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| Hey kids. It's late, and the Horseman is on the prowl, mostly cause he's sick of his Chapter-Only-Reference lists. So he is back, with some more observational ... observations.
I was watching the Colbert Report last night, as I often do, when the subject turned to an issue in Evangelical Christianity. Apparently someone who I believe was named Richard Cizik was appointed to some position like vice-president of the National Evangelical Organization. (I was kinda sleepy, so yeah, my details are a bit sketchy.) God has given to Mr. Cizik a real heart for poverty and environmentalism. So he is, obviously, trying to get these issues resolved. A group of other Evangelicals, James Dobson prominent among them, wrote to Mr. Cizik, and I paraphrase an excerpt from their message: "By focusing on issues such as poverty, healthcare, and environmentalism, you detract from the major issues of our time: Fighting abortion and homosexuality, and teaching abstinence to our children."
I find this appalling. To tell someone, "The good that you are fighting for should be done away with because we think the good we fight for is more important," really shows a lack of understanding of what Jesus meant when he said: "He who is not against you is for you." I have three points I would like to make on this issue:
1. Using our faith to campaign for a moralistic society in which the "unbeliever" is condemned by the body of Christ does not fall in line with the will of Jesus Christ. Paul says in 1 Cor. 5: "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside." Far too often we find "messiahs" springing up in our own days: Christians who dedicate themselves to imposing Christian morals on non-Christian people, so that a "Christian society" may be preserved in this country. (I use the term "messiahs" because just as Jesus was expected, as Messiah, to liberate the people of God from their oppressive society and restore the people their kingdom, so these people try to "liberate" the church from its fallen world and make their nation "Christian" by imposing morality through legislation.) Newsflash to these people: God always intended that a Christian society remain in every country. But not the government: The church! We are called to keep ourselves in line with God's commands in order to be the body of Christ to the hurting world, not to somehow impose that task upon a body unwilling at best, and depraved at most realistic. Christ came to create servants, not ethically good politicians.
2. A defense of truth done in a non-loving manner may destroy our witness and prove we are willing to fight for truths we will not obey. 1 Cor. 13:1 says, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." Sadly this is what we hear so often today from the church: A repetitive and tired voice saying over and over again, "Unless you do such and such, you cannot be saved." Now it is true that given today's pluralistic Postmodern views, we must now more than ever stand by the truth and declare it to the world. But our obedience to God in one respect does not give us a free pass to disobey in another. When he says, "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near," he isn't saying, "Oh, be nice, cause we shouldn't give people a hard time about morals." The Lord never advocated pluralism. But he is saying that he is with us every day as we walk out, claiming to bear his name. He stands with us as we represent him, and if we lose a message of gentleness, to the point of holding the meekness of a sheep walking to be slaughtered, we are liars in who we profess to be sent by and what we claim to hold. The issues Dobson and the rest advocate are issues they have probably never struggled with. By condemning those who practice them at the expense of love, they become prototypes of Christians who would rather fight than love and would be sooner found condemning the wicked than having mercy on them.
3. Finally, teaching a moral code to a people without a life-changing relationship with Jesus is metaphorically equivalent to casting pearls before swine. I tend to sympathize with the issues Cizik advocates because he wants society to focus on improvements to benefit all, not laws to restrict the unbelievers. Healthcare, environmental protection, and poverty relief benefit the many. The issues Dobson addresses just throw morals out to those who have eaten nothing but dirt all their lives. Let me give an example from my own life. I have struggled with masturbation for three years now. (Note: I'm ashamed of this, but I am not too scared to say it here, for multiple reasons, among which is the fact that if you know a teenage boy, odds have been calculated as 1/10,000 that he doesn't struggle with it. So I'm not alone. Which, for the sake of everyone else, I wish I were, but it's nice to not be alone sometimes. Also, ironically, masturbation is the one sexual sin that Dobson has never seemed to speak out against, going so far as to say it's okay for teenage guys, which is a lie.) After I figured out, "Hey, Griffin, this is kinda screwing up your life," I tried desparately to quit, at one point even saying I would kill myself if I hadn't quit within a year. I did not succeed. Why? My guess is that at that time I had very little, if any, relationship with Jesus Christ. I barely prayed, read the Bible, or showed any interest into getting to know God and becoming like him. I just didn't want to do something I thought was wrong. I didn't have the desire to know Christ passionately and be conformed to him. And so I made no progress. I think God put these struggles in my path so that I would come to the realization that morality alone cannot even be moral. We know we ought to be good, but we can't even succeed in goodness for its own sake. We must be filled with the Spirit and claim the mind of Christ. (As a side note, I do still struggle in the aforementioned area; however, I have found that the more I seek Christ and pray for strength and wisdom, the more I can stand up. We'll see.) But this is why it is so foolish to try to judge the world: They don't submit to our judge, nor do they have the assistance in doing right that comes from God, a refuge, strength, and ever-present help in times of trouble.
Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Passed over by Roman authority, he cheated and stole to earn his income. And yet, when shown nothing more than the love of God in a dinner invitation, he felt convicted of sin and was compelled to try to become right with God. We should imitate Jesus' example: Love the lost, and then leave the rest to God working in that person's heart.
Griffin
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| This will be my fourth post in exactly two months. I should get through two here today. Hopefully.
At seminary, we were talking about this passage:
For I do not want you to
be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under
the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
I memorized this passage for quizzing a long time ago. I heard "Jesus = rock", and after that I didn't pay much attention. Oh, and I also found that saying "indulge in pagan revelry" is really fun. But the meaning of this passage never sunk in. I wasn't really sure who it was talking to, and I didn't really care much at the age of ten. But now I'm making it up to Paul. How? By writing this post.
The fascinating thing is, when I looked at what this passage, it's written for us. The youth group kids, the quizzers, the people who grow up with loving parents and a great knowledge of God. These are the people we're talking about, so to the point to say: "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!"
First of all, the passage, based on the insertion of the word "for", has relation to what precedes it: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.Everyone
who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get
a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last
forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No,
I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to
others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. So part of the idea of 1 Cor 10:1-5 is: "Be careful about this. While running this race for God, you won't be able to rely on religious convention to guard your life. The Israelites tried that and it didn't work. So control yourself."
1 Cor 10:6-13 bear this out: Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do
not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people
sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These
things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings
for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No
temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is
faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But
when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can
stand up under it. This passage should be a warning to us who are in church every Sunday morning but don't honor him by eliminating wrongdoing from our lives. The Israelites, according to the passage, were united under the leadership of Moses and had a community spirit based on their experiences. They had experienced the miraculous provision of God, and they had Christ working to serve them constantly. But with all this, they were not pleasing to God. They weren't running their races; they had shown up to sit on the sidelines eating hot dogs. (Wait...they were Jewish...maybe not...) Why weren't they pleasing to God? Why weren't they running the races? Because they chose to participate in cheap sex, idols, grumbling, and testing God instead. They failed to break the sin that so easily entangles, and so "their bodies were scattered over the desert." They chose instead to try to get through on religious experience, and it failed.
So what does this mean for us? Well, it means first that you can't get by on a faith that's not your own. James 2 talks about the characteristics of real faith -- works. God's grace will affect you if it is in your life. If you're walking with God, it should show. If your faith is the faith that took a knee at a youth retreat and then went home to resume gossiping about your friends, being angry or unloving towards your family, and not giving God a second's thought, then I don't see the works in that faith. It means that we have to rely on God and walk with him to get us through the sin the world can offer. Note that it doesn't say "God made a way out, you just have to find it." It says God will provide a way out. This implies that to overcome temptation and so avoid the examples of the Israelites, you need to constantly be in prayer! By the time it comes, God will have the way to tell you, but if you don't have the relationship, you won't know how to ask. You can't stand up on your own. We need our Savior.
I'll end this with the following passage, vs. 14-17: Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is
not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in
the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation
in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. Flee from idolatry? Well, if we're fleeing idolatry, then conversely we should also be loving God with every ounce of our hearts, souls, and minds. And then, we are one body. Because we can give thanks for our salvation together in Christ, act like one body. How? By loving your neighbor as yourself. This is what false faith lacks, and what only God can help us to do: Love him with everything we've got, and love our neighbors as ourselves. That is the kind of race we should run, and that is the kind of life we should live.
Griffin
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| "It happens at a wonderful age,
with the traffic lights your mind can change.
We made up rules to follow for good;
No wonder [they're] f*cked up, some of [them] did."
-Andriano, If We Never Go Inside
That song above is a nice intro to something that kinda pissed me off in history class. We were talking about 20's fashion, and I guess the miniskirt was created in that time period. Now, I, of course, had been really tired last night even before staying up until three, so I got there only at the end of the discussion. But when I did finally arrive (quite late), I heard one girl say, "So one of my friends came over and was helping me get dressed (?!) for this party, and she said, 'Hey, you should wear a miniskirt! All the guys would be looking at you...' So I said okay..." It went on, but by that point I was no longer interested. That is one of the dumbest, most stupid things I have ever heard.
Before I say anything else, I want to say that I am all for personal sexual accountability, especially for guys, being myself...a guy. I am not very good at it, but I am for it. So to everyone who constantly whines and complains that their own lust is someone else's fault for wearing tight shirts, miniskirts, or anything else; you are a loser. Shut your mouth and start praying that God would help you overcome. You won't be tempted past your breaking point unless you change that point. And also, part of the immodesty is our fault, just as part of our lust is indirectly on them. We have set standards in the world that should never be set. We made rules to follow; well, some girls are, and it's screwing up what God intended.
That said, I want to talk about the skirt thing in two ways -- first, loving your neighbor, and second, loving yourself. First, think about it -- if those guys are looking at you, they probably aren't doing it in wonder at you being the most awesome girl ever, which is what real love is. Those guys probably aren't interested in you; except for possibly your legs, etc. Now those guys shouldn't do that, but many will. Cause people are imperfect, and often choose lust over purity. We are told not to cause anyone to stumble. If there is such a thing as modesty, there is such a thing as immodesty. Don't cross the line. Help a brother out.
But also, those guys really don't care about you much. You may get all the looks for a while, but if you have to whore yourself out (essentially, that's what it is -- matching someone else's standards on a conditional "love") to get it, is it worth it for you? Like I said, that guy probably doesn't care about the actual you. Assuming you're not just trying to "dress to impress", assuming you actually care what guys think of you other than as a collection of body parts, then you're not getting anywhere. In the wise words of Hannah Crabbs: "Modest is hottest." You won't get the one night stand, but hey, who really wants one anyway? Believe it or not, guys do care about your personality. And I know that guys are not stereotypically portrayed so nobly, but hey, God made everyone to want love, and that really and truly doesn't equate to sex in the minds of most guys. Guys are impressed by character, and even if they aren't, God is. Are you doing this to please the mind of some hormonal teenager who will follow you around all night stalker-ish-ly? That would be pretty sad. As the Bible says, "You are not your own. Honor God with your body." I recognize that guys should take care of themselves. So don't do it for us. Do it for your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so that you can become the awesome person he wants you to be.
I realize this has been kinda opinionated on a situation I don't fully understand. I have never been a girl, but I know what it's like to try to honor God in the midst of temptation. So as the wonderful apostle Paul says, in one of my favorite verses in the Bible:
"Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
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| Okay, so I was thinking about this, but after Jason Tate, the main man behind absolutepunk.net, where I heard about this and where I posted it, called my post "Quite possibly one of the better posts I've - ever - read on this website...", I thought you should take a look. It refers to a website identified as "lovegodsway.org", in which the author denounces homosexuals as people hated by God, states categorically that the only Christian political opinion is Conservative Republican, and has links to similar sites by the founder, one of which containing a music video for a song, the chorus of which I quote: "God hates f*gs, God hates a f*g, God hates f*gs, if you're a f*g, he hates you too." My response follows.
Their site name is something they fail to understand. What does it mean
to "love God's way"? To only screw women? What would Jesus screw? Well,
as best we can know, Jesus didn't screw anyone. So how can we love
God's way? Well, Jesus says in John 14:15: "If you love me, you will
obey what I command." So to love God, how can we obey what he commands
in the Bible? Let's see:
"I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral
people -- not at all meaning the people of this world who are
immoral...In that case you would have to leave this world...What
business is it of mine to judge those outside of the church? Are you
not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside." (1 Cor.
5:9-10, 12-13)
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge
others, you too will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will
be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your
brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How
can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,'
when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite,
first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly
to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Matt. 7:1-5)
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what
is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may
benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Spirit of God, with
whom you were sealed for redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage
and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be
kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in
Christ God forgave you." (Eph. 4:29-32)
So we are commanded in love not to judge the people of the
world, because God knows their hearts and will take care of them. We
are to make sure those who call themselves Christians back it up by
loving God and neighbor. We are not to judge people, or in other words,
to condemn them for sin when we do not know their hearts. (Note: We are
still to recognize sin and say it is wrong. But to call people hated by
God is another thing altogether. We are not to damn anyone.) We are,
however, to watch our mouths to make sure everything that comes out of
them does so in compassionate love.
I am a Christian. And I am even a Christian who thinks that
homosexuality is wrong. But I think far more wrong are those who judge
people they have no business judging on issues that they have no
business talking about. But this appears to be just another part of the
Moral Majority "All Christians Must Be Republican and Conservative,
Think That Killing Unborn Children Is More Terrible Than Sending Our
Sons Overseas To Be Killed, and Think That Homosexuality Is Worse For
Our Country Than The Lack of a Universal Healthcare Plan" movement.
(See the "Why Now" section of the website if you think this sounds like
a conspiracy theory.)
In conclusion, love is what God calls us to. To limit the occasions for
our sexual passion; yes, God's love doesn't stop him from denouncing
murder, jealousy, slander, pride, greed, and many other wrongs, and so
ours shouldn't either, but more importantly in my opinion, we must give
brotherly love to all those around us. God doesn't hate homosexual
people; God is not willing that any should perish but that all should
come to him and be saved! May God bless you all, and may God, far from
hating anyone, have mercy on me, a sinner, and give each of us our
daily bread to fight hatred and love everyone as Christ loved us, so
that when people see us, they will taste "and see that the Lord is
good."
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| Well. I have eschewed a New Year's post until now (assuming I remember what "eschew" means). Here it is. Also, as a note, happy new year to all of you, in case I don't get back around to it. (And if I didn't get you a Christmas present yet, yell at me.)
What did I do the past year? Hmm. It was rather notable stuff, at least some of it:
- I joined a band. This was pretty awesome. I always wanted to be playing music with other people, as I enjoy it a ton myself. I found a couple guys who are into some hardcore stuff, and we decided that's what we wanted to do together. We haven't had many things go our way regarding practice space, members, or much else, but we're still together and we still play when possible.
- My team won Internationals. This was incredible. I knew at some point that we could do it, but we always seemed to end up on the very front of the outside looking in - fourth and fifth. Well, this time we took it. I didn't win it personally again, but it didn't matter. My best friend in the world took it on his way out. I mean, come on - who wants to kill the Cinderella story? Our team was a group of individuals who really clicked, and we took it all the way (West PA).
- I found the girl of my dreams (at the time). This is never a bad thing, although it ended up being hard and rather wrong in the end. But at the time, this basically culminated tons and tons of time spent thinking, planning, and praying...and my prayers were seemingly answered...for a while...you all, of course, know how this ended up.
- I took the PSATs and almost certainly made National Merit Scholars. This was kind of an "Okay, look, your parents really do think you're awesome" moment. And, believe it or not, I don't have many of those. (Another one was when my team won Nationals.) Also, it means I'm basically going to be able to do what I want with my life. That is a pretty great feeling.
- I began to care about God again. I read stuff again. The Bible and other stuff...I pray, though not as much as I should...This is stuff I didn't care much about in 2005. Daniel is owed majorly for all of this. At the same time, Peter Kreeft got me interested in philosophy, and he did it on audiobook, so I'm grateful to him.
I could go on for a bit about how I got to know people more (Daniel - Rogue Theology Professor/Older Brother, Sarah - Me: Now With Cussing!, Hannah Crabbs - Sheena as a Folk Rocker, John Daigle - Attractive Has Never Been So Attractive, etc.), how I did stuff with quizzing or music, how I slept all summer, and stuff like that, but that's not really the point. Let's talk about meaning.
I have been having vague feelings of purposelessness for about two weeks now. Not for any major reason as regards circumstances, just kinda happened. When looking back on all the stuff that happened this past year, I realize that, as good as all of it was, none of it has really affected me enough to be able to say, "This has been meaningful to my life." Now if you had asked me when the year began about those scenarios and said, "Do you think this will give you ultimate meaning?", I would of course have said no. *in pre-teen girl voice* Jesus does that, omg!
The point is that even though I wouldn't have told you that meaning is found in those things, I always assumed I would find it there. You can say Jesus is everything, but I wonder how many people really believe it. How many people can walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, and tell Jesus, "I can have joy and purpose even now because you are in my life." I don't say this to be condescending (heaven knows); I am not one of those people.
So anyway, all this has made me realize that I still suck at this. I still suck at learning how to live. I still am terrible at loving Jesus. Every time I see on a blog site in the person's interests column something like, "I love my Lord and savior Jesus Christ," I am filled with a severe desire to comment with, "I'm so happy for you. Teach me. Because, you know, that means you obey Him. That means you do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before your God. That means you are daily being poured out as a drink offering, and being conformed to the likeness of your savior. If so, congratulations. Teach me." It costs a great deal to be able to say that you love Jesus, and I'm sure that in some cases, he has to disagree. Then again, maybe that means I suck at being sympathetic to people. The worst part could be that I'm into everything I hate, and I'm not sure whether I hate it because God is conforming me, or because of a natural hatred of the past.
Anyway, this year should be interesting. Let's see if I can find meaning. God knows he's told me where to find it. My prayer life and Bible study (cause that's what devotions are; not an abstract "I need to feel devoted"; God is showing you how to fight) can get more and more regular, till, in true "hunger and thirst for righteousness" thing, I do it more than I eat...Never. I can get closer to my friends. Philia is the greatest thing in the world. It's pretty neat. This band thing can keep going and get bigger. It turns out I'm now in a worship band too. Girls and I are enemies right now (in that sense), but hey...eventually, maybe. (Not that that's a big deal.) School is going well, and that should develop further after the SAT happens. Anyway.
If you read through all of this, philia to you. That must be where meaning is in life - writing reflective xanga posts.
The Headless Horseman
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