberately placed on this earth by the hand of God.
Because they were.
In effect, he basically said that my life is meaningless and teaching my son about Jesus would make my son's life also meaningless. He equated teaching my son about Jesus to something similar as stomping my son into dust.
I wasn't really offended, though I could understand why some people would be.
But it just got me to thinking about something rather relevant.
Scripture teaches clearly that God has a purpose for everything and everyone. Of course, He has different purposes for different things...that's another matter for another day. But what I mean to say is that the world is God's fiction. And for every character, He has a purpose.
Therefore, it should never leave from a believer's lips that anyone's life is meaningless. That is degrading to the work of God and it is a lie.
Atheism would have men argue that either everything is already meaningless(which is a self-contradiction to their argument), or that everyone has meaning unless they are religious. Then they are just cattle or maladroital mass unless they "come to their senses" and renounce our faith.
The position of atheism is a degrading one, a demeaning stance to our place as human beings.
Therefore, the position of believers should be one that brings special relevance to human beings and with that special relevance, an equally special responsibility.
Not even the life someone completely atheistic is entirely meaningless. God has a plan for everything and everyone. We may not know what it is, but He already has it set in stone. To say that anyone is without meaning or purpose is a slam against the sovereignty of God.
What every believer should believe is that every person has a place. I recognize that not all do believe this, but they all should believe it.
In contrast, the atheist tends to hold to his religion of the elite, that unless you believe their point-of-view, your life is subsequently meaningless, you serve no purpose, you do no good, you are only a wad of walking phlegm. You become eligible for social euthanization, despite the fact that you are still a human being.
I think that even if Christianity were false(which it is not), I would still choose it over atheism. I would rather live my life with optimism and joy instead of that sort of dread and cynicism.
The hope in Christianity is the restoration of man to a place of glory and closeness to Christ.
But the hope of atheism always has to do with eliminating something...especially Christianity.
I suppose if they had their wish, they would have run out of things to live for...which is a tragedy.
What every believer should believe is that even those atheists which believe what I have just stated should be treated as though they were deliberately placed on this earth by the hand of God.
Because they were.
Friday, October 3, 2008
You know...politics never helped anyone.
To me, politics almost seems to distract from real problems that we face daily in the world.
It makes the average believer in Christ more concerned with special interest instead of serving his neighbor.
I'm so sick to death of politics. It used to infuriate me so, concern me daily with arguments, rhetorics, fighting.
I think the fact of how disappointing this term's election process has become has largely resulted in my awakening to my distaste for politics.
Politics are nothing but a fleeting sport, a game of wits and immaturity compared to the real issues which need to be addressed.
There's a single mom somewhere...let's say in Albertville, Alabama(where I live) who feels that the world is against her, that there is no possible way she could be of any consequence to anyone in this world, one who daily faces the terror that her fatherless children could grow to be directionless, affection-hungry, unable to stand up in the world.
And every day, each presidential candidate will promise this single mom that they will make her life better, less stressful, that she will be given more opportunities to reach her ideals.
It never occurs to anyone that neither one of these candidates will give this mother what she really wants or needs. Those candidates are so bound up trying to only slightly please every other interest demographic in the country, her story would get lost in the middle of all the bureaucratic bramble. They just stuff her another check in the envelope. She's fortunate to now be only 2 months behind on rent instead of 3 months.
Then the politician(regardless of party or moral disposition) pats his or herself on the back for doing such a good deed, for treating yet another struggling human being as a duck by a pond eating their hand full of bread crumbs.
Many people will hear of such problems and say that the government should step foward, be more sacrificial, more sensitive, more down-to-earth to the average American.
I say that government never has helped and never will help anyone.
Once upon a time, the church were the ones who lifted the needy out of disaster and inspired hope in them for something better.
That, to me, seems all but lost.
For the most part, the church, especially in the dirty-south "bible belt", is nothing more than just concerned constantly with yet more politics, more bureaucracy. If you don't believe me, look at the average hierarchy of leadership in denominational conventions.
Why does that even exist?
The model in the New Testament was a form of leadership that was created purely to serve the needy.
Today, church leadership, at least in general for probably about 90 percent of churches, is nothing more than a way of working more financially efficient so that they may pay off their mega-plex buildings and pointless decor.
The very existence of the church used to be based around loving God and loving others.
Now it is just another commercial enterprise wearing the suit of religion.
This may sound very dismal to some, but this is, in truth, the American church at large. It doesn't matter what the denomination...baptist, pentecostal, emergent, orthodox.
I am not against the church. Rather, I am against what the church has become.
To me, politics almost seems to distract from real problems that we face daily in the world.
It makes the average believer in Christ more concerned with special interest instead of serving his neighbor.
I'm so sick to death of politics. It used to infuriate me so, concern me daily with arguments, rhetorics, fighting.
I think the fact of how disappointing this term's election process has become has largely resulted in my awakening to my distaste for politics.
Politics are nothing but a fleeting sport, a game of wits and immaturity compared to the real issues which need to be addressed.
There's a single mom somewhere...let's say in Albertville, Alabama(where I live) who feels that the world is against her, that there is no possible way she could be of any consequence to anyone in this world, one who daily faces the terror that her fatherless children could grow to be directionless, affection-hungry, unable to stand up in the world.
And every day, each presidential candidate will promise this single mom that they will make her life better, less stressful, that she will be given more opportunities to reach her ideals.
It never occurs to anyone that neither one of these candidates will give this mother what she really wants or needs. Those candidates are so bound up trying to only slightly please every other interest demographic in the country, her story would get lost in the middle of all the bureaucratic bramble. They just stuff her another check in the envelope. She's fortunate to now be only 2 months behind on rent instead of 3 months.
Then the politician(regardless of party or moral disposition) pats his or herself on the back for doing such a good deed, for treating yet another struggling human being as a duck by a pond eating their hand full of bread crumbs.
Many people will hear of such problems and say that the government should step foward, be more sacrificial, more sensitive, more down-to-earth to the average American.
I say that government never has helped and never will help anyone.
Once upon a time, the church were the ones who lifted the needy out of disaster and inspired hope in them for something better.
That, to me, seems all but lost.
For the most part, the church, especially in the dirty-south "bible belt", is nothing more than just concerned constantly with yet more politics, more bureaucracy. If you don't believe me, look at the average hierarchy of leadership in denominational conventions.
Why does that even exist?
The model in the New Testament was a form of leadership that was created purely to serve the needy.
Today, church leadership, at least in general for probably about 90 percent of churches, is nothing more than a way of working more financially efficient so that they may pay off their mega-plex buildings and pointless decor.
The very existence of the church used to be based around loving God and loving others.
Now it is just another commercial enterprise wearing the suit of religion.
This may sound very dismal to some, but this is, in truth, the American church at large. It doesn't matter what the denomination...baptist, pentecostal, emergent, orthodox.
I am not against the church. Rather, I am against what the church has become.
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