My take on Salvation

Recently, I have been debating with a lot of people on the role of Salvation and how it plays into Christianity. I think that we as a Christian culture, in whole, put focus too much on it, and are blinded by it, forgeting the true message of Christ. Don't get me wrong, Salvation is a huge part of Christianity, and is very important, but I think people view it as an end, and once Salvation in obtained, that they are set and don't have to worry about anything else until they die. I beg to differ, in that Salvation is not an end, yet the begining. It is the begining of a relationship between you and God. I find too many new Christians are brought into Christianity under the influence that Salvation is the end all be all, then they go out and start trying to "save" people a week after they themselves have been "saved". how can one truly understand all that is "Christianity" in just a week. I have been a Christian for 21 years and i have not come anywhere close to grasping all that is God. Simply put, Christ gave us the great blessing of "Go thee into all the world and preach my Gospel to every nation." What is Christ Gospel? I for one have yet to find any place in the Gospels where Christ got up on a box in the street corner and scared the hell right out of people. In fact i have only found that complete opposite. Christ preached love and kindness, not hate and fear. And isn't that what salvation is all about anyway? the fact that God loves us so much that He doesn't want to see us die? To prove my point, the "evangaliser's" [put in quote due to the fact that what most of them do isn't really evangalism, and they give evanglism a bad name due to it] number one weapon is their pocket bible. In their pocket bible, the verse that appears the most is John 3:16 "for God so loved the world..." [the reason it appears the "most" is because it is translated into 30 different languaes, because you never know when you are going to stuble across someone that speaks Sinhalese on the streets.] Yet honestly I can't even tell you the last time i heard someone on the street corner, or anywhere, try to bring people to Christ with that verse. Now a days it is all about Romans and Revelations, and escaping the fires of hell...Well to wrap this all up, i will end with a quote that sums up everything, because honestly the Beatles said it best, "Love is all you need."

My Take on Immigration

I have a real problem with illegal immigration. The reason, not because I don't want more people to come into the United States, or because I hate foreiner, but simply this, IT IS ILLEGAL! I am all for legal immigrating, I understand a vast vast vast majority of the world is living in inhumane conditions. I totally understand why someone from Mexico, Cuba, China, the Philippians would want to become a citizen here, yet they need to go about it in a legal manner. Yes Bush and congress need to restructure the current immigration policies, but that still is no excuse for people to enter illegally. It seems that people don't truly understand what that does to the structure of our country. I heard the other day a man claiming that he was an illegal alien and that he demanded to be made a citizen immediately. He said he wasn't doing anything wrong, ie: breaking the law, and that he wasn't stealing anything from anyone. Excuse me, but you broke the law just by entering the country, and by holding a job, you are stealing that job away from an unemployed legal citizen. Liberal are complaining their are no jobs and that we need to help the unemployed, yet the demand that we make all illegal alien citizens instantly. Now obvious a mass deportation in not feasible, but nor is making them all instantly citizens. I liked some of Bush's ideas that he talked about two days ago, about making them temporary citizen/making the go through a process much like the green card process just tweaked to suite their needs. He did turn me off though when he started talking about how they could have the jobs the "real americans wouldn't want to do". I know there are people in this country, americans, aliens, minorities, whites alike that would do anything to earn an income period. Basically it comes down to this, We need to change the system, but there is no extreme answer, both sides need to work together to come up with a nice medium...and breaking the law is never the answer.

11th Hour Offer

As many of you know, this weekend was kind of big and important. It was the first available weekend to sign for a camp for the returning staff memebers. It was a very stressful situation to say the least. I personally recieved numerous offers on friday and saturday. There was even a last ditch effort with a GINORMOUS signing bonus from Innabah, but its not about the money kids. No it is about winning, and the winning team is definatly Pocono Plateau [Team Jesus] and not Innabah [Team Paul]. Everyone knows that Jesus will always trump Paul no matter how full of himself Paul is. I can't give you the exact details of the contract yet, but lets just say there is a little clause that prevents Spruce Lake [Team Herod] and Camp Omega [Team Pilote] from negotiating a trade for me. Plus the fact that with the Core Four still intacked we are shoe-in's for best staff of the world yet again. We did lose some good players, and the will be missed, but there are some solid rookies coming up from the CILT ranks that should step up and really make some solid efforts this summer. Over all I like with things are going with this summer, and have the possibility of going undefeated, that is if we dont tie in at the tower....

RENT!

So I finally saw RENT! The other day...I was kind of excited because "Seasons of Love" is a pretty kick ass song. Low and behold it was the first song...Then it was all down hill from there....Can you say "Liberal Propaganda" kids? The next song goes on to talk about how people refuse to pay last year rent. They give no good reason except for that they don't have the money, and that the landlord was one of them, but then decided to marry a rich girl and get a job, and since he is a sell out they shouldn't have to pay him. It is great to stick it to the man, trust me I do it every chance I get, but these people are adults, out of college, living in the real world. Take some responsibility. Getting a job does not equal selling out. Using common sense is not selling out. Another thing, the one dude freaking killed a dog for money...And what does he do with the money, he spends it on alcohol and then takes everyone and there life partner out for drinks. Why not pay your rent? Why not give it to the homeless that you just "rallied to save"? That one homeless woman hit the ball on the head. Don't act like you know everything and that you way is the only way, and don't freaking make people your cause.

AOL Triton

So I just had some maintence done on my computer, (Hence the long time between posts) and once I get it back, what did I find on my computer, nothing but the Devil himself, AIM Triton. Worst.AIM.Ever. The worst of it is, it is the only version available now anywhere. It installed the fucking AOL browser on my computer, along with all this other shit that i dont only do not need, but can't uninstall seperatly. Basically it comes down to this AOL is Big Brother, and that just really steams my clams

Judas and Faith

As you might know, they just finished translating the "Gospel of Judas", a book dating back 1700 years ago. In this 26 page book, Judas is painted as a figure who is not the bad guy in the passion story, but yet the good guy. Jesus and Judas both planned for Judas to "betray" Jesus, thus living out the prophesy, and "allowing Jesus to escape his physical body". Now of course this story, if ture, would bring in to question the true divinity of Christ, and I think of it as incorrect. the carbon dating puts the book as written in about 300AD, where as Christ and Judas both died in about 29AD. It is believed that this book was written by Gnostic Christians, who lived around the time this was written, and also wrote the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Thomas. Clearly an accurate account of what really happened can't be written 250 years after the fact. Yet due to the word Gnostic attached to this book, most Christians will quickly brush this aside. This is believe is the wrong move. Many Christians aren't the required "Movers and Shakers", most are simply the shakened and moved. To prevent this, they tend to swallow everything told to them by a hire power, instead of looking through things and finding stuff out for themselves. Judas catches a bad name because of this. I mean it was probably God who moved his heart to betray Christ. The Devil had to know that if Christ died, being perfect and free from sin, that he would lose his power of death, so why would he start the process? Judas was just like us, mearly puppets in Gods big plan. It could have been anyone of the 12 diciples, but in true God manner, he picked the more dramatic choice in Judas. See Judas was the treasurer of the apostles, this means that he was the most trusted. A big problem with Christians today is that they will brush my theory off because they arent willing to test or question their faith. But if you don't question your faith, then it isnt faith, just ignorance...thats all i have to say about that

Remember the Little Guys

I find that often we forget about the little guys of the Bible. We don't read from the books of Jude, or the letters from John, or very many other of those small books. For starters, it is easy, since they are small. But more importantly the pack a good punch of inspirational thoughts and wisdom. Here is one of my all time favorites from 1 Timothy 6 11-1, my translation of course:
"But as for you child of God, run away from all of this. Keep your eyes on righteousness, godliness, faith, love, loyalty, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, and hold onto the eternal life granted to you when you gave yourself to Christ. It was infront of God, your creator, and Christ you made the your commitment. You have been charged to keep your life unstained and free from criticism until Christ comes again, and will be made manifest at the proper time by the Ruler of all, King of kings, who alone is immortal, and lives in an unreachable light, never seen by man, not that he could anyway. It is to Him that goes the honor, Amen. "

a nice little nugget I think. I suggest reading 1 Timothy, James and Jude, easily can be done in an afternoon, if not over 2-3 days. and no i cant spell

Dear Barry Bonds

Dear Barry Bonds,
Why do you feel it nessisary to cry on national TV? Do you think it will draw compassion from me? Do you hope it will make me feel sorry that the media has ripped you to shreds? Yes the media, for the most part, are absolute dicks, but for you to be calling them dicks, is like the kettle calling the pot black. You are the one who admitted to a grand jury you did steriods, albeit "unknowingly", but ignorance is never an excuse. You are an adult, you went to college, you should have had knowlege of what you were putting into your body. You have brought this upon yourself my, and it is only now that you relize the consequences of you actions over pretty much your entire career. Be a man and own up to it, don't spin me some sob story of how everyone is trying to bring you down. I have a strange feeling that you are on the same tracks as Mike Tyson and Michael Jackson. I will pray for you Barry Bonds, 'cause where your life is heading, you need all the help you can get.

Who was Christ exactly?

While in Florida, Murph and I had a debate one night that got me thinking. Who exactly was Christ? Was He God? Was He half God, half human? Why did he utter the phrase "Why have You forsaken me?" Recently, I heard a pastor talk about a possible explaintion that also had me thinking. He said that Christ was a human, and lived as a true human should, while we were sub-humans, falling short of the bar Christ has set for us. I don't know how I feel about that. It is an interesting point of view, yet I feel that it cheapen Chirst, and puts into question His devinity. Here is what I think. I think Christ was God in human form. Now this doesn't mean that He was God, or that He was half God, half human, it means simply that he was God in human form. It is hard to explain in words, you kind of have to grasp the concept of how I am thinking, which isn't always an easy feat. It is kind of like He came down, and had 'power', but also had the full range of human emotions to affect His thinking, which would sway His whole persepectives on things. I feel this is why He prays "Why have you forsaken me" on the cross, or why He asks for the cup to be passed from Him. Here the human emotions have shifted His thinking, causing Him to lose focus of the big picture, much like we do everyday. The proof for my crazy whacked out thinking? Two simple words in John, "Jesus wept." John 11:35

Getting the Religion out of the Church

Frankly I am fed up with religion. Mostly the politics that go hand in hand with religion. Being imperfect humans, or even sub-humans (tomorrows blog entry), we tend to let religion and politics blind us about what really needs to be done. In a way, religion only creates space between God and us, and does not bring us closer. I have been thinking about this greatly due to a situation brought about by my mother. Yesterday as I was preparing to leave for church, her and I were going about our respective plans for the day. I told her of an event at the church I was going to be helping out with. Now this was an event that she has helped out with routinly for the last 4 or 5 years, yet this time around she has chosen to boycott it because recently some other volunteers has made negative remarks about a friend of my mother. She was upset that they had gone behind her friends back and spoken unkind words about her, and did not address their problems face to face with the person. Yet my mothers answer is to this whole problem is to complain to me, not to the people who wronged her, and to not attend this event for awhile, thus perpetuating the situation. The only people who are losing here are the kids. I told my mom that it they both need to man up and keep working, or to turn the other cheek, if you will. She says it isnt that easy. Oh, but it is. We as Christians can't be rattled but the nay sayers. Fight the Good Fight. Blessed are those who are perscuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all maners of evil against you, falsley on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you. That the problem with Christians today. The guidlines Chirst lays out for us in the Sermon on the Mount are so easy to follow, yet we let the world cloud our judgement. Being a Christian is no walk in the park, meaning the life style is not one glorified or conidered the "good life" in the world. People today put too much focus on the Religion, and showing their belief in God. We need to shift that focus to the personal relationship between ourselves and God.