People in this world has become so obsessed with themselves they have forgotten how to ask what it's all for. What is the meaning of life? Are we doomed to the bleak and depressing pursuit of our own causes? People hear "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and never wonder or search for the answer of what happiness is.
Is it any wonder the drug epidemic, suicide/euthanasia pandemic, the abortion humiliation is permeating our society in which the self is the center of our lives? People are looking for the answer to the question of their existence in themselves. That is ludicrous. That serves only to drive one further into their own depravity. They become a slave to their own wants and desires. Then mistake their chains for freedom.
Once fully immersed in their self, so fully enslaved to pursuing their hearts desire they wonder why they're so depressed and void of happiness. The answer to our existence is not our existence. We feel empty because we are incomplete. We can never fill that void by chasing the distractions within the void itself.
And since when is the human heart anything, but evil? We see a history of violence and debauchery and recoil at it, but when we reflect on our own we mistake it for something other than what we have seen before in others. It's not hypocrisy it's blindness.
So, to put it another way is that our life is not life, our liberty is slavery, and our pursuit of happiness is the void in which we lose our life and liberty. But I am not writing this to depress or convict you. I am writing this to tell you that there is more. We are the children of an all-loving, all-powerful, and all-just God. He is our Answer. He is the True Life, Liberty, and the End Goal in our pursuit of happiness. A jar of clay can not find purpose within itself, but only in the purpose it's creator made it for.
Don't confuse your own will with that which God created you for. Does the potter ask the clay what it wants to be? Or to put it in a more modern way, does a table make a good tv? We have a habit of telling God too many times that the evil in our hearts is what would make us happy. He gives us what we want then point the finger at Him in accusation when we are left empty still. How about we instead ask Him what our purpose is? What His will is for our lives?
Monday, February 8, 2016
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
What makes Christianity stand out
Another case for Christianity or as Paul calls it, the Way, could be made in how it stands out. How does it stand out? In some very interesting ways. First we have a call to reason. Isaiah 1:18 says, "Come and let us reason together, says the LORD.". Not many religions call for reason, but for blind faith.
Reading the New Testament is like reading a giant philosophical argument. Leaving out the Gospels and Revelation of course. It is a collection of letters that settle doctrinal disputes and thus consequently a code of conduct. It also provides incite into arguments against the Faith and answers them. In Romans 9:19:
What is also different is that it invites us, indirectly, to test it's veracity. Most books with historical roots does this, but few are life transforming in its claims. The Bible is continuously verified by archeological discovery. Some of the sites I have linked to in a previous post does a great job in exploring those finds. Are all things verified? No, but none have contradicted the Bible or it's core message: an Almighty Transcendental Being sacrificing Himself out of an intense Love and attempt to grab our attention. The problems that do arise, creation account, the Deluge, Hebrew enslavement in Egypt, are hardly reason to believe that our Faith is in any way defeated. That's just poor logic. The objections are also disputable. Guided evolution (or another mechanism of Intelligent Design) could be argued as creationism, there may be evidence of a global or near global flood, and there is growing evidence of Hebrew enslavement in Eygpt. You are welcome to look up the arguments or evidence of each. Either way they are not even close to being core tenants of the Faith and the tenants that are deemed core have not been disproved or have been proved.
So, we have a monotheistic religion with rather fantastic claims, is part philosophical, part historical, part prophetic, and part radical. I will discuss the prophetic and radical claims in another post. But we have this Faith that stands up and shouts, "Test me! Argue with me! See that I am the True Way!", and I invite you to do so. I am always willing to discuss it. I can steer you in the right direction if I am unable to answer your questions. This is the most fulfilling decision you can make. I guarantee you that. Once you let go of self and embrace the Spirit the feeling is indescribable relief. I pray for you all.
Reading the New Testament is like reading a giant philosophical argument. Leaving out the Gospels and Revelation of course. It is a collection of letters that settle doctrinal disputes and thus consequently a code of conduct. It also provides incite into arguments against the Faith and answers them. In Romans 9:19:
You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?"This is referring to the objection that if God's Will is carried out by all things then how could condemn anyone if they are ultimately carrying out His Will. He answers this question in what first seems rather like blind faith in the next verse:
On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?This is not blind faith, but a succinct response to hubris. Too many arguments against God (I now speak of God generally. A Deity that is not specifically tied to Christianity seeing as how when atheists argue against God they are making a sweeping argument not just one against the Judeo-Christian God.) are based in ignorance and hubris such as: problem of evil, ontological arguments, unnecessary, etc. This answer in Romans is a clever disarming of those arguments.
What is also different is that it invites us, indirectly, to test it's veracity. Most books with historical roots does this, but few are life transforming in its claims. The Bible is continuously verified by archeological discovery. Some of the sites I have linked to in a previous post does a great job in exploring those finds. Are all things verified? No, but none have contradicted the Bible or it's core message: an Almighty Transcendental Being sacrificing Himself out of an intense Love and attempt to grab our attention. The problems that do arise, creation account, the Deluge, Hebrew enslavement in Egypt, are hardly reason to believe that our Faith is in any way defeated. That's just poor logic. The objections are also disputable. Guided evolution (or another mechanism of Intelligent Design) could be argued as creationism, there may be evidence of a global or near global flood, and there is growing evidence of Hebrew enslavement in Eygpt. You are welcome to look up the arguments or evidence of each. Either way they are not even close to being core tenants of the Faith and the tenants that are deemed core have not been disproved or have been proved.
So, we have a monotheistic religion with rather fantastic claims, is part philosophical, part historical, part prophetic, and part radical. I will discuss the prophetic and radical claims in another post. But we have this Faith that stands up and shouts, "Test me! Argue with me! See that I am the True Way!", and I invite you to do so. I am always willing to discuss it. I can steer you in the right direction if I am unable to answer your questions. This is the most fulfilling decision you can make. I guarantee you that. Once you let go of self and embrace the Spirit the feeling is indescribable relief. I pray for you all.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Political Rant
Why are there people who are 100% serious in their support for Trump. Not only does he continue to show his political illiteracy in a early 1900s snake oil salesman-esque pitch, but the man is an 80's movie villain. The rich, WASP, meathead bully wearing an ascot bragging about his daddy's accomplishments as his own.
Vera Coking from New Jersey can tell you all about it. He tried for over a decade to get her out of her house so that he could put in a limousine parking lot. Real man of the people. Or, we could look at the example he sets when he tried for over a decade to rid he prestigious Fifth Avenue in NYC of veteran run street vendors. More examples abound.
The cult of personality that surrounds this man who lacks a personality is astounding. We are talking about a man who boasts of not needing forgiveness from God. Apparently, Trump is the Second Coming of Christ. Christians who support him say we aren't electing a pastor, but a president. That magically excuses the man's history of fitting perfectly into the Bible's example of a violent and foolish man? He is a vacuous, self-worshipping man who only gleams his views based on polling. Once the election is over we will see the biggest political thug since Obama.
What about Bernie Sanders? I shouldn't even have to mention that complete jackass, but unfortunately the youth vote is dangerously uninformed enough to make his special brand of idiocy a legitimate platform in this race. Free everything! Except the rich pay for it. He pedals his cure for what ails you to the youth who think that the man is keeping them down. Who is the man? The rich. It seems these teens should be applauded for their vow of poverty! They fail to recognize that when they are out of college at that good paying job he promises will be there if they vote for him (that would be a miracle to behold! a high tax on the rich and the corporation they own producing anything other than an incentive to move their operations out of this country followed by mass layoffs in lieu of the automation that they would inevitably embrace while increasing the cost of goods to help offset the tax increase would be a miracle on the scale of Christ feeding the 5000) they will then see the taxes that they voted for. They will see their utter ignorance of how taxes work after they spend all that time in college and time in their jobs working for promotions and raises just to make the same as the person taking their order at Chipotle.
The poor supporting Sanders is only slightly less puzzling. You're not rich, so no one can be rich? That's just vindictive. Grow up. Where does that leave the world? It doesn't make you less miserable. It just makes more people miserable. What happens when the government runs out of people to taax? What happens when people no longer have any incentive to work or get ahead in their career? No one knows because that kind of economy always mysteriously collapses. Weird.
What's that? North Korea? Oh. Forgot about that sterling example of happiness and human rights. After the Korean War (I know, I know, it's technically not over) South Korea went the way of the free market and North Korea went the way of socialism. I wonder who has the better quality of life?
To be completely honest, no economic system is perfect, but free market and free enterprise is the best one there is. The worst criticisms of that economic model is actually against crony capitalism. They are not the same. What is truly ironic is that the whacko socialists that attacks and free market with charges of crony capitalism don't realize the very definition of a free market impossible for crony capitalism, but socialism is crony capitalism at it's finest.
The problem is obvious with this country. It lost it's God and in some doing has lost it's values. This amoral mindset has led to abandoning critical thinking in attempting not to offend anyone because being non-offensive is what replaced true values. The truth can be offensive. So what? That doesn't make it any less true. Hiding the truth or keeping people stupid enough not to look for the truth only hurts them even more. It leaves us with the message this world is in today.
Sickening. Trump. The left. Sanders. Clinton. You're all disgusting mental midgets destroying yourself in a vain attempt at destroying others. All to make yourself feel more important than what you really are. Turn back from your iniquity and look at the destruction you have wrought. Then tell me if any of it was worth it.
Vera Coking from New Jersey can tell you all about it. He tried for over a decade to get her out of her house so that he could put in a limousine parking lot. Real man of the people. Or, we could look at the example he sets when he tried for over a decade to rid he prestigious Fifth Avenue in NYC of veteran run street vendors. More examples abound.
The cult of personality that surrounds this man who lacks a personality is astounding. We are talking about a man who boasts of not needing forgiveness from God. Apparently, Trump is the Second Coming of Christ. Christians who support him say we aren't electing a pastor, but a president. That magically excuses the man's history of fitting perfectly into the Bible's example of a violent and foolish man? He is a vacuous, self-worshipping man who only gleams his views based on polling. Once the election is over we will see the biggest political thug since Obama.
What about Bernie Sanders? I shouldn't even have to mention that complete jackass, but unfortunately the youth vote is dangerously uninformed enough to make his special brand of idiocy a legitimate platform in this race. Free everything! Except the rich pay for it. He pedals his cure for what ails you to the youth who think that the man is keeping them down. Who is the man? The rich. It seems these teens should be applauded for their vow of poverty! They fail to recognize that when they are out of college at that good paying job he promises will be there if they vote for him (that would be a miracle to behold! a high tax on the rich and the corporation they own producing anything other than an incentive to move their operations out of this country followed by mass layoffs in lieu of the automation that they would inevitably embrace while increasing the cost of goods to help offset the tax increase would be a miracle on the scale of Christ feeding the 5000) they will then see the taxes that they voted for. They will see their utter ignorance of how taxes work after they spend all that time in college and time in their jobs working for promotions and raises just to make the same as the person taking their order at Chipotle.
The poor supporting Sanders is only slightly less puzzling. You're not rich, so no one can be rich? That's just vindictive. Grow up. Where does that leave the world? It doesn't make you less miserable. It just makes more people miserable. What happens when the government runs out of people to taax? What happens when people no longer have any incentive to work or get ahead in their career? No one knows because that kind of economy always mysteriously collapses. Weird.
What's that? North Korea? Oh. Forgot about that sterling example of happiness and human rights. After the Korean War (I know, I know, it's technically not over) South Korea went the way of the free market and North Korea went the way of socialism. I wonder who has the better quality of life?
To be completely honest, no economic system is perfect, but free market and free enterprise is the best one there is. The worst criticisms of that economic model is actually against crony capitalism. They are not the same. What is truly ironic is that the whacko socialists that attacks and free market with charges of crony capitalism don't realize the very definition of a free market impossible for crony capitalism, but socialism is crony capitalism at it's finest.
The problem is obvious with this country. It lost it's God and in some doing has lost it's values. This amoral mindset has led to abandoning critical thinking in attempting not to offend anyone because being non-offensive is what replaced true values. The truth can be offensive. So what? That doesn't make it any less true. Hiding the truth or keeping people stupid enough not to look for the truth only hurts them even more. It leaves us with the message this world is in today.
Sickening. Trump. The left. Sanders. Clinton. You're all disgusting mental midgets destroying yourself in a vain attempt at destroying others. All to make yourself feel more important than what you really are. Turn back from your iniquity and look at the destruction you have wrought. Then tell me if any of it was worth it.
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