Stereotype: a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group:
Profiling: the use of personal characteristics or behavior patterns to make generalizations about a person
These terms are pretty much always used in a negative context as if they are wrong, but if we're honest, we all do it. It's how we process our world. We make an instant judgement about a person on sight. We then can choose what we do with it, but there is a first impression that we all have based on similar situations we've encountered previously. If guys in cowboy hats have always called you ma'am or sir, the next cowboy hat you see, you will probably expect the same. We recognize patterns and create expectations based on those patterns.
I believe this is an important issue to be aware of when we consider how we present ourselves to the world around us. Let us look at the hip hop/rap culture. These boys that dress like gangsters/ thugs give off a certain expectation about their character. When one chooses to align with a music scene that promotes violence, drugs, crime, sexual violence, promiscuity, lack of respect for authority and who knows what else.... I personally am going to be much more inclined to not trust them. I don't know why anyone would like listening to all that if they didn't aspire to that lifestyle. That is just my opinion, but isn't that what we're talking about here? It is my opinion that one will primarily choose to fill their eyes and ears with things that align with their moral standards.
This has been on my mind with the current news line. I have not intentionally looked at anything related to the Ferguson case, just heard the bare bones basic idea, so I won't pretend to know anything about it. (as if watching the news really tells us anything about anything) I'm just thinking that this isn't new. We hear stories often about authority figures abusing people, be it cops or teachers, and the news creates this huge hoopla about it and incites the people to riot. It is something that I am trying to be understanding about. I am not saying it is right, but I feel like I understand how it happens and that the authority figures aren't really the problem.
I remember an incident back in middle school where a teacher grabbed a student by the throat and pushed him out in the hallway and up against the wall in anger. I realize now that wasn't ok, but at the time, I think we all thought the kid deserved it. He was always acting up and being a turd. No one liked him. He pushed the teacher to the breaking point. Years later I heard another teacher that I really liked had been suspended and accused of slapping a student. I'd been in his class for 3 years, he was a great guy, so my thought again was, what that kid must've done to push the teacher to that point. My point is that cops and teachers deal with troublesome individuals on a daily basis. The growing number of punks that just smart off and fight back is something I would never be able to deal with. I would totally want to slap them around. Think about it. How much disrespect could you take? I'm surprised more of them don't snap.
So back to my original word, the cops have for sure got a certain idea in their head about how these punks will behave, and that includes pulling a gun. If I'm an officer facing off with someone that looks like every other punk I've dealt with, the threat of a weapon coming out is running on red alert. Have you ever had a gun pulled on you? These cops have I'm sure. A few months ago I just happened to drive right past a situation where a cop shootout was happening and I know what happened inside of me. My racing heart, shaking hands, two hours trying to calm down, not thinking straight .... How much time do you have to make a decision in that situation? I would never want to be in their shoes.
I hope we as a nation can learn to have some compassion. Yes, bad things happen, mistakes are made, but we all make them. Can we choose to not vilify cops when one of them makes a mistake (or alleged mistake)? Can we try to understand their circumstances? Can we forgive? If you can't forgive others their mistakes, how can you ever expect yours to be forgiven? Can we address the real problem? Can we seek to provide resources for the cops to turn to when the stress builds up so they don't snap? Can we acknowledge how much crap they deal with on a daily basis and give them our respect for doing it?
And secondly, how are you presenting yourself to the world? I would venture a guess that not all black people are automatically suspected of being criminals, but only those who dress and act in a way that lumps them in with the sector that is. If you associate yourself with criminals, don't whine when you are assumed to be one at first glance. Realize that stereotypes exist and you will be treated as such on first impression, just as you do it to others.
And lastly, let us do our best to get to know people beyond first impressions. They might surprise you. I'm challenging myself on this one, I'm not very good at this myself. :)
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The Woman Caught in Adultery
I have often thought of this story found in John 8 and thought that it may be the most important passage that begs us to reflect upon our own lives.
For anyone who doesn't know, the religious leaders catch a woman in the act of adultery and they bring her to Jesus in an attempt to find another excuse to accuse Him. They remind Jesus that the law says she should be stoned to death. Jesus tells them, ok, whoever of you is without sin can throw the first stone. The religious leaders all leave the scene. Jesus, the only sinless one present, tells the woman that He doesn't condemn her, she should go and sin no more.
I think it shows us three different groups we might fit into, and I think we can probably find ourselves in all 3 at some point in our life. What can we learn from each group?
1 - The "sinner" -- We've all been here. The wages of sin is death, and we've received a pardon. Consider the gratefulness this woman would have felt in this moment immediately following a horrible shame and fear filled situation as she receives the grace of Jesus. It is good to remember where we have come from and thank God often for His grace and mercy on us. It was the greatest love that Christ died for us while we were still His enemies.
2 - The religious -- The Pharisees are always the bad guys in the Bible, but oh how often I have been them, or I run into people standing in their shoes? Self-righteousness is such an easy trap to fall into. How quickly we can forget that we too were sinners and Christ saved our butts. We turn our nose up at people who don't do the things we do, or do the things we do not do. We love to cry out for their blood. We love to see those who do wrong get what's coming to them. Oh the hypocrisy! I would recommend that we all examine our own attitudes often to see if we are falling into this pit. The world won't see our love if they first see our judgement and spite.
3 - Jesus -- Of course we all want to think that we'd be like Jesus in this story. Jesus sees our hearts and He knows the hurts and lies that have assaulted us. He wants more than anything to restore us to our created ideal. Justice for Him is to see us healed and delivered from the enslavement of sin. He was the only one in the story that had the right to stone her, but He chose to love on her instead. We never hear what happened to her, but I would guess that her life took a drastic turn after that incident. I want to be the person that loves people that do things I don't do, things I don't think are right. I want to see past the surface and see the heart. Jesus sees our golden centers and He calls us up into that path. We, as His disciples must learn to do the same. The world has enough hurt and judgement and hate, we don't need to add to it. The kindness of God is what leads us to repentance. Let us strive to be more like Jesus.
For anyone who doesn't know, the religious leaders catch a woman in the act of adultery and they bring her to Jesus in an attempt to find another excuse to accuse Him. They remind Jesus that the law says she should be stoned to death. Jesus tells them, ok, whoever of you is without sin can throw the first stone. The religious leaders all leave the scene. Jesus, the only sinless one present, tells the woman that He doesn't condemn her, she should go and sin no more.
I think it shows us three different groups we might fit into, and I think we can probably find ourselves in all 3 at some point in our life. What can we learn from each group?
1 - The "sinner" -- We've all been here. The wages of sin is death, and we've received a pardon. Consider the gratefulness this woman would have felt in this moment immediately following a horrible shame and fear filled situation as she receives the grace of Jesus. It is good to remember where we have come from and thank God often for His grace and mercy on us. It was the greatest love that Christ died for us while we were still His enemies.
2 - The religious -- The Pharisees are always the bad guys in the Bible, but oh how often I have been them, or I run into people standing in their shoes? Self-righteousness is such an easy trap to fall into. How quickly we can forget that we too were sinners and Christ saved our butts. We turn our nose up at people who don't do the things we do, or do the things we do not do. We love to cry out for their blood. We love to see those who do wrong get what's coming to them. Oh the hypocrisy! I would recommend that we all examine our own attitudes often to see if we are falling into this pit. The world won't see our love if they first see our judgement and spite.
3 - Jesus -- Of course we all want to think that we'd be like Jesus in this story. Jesus sees our hearts and He knows the hurts and lies that have assaulted us. He wants more than anything to restore us to our created ideal. Justice for Him is to see us healed and delivered from the enslavement of sin. He was the only one in the story that had the right to stone her, but He chose to love on her instead. We never hear what happened to her, but I would guess that her life took a drastic turn after that incident. I want to be the person that loves people that do things I don't do, things I don't think are right. I want to see past the surface and see the heart. Jesus sees our golden centers and He calls us up into that path. We, as His disciples must learn to do the same. The world has enough hurt and judgement and hate, we don't need to add to it. The kindness of God is what leads us to repentance. Let us strive to be more like Jesus.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Heroes, villains, courage, and morality
The other day at work I was asked a question by one of my teammates. Basically, what is the appeal of Superman if he's invulnerable and you already know he'll win any fight? It took me a minute to be able to answer that question, and I've continued pondering many rabbit trails off that main thought. I will share some ideas with you.
I think about the kind of movies I seem to enjoy the most. They are the ones with superheroes, or just regular heroes. Stories of someone who stands up and chooses to risk it all for the sake of others. With the supers obviously the risk seems smaller, but it's still inspiring.
Superman is fairly hard to kill or even hurt, so what risk is he taking? This brings me to something I've been noticing in the movies that I am still chewing on. The villain will often allude to the fact that the love the hero has for the people is his weakness. That doesn't sit well with me because love is the greatest thing of all. Love is the ultimate source of power, not weakness. But still there is a truth in what the villain is pointing out. He has no scruples. In his quest to win, he will destroy anything he can in order to hurt the hero. He begins to throw buses at civilians because he knows the hero will rush to save them and give him a chance to escape or get another advantage. The hero must always be mindful of the people around him and that slows him down and distracts his focus. An interesting conundrum. It is fun for me to ponder situations where the right choice isn't always clear. To choose your priorities in the moment can be difficult.
The other issue that I find the most fun to explore, is that of morality. Right and wrong are not always black and white. The most interesting stories to me are those which explore the grey areas. Man of Steel SPOILER following. ...................................................................................................... .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................. There was some controversy about this movie when at the end Superman killed General Zod. They argued that Superman was supposed to be good and not kill anyone. It was a good dilemma, but I think he did the only thing he could do. The man clearly stated that he would continue killing humans until he was stopped. Is it moral to allow that in order to not kill this one man? ................................................... ........................................................................................................................................... .......... ....................................................................................... ..........................................................................
I also think about the Machine Gun Preacher, a real man portrayed in a movie by Gerard Butler. He went to Africa because he learned of how the rebels were taking children and turning them into soldiers. This is possibly the most horrific thing happening in our world today. He took his skills from his past as a pretty bad man and he went after these evil soldiers. Some would accuse him of being a murderer and not a Christian. I don't know. This is a hard one. We want to say what Jesus said, turn the other cheek.... but that isn't going to end the problem, you'll just end up dead most likely. Then the children would still be taken. Is this "preacher" a hero or a villain? Still chewing on that one. Again we have the issue of priorities. Is it more important to protect children from that much harm or to not kill one evil man?
I love stories of people who have courage and stand up for what is right. How they go about it is the thrill of the story. Some do it with violence, which gives us an intriguing moral question.... some do it by simply standing up in rebellion against corruption. They stop doing what they're told, they come up with new ideas and they lead others into a new way. Each time I leave a hero movie, be it Superman, Captain America, Divergent, or most recently The Maze Runner, I am inspired to be more courageous, to stand up for what is right, no matter the risk.
Every situation calls on us to pull from our moral foundation and that is why I spend so much time pondering. It is best to know what you believe before you're in a situation. When adrenaline kicks in it's too late to decide what you believe. I believe God's word is true. I believe that He gave us a code for right and wrong, but in the grey, we have to rely on Holy Spirit to guide our choices. He built us to live an adventurous life running alongside Him as He works in the Earth. I was born to be a hero...... and so were you! Will you accept the challenge?
I think about the kind of movies I seem to enjoy the most. They are the ones with superheroes, or just regular heroes. Stories of someone who stands up and chooses to risk it all for the sake of others. With the supers obviously the risk seems smaller, but it's still inspiring.
Superman is fairly hard to kill or even hurt, so what risk is he taking? This brings me to something I've been noticing in the movies that I am still chewing on. The villain will often allude to the fact that the love the hero has for the people is his weakness. That doesn't sit well with me because love is the greatest thing of all. Love is the ultimate source of power, not weakness. But still there is a truth in what the villain is pointing out. He has no scruples. In his quest to win, he will destroy anything he can in order to hurt the hero. He begins to throw buses at civilians because he knows the hero will rush to save them and give him a chance to escape or get another advantage. The hero must always be mindful of the people around him and that slows him down and distracts his focus. An interesting conundrum. It is fun for me to ponder situations where the right choice isn't always clear. To choose your priorities in the moment can be difficult.
The other issue that I find the most fun to explore, is that of morality. Right and wrong are not always black and white. The most interesting stories to me are those which explore the grey areas. Man of Steel SPOILER following. ...................................................................................................... .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................. There was some controversy about this movie when at the end Superman killed General Zod. They argued that Superman was supposed to be good and not kill anyone. It was a good dilemma, but I think he did the only thing he could do. The man clearly stated that he would continue killing humans until he was stopped. Is it moral to allow that in order to not kill this one man? ................................................... ........................................................................................................................................... .......... ....................................................................................... ..........................................................................
I also think about the Machine Gun Preacher, a real man portrayed in a movie by Gerard Butler. He went to Africa because he learned of how the rebels were taking children and turning them into soldiers. This is possibly the most horrific thing happening in our world today. He took his skills from his past as a pretty bad man and he went after these evil soldiers. Some would accuse him of being a murderer and not a Christian. I don't know. This is a hard one. We want to say what Jesus said, turn the other cheek.... but that isn't going to end the problem, you'll just end up dead most likely. Then the children would still be taken. Is this "preacher" a hero or a villain? Still chewing on that one. Again we have the issue of priorities. Is it more important to protect children from that much harm or to not kill one evil man?
I love stories of people who have courage and stand up for what is right. How they go about it is the thrill of the story. Some do it with violence, which gives us an intriguing moral question.... some do it by simply standing up in rebellion against corruption. They stop doing what they're told, they come up with new ideas and they lead others into a new way. Each time I leave a hero movie, be it Superman, Captain America, Divergent, or most recently The Maze Runner, I am inspired to be more courageous, to stand up for what is right, no matter the risk.
Every situation calls on us to pull from our moral foundation and that is why I spend so much time pondering. It is best to know what you believe before you're in a situation. When adrenaline kicks in it's too late to decide what you believe. I believe God's word is true. I believe that He gave us a code for right and wrong, but in the grey, we have to rely on Holy Spirit to guide our choices. He built us to live an adventurous life running alongside Him as He works in the Earth. I was born to be a hero...... and so were you! Will you accept the challenge?
Monday, August 11, 2014
Hollywood Suicide
Today broke our hearts as we heard the news that one of our favorite funny men apparently took his own life after a battle with depression. We are all saddened by this tragic news.
Suicides and drug overdoses seem to be happening more and more often in Hollywood. This is the 4th I know of in less than a year of people who are still working, on top of their game so to speak. They aren't has beens, they aren't down and out. They are "successful" people. I'm thinking of Cory Monteith, Lee Thompson Young, Philip Seymour Hoffman and now Robin Williams, all within the last year. I don't recall this ever happening this much all at once. It begs the question: Why?!?
I think the obvious one is that money and fame don't bring happiness, but I think we all know that. I began to dig deeper, and this is something that came to mind and I believe it applies to us all. I hope that my words will touch hearts where there is pain and bring a bit of hope.
These celebrities are known world wide and adored by fans, loved even, you might say. But is it really the love that is needed? I am a big fan of movies and stars, but when I say I love one of them, what am I really saying? We love how they look (which they know they can't hold onto forever), or I love this character or that character. We love them for who they pretend to be or for things that are fleeting. This phenomenon applies to us all really. How often have we 'put on a face' or acted how we thought was required just to "fit in" and "be liked" ? I think we all realize at some point that those people don't really like us because that's not us. When I become what you want me to be so that you'll like me..... you don't like me. You like who I pretend to be. We feel more and more lonely and unloved the more we pretend.
Loneliness is a huge issue among us humans. We are surrounded by people and yet we are lonely. Only when we are able to be real with the people in our lives can we really begin to believe we are truly loved. I know that I have felt lonely most of my life. I knew there were two sides to me and I didn't know how to make the real one come out around the people I called friends. I love being around people, and I often am, but I still feel lonely all the time. The people don't really know me. It's not really their fault, I have so many walls around my heart "protecting" me, they can't really find out who I am.
I remember a time many years ago when I contemplated driving my car off a cliff. Not so much to die, but to see if anyone would come visit me in the hospital. That is a sick way to think!! That is not healthy! Thankfully I never did it. How do we know who are friends are? How do we know who really loves us and who has a selfish agenda? If it's hard for us, imagine the multiplication in Hollywood! They have people all around who want to be their friends, but who is real and who just wants to share in the fame and fortune? How can they ever really know? I can see why they may be the loneliest people on the planet. Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside. It makes me so sad to think how empty they must be without knowing if they are truly loved. It makes me sad for all of us who don't know if we are truly loved by anyone.
But there is hope! I met someone 2 yrs ago that broke through those walls and convinced me that I was loved for exactly who I am. She loved me unconditionally at my worst and helped me to see that Jesus loved me too. He wasn't disapproving of me or mad at me for anything I'd done. I've grown a lot these last 2 yrs, the real me has come to the surface much more often. :) The more I hear from Papa God about how He made me and He likes me the way He made me.... the more comfortable and confident I am in who I really am. I am so grateful to have finally been able to see that I have a Creator who loves me for who I am, it makes everything that much easier. If He likes me..... who cares what anyone else thinks? He is my hope. He is my source. He is my Creator, my friend, and my love. He's not some imaginary friend in the sky, He has shown Himself to be so real and so good in my life. In Him I have it all. I still feel lonely a lot, but when I stop and connect with Him, it all fades away and I have joy and life again. Jesus really is the source for Hope and Love. Without Him, we only get a glimpse of what is available. I know that I was blown away when I began to just taste of His goodness and how much love He had for me. I didn't even know it was possible!! No matter what you are facing..... there is always Hope, and His name is Jesus.
Suicides and drug overdoses seem to be happening more and more often in Hollywood. This is the 4th I know of in less than a year of people who are still working, on top of their game so to speak. They aren't has beens, they aren't down and out. They are "successful" people. I'm thinking of Cory Monteith, Lee Thompson Young, Philip Seymour Hoffman and now Robin Williams, all within the last year. I don't recall this ever happening this much all at once. It begs the question: Why?!?
I think the obvious one is that money and fame don't bring happiness, but I think we all know that. I began to dig deeper, and this is something that came to mind and I believe it applies to us all. I hope that my words will touch hearts where there is pain and bring a bit of hope.
These celebrities are known world wide and adored by fans, loved even, you might say. But is it really the love that is needed? I am a big fan of movies and stars, but when I say I love one of them, what am I really saying? We love how they look (which they know they can't hold onto forever), or I love this character or that character. We love them for who they pretend to be or for things that are fleeting. This phenomenon applies to us all really. How often have we 'put on a face' or acted how we thought was required just to "fit in" and "be liked" ? I think we all realize at some point that those people don't really like us because that's not us. When I become what you want me to be so that you'll like me..... you don't like me. You like who I pretend to be. We feel more and more lonely and unloved the more we pretend.
Loneliness is a huge issue among us humans. We are surrounded by people and yet we are lonely. Only when we are able to be real with the people in our lives can we really begin to believe we are truly loved. I know that I have felt lonely most of my life. I knew there were two sides to me and I didn't know how to make the real one come out around the people I called friends. I love being around people, and I often am, but I still feel lonely all the time. The people don't really know me. It's not really their fault, I have so many walls around my heart "protecting" me, they can't really find out who I am.
I remember a time many years ago when I contemplated driving my car off a cliff. Not so much to die, but to see if anyone would come visit me in the hospital. That is a sick way to think!! That is not healthy! Thankfully I never did it. How do we know who are friends are? How do we know who really loves us and who has a selfish agenda? If it's hard for us, imagine the multiplication in Hollywood! They have people all around who want to be their friends, but who is real and who just wants to share in the fame and fortune? How can they ever really know? I can see why they may be the loneliest people on the planet. Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside. It makes me so sad to think how empty they must be without knowing if they are truly loved. It makes me sad for all of us who don't know if we are truly loved by anyone.
But there is hope! I met someone 2 yrs ago that broke through those walls and convinced me that I was loved for exactly who I am. She loved me unconditionally at my worst and helped me to see that Jesus loved me too. He wasn't disapproving of me or mad at me for anything I'd done. I've grown a lot these last 2 yrs, the real me has come to the surface much more often. :) The more I hear from Papa God about how He made me and He likes me the way He made me.... the more comfortable and confident I am in who I really am. I am so grateful to have finally been able to see that I have a Creator who loves me for who I am, it makes everything that much easier. If He likes me..... who cares what anyone else thinks? He is my hope. He is my source. He is my Creator, my friend, and my love. He's not some imaginary friend in the sky, He has shown Himself to be so real and so good in my life. In Him I have it all. I still feel lonely a lot, but when I stop and connect with Him, it all fades away and I have joy and life again. Jesus really is the source for Hope and Love. Without Him, we only get a glimpse of what is available. I know that I was blown away when I began to just taste of His goodness and how much love He had for me. I didn't even know it was possible!! No matter what you are facing..... there is always Hope, and His name is Jesus.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Sin - Maybe not what we thought.
Here is the thing I wrote December 2013 - reposting here as mentioned in previous post.
(This will not be about specific sins.) I know this may stir up controversy, but I've been having my thoughts challenged lately and I wanted to just try to get them out. It may be a bit jumbled, but I just want to share my thoughts and see if anyone else wants to chime in. I'm in process. I am in no way saying the traditional thoughts on sin are wrong, so please no one jump all over me for not including that. I just want to share some other thoughts that I think may be also true. I think it's a both / and as my Pastor Norm always said. :)
I think common thought is that sin is a verb. Our actions are sinful. We do bad things and that is sin. OK, so that is true.... but I'm seeing something beyond that.
We treat sin as this huge thing and imply that if you do something wrong that God will want nothing to do with you, but yet we see Jesus (the perfect representation of God) eating with sinners and hanging out with them all the time. (Luke 15:2 for one)
But look at John 8:34 - Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin -- So now sin has become a noun, it is sort of personified here as some sort of entity that can enslave us. Also in Acts 8:23, Romans 3:9, Romans 7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.
Sin came into the world thru the disobedience of one man.
1 Tim 2:14 - And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
Eve didn't have the sin nature - she walked directly with God and yet when the serpent showed up, she was deceived. She was not a slave to sin, but when it appeared, she followed it. (again personified) The teaching I have heard about this incident was that she was not so much guilty of disobedience, but of following a different master. That was the big no-no.
Acts 13:39-39 tells us that only Jesus can set us free from sin, not the law of Moses. So knowing the law and keeping it doesn't keep us free from sin as some people seem to think. Also Romans 3:20,
In the context of what Jesus did on the cross... Romans 6:6 offers us our freedom from this slavery. The old body ruled by sin is done away with so we are no longer slaves to sin. Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. --- So now we have a choice.
Romans 7 offers up a discourse on being a slave to the sin living inside us and wanting to do good but failing. This is the battle we are all familiar with. We believe one thing and often find ourselves doing the opposite.
Romans 8:3 - For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,
1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. -- That's a tough one, but if you look at being born of God as a continual lifelong process, you could say that certain areas are not yet born of God.
OK - those are a bunch of passages I found to sort of get to my point. I don't think I found the one that directly said what I was thinking though. (I've been thinking on this for awhile, but for this blog I just searched sin on a Bible site)
So if sin is more of an outside influence, and without Christ we are a slave to it, then when Jesus died to set us free from sin, He went to war against this "entity" called sin. It is a deceiver who is constantly trying to trick us or convince us that God's way is not the best way. He's been at it for a very long time and is pretty good at his lies.
Bill Johnson has said that "it is impossible for a Christian to sin apart from believing a lie." That is a controversial statement to church people I'm sure, but I think it is true. If we have been born again, then the Bible says we have been set free from the power of sin, and it says we will not continue to sin if we're born of God. So is the Bible wrong? Or is our understanding wrong? If I look really closely at my life and my sins, I have to agree with Bill.
How about when Jesus was being tempted by Satan. He was offered good things, things that were meant for Him to have, but Satan offered shortcuts to those good things. He offered another path. Basically implying that God's way isn't the best way. Kind of the same thing he said to Eve.
Why do we fear the future? Because we are believing a lie that says God won't protect us and doesn't have the best plan for us. Almost always, I can see that beneath it all, the excuses, the fears, is the idea that God isn't really good. If we truly believed 100% that God is good in every situation, we would never sin. We would walk according to the Spirit as we were initially intended. God started off this whole world with 2 people in a Garden just hanging out with Him all day. They broke that by listening to another voice. Things got harder for humanity after that. Jesus restored us to the possibility of constant connection to Father.
Jesus died to claim victory over the power of sin, to give us the reconnect we needed to live the way He intended.
If all this is true, why are we always shouting at "sinners" to change their ways? They can't. Apart from relationship with Jesus, they can't change. A few will try and succeed, but for the most part, they don't have the power to break free of sin on their own.
I still sin in my life, and I am constantly in search of the truth that will set me free. I believe God enough to be convinced that His way is better than mine, but I still struggle to trust Him completely, therefore I still sin. When I do I try to see the lie, or have the body of Christ help me to find the lie. We are meant to live in community for this very reason I believe. To help each other see where we are deceived. That's the nature of deception. We can't see it. Victory comes in being connected to the body in which we are placed.
Sin is our enemy, not our actions. To win the battles we must seek Jesus and His truth instead of focusing on the sin. We give it power when we focus on it (not to mention coming under condemnation - which is not of God). I learned that the hard way, suffering for 15 yrs completely focused on one area of my life that was not ok with me. When I finally got the memo to focus on Jesus, that thing has just fallen away and disappeared!! What if we all were able to do that and help others to do it? Hmmmm.... I think that is the message of the gospel. Focus on Jesus, seek first the Kingdom, and sin will pass away and we will have the life we were meant to have. :)
Again, this is my thoughts in process. I am not claiming it to be ultimate truth, just pondering and trying to find truth. I welcome input.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Stop the War!
I try to avoid the news, it just makes me angry. So much of it these days is some LGBT issue or another. There are two sides to this issue and it's really messy. Both sides feel persecuted, both sides are angry. It's an all out brawl at this point. When will it end? I'm so tired of reading all the hateful comments coming from both sides. What is this accomplishing? Is war what we want? Or is there another way?
I was thinking on this while I was waiting for my first call last night. I wrote this on a scrap of paper:
If "Christians" hadn't been so gun-ho in the past in singling out one type of sin to pour out all their hatred upon, maybe we wouldn't be under such attack now. When you bully someone long enough, eventually they come back fists flying, and sometimes they've taken up new advanced strategies of combat.
I do not agree with Christians who wave picket signs and chant hatred and point out sin. That is not Christlike. I never saw Jesus holding picket signs in the Bible, I never saw him standing on a street corner yelling that only certain sinners were going to hell. This activity is not in line with the character of Jesus that I see in my Bible. I wish I could apologize on behalf of God for all these people who are basically just acting like jerks. I see no benefit to this type of behavior.
Now the tables have turned, the people that were once singled out for this hatred have come back swinging and are now attacking the "Christians" for their beliefs, beating them over the head with new laws and cultural standards, demanding that they comply or be ruined. I don't think this is right either. But I get it. Some will claim they are being persecuted for their faith, but I think mostly they're being persecuted for being jerks.
We are all a part of some group or another, we identify ourselves with labels. Do you ever fully agree with 100% of other people who carry the same label? I don't. The issue I would like to address here is to encourage us all to get to know people as individuals instead of making assumptions based on a particular label they carry. I know, I know, we don't like labels, but we all still do it. That person is white, black, Christian, white collar, gangster, bum..... We see, we label, we assume. Let's not pretend it doesn't happen. We just don't have to lump them all together and believe that they're all the same. Every homeless person is not a lazy drug addict that doesn't want to work. Every white person is a rich entitled jerk who has the world handed to them on a silver platter. Every Christian is not out there holding hateful picket signs. Need I go on?
I know many Christians who are wonderful loving people who are afraid to even use the term Christian because of the negative reputation that is now attached to it. It's sad. The word is supposed to mean follower of Christ, and if you actually read His story, I don't think anyone could take issue with how He treated people and what He taught. He showed us how to love and have peace in society. We need that so desperately now.
We need to get out there and love people. We need to act as Christ acted. There is no room for us to be attacking anyone for their sin. There is not one sin that is worse than any other in God's eyes. We are all sinners in need of God's love. Only God's love will set us free, heal out hearts, and change our lives for the better. That is the good news. We are not capable of earning His love or salvation, but He doesn't ask us to earn it. He offers it as a free gift. All we must do is accept His love. After that, the change just starts to happen as His love permeates our being and heals our wounds. We are not responsible for changing ourselves, so why do we think we can hold signs demanding others to do so?
Jesus doesn't hate any person, He hates sin. I wrote another blog awhile back, I think it's on my Facebook account though, I should transfer it over here. Briefly, I have a different opinion than most about what sin is. I don't think it is our actions (it can be, but I'm exploring a different side here), I think it is the evil thing that is out to destroy us. The Bible personifies sin in some places. It is our enemy, it is that thing that is feeding us lies and convincing us to do harmful things. That is why Jesus hates it, that is why He died a horrific death to defeat it. If sin is the thing attacking us, why would we feel the need to act hateful to those under attack? If they are deceived, or wounded to the point of believing that is their lot in life, how can we be mad at them? I know that I have been deceived. I know that I was wounded and I acted badly out of that place. I needed God's love to heal me before I ever had a chance at beating sin in my life. I tried for years, no success. People need Love. Period. They need to be brought into an encounter with the One who can give them that love. The rest is up to Him. If He feels the need to change them, that's His prerogative as Creator. It's none of our business.
I am pleading with my fellow Christians - stop attacking, stop defending, stop fighting. Love is the only answer. We need peace and unity, not to be "right." I think of that verse about a clanging gong. You can be right about everything, but if you don't have love, you have nothing. We need relationship and love more than anything. Sin is still sin, but it will never be defeated with hate and judgement and accusation. It's our job to love, not point out that people sin. I think we all know that already, quit beating that drum. Please.
I was thinking on this while I was waiting for my first call last night. I wrote this on a scrap of paper:
If "Christians" hadn't been so gun-ho in the past in singling out one type of sin to pour out all their hatred upon, maybe we wouldn't be under such attack now. When you bully someone long enough, eventually they come back fists flying, and sometimes they've taken up new advanced strategies of combat.
I do not agree with Christians who wave picket signs and chant hatred and point out sin. That is not Christlike. I never saw Jesus holding picket signs in the Bible, I never saw him standing on a street corner yelling that only certain sinners were going to hell. This activity is not in line with the character of Jesus that I see in my Bible. I wish I could apologize on behalf of God for all these people who are basically just acting like jerks. I see no benefit to this type of behavior.
Now the tables have turned, the people that were once singled out for this hatred have come back swinging and are now attacking the "Christians" for their beliefs, beating them over the head with new laws and cultural standards, demanding that they comply or be ruined. I don't think this is right either. But I get it. Some will claim they are being persecuted for their faith, but I think mostly they're being persecuted for being jerks.
We are all a part of some group or another, we identify ourselves with labels. Do you ever fully agree with 100% of other people who carry the same label? I don't. The issue I would like to address here is to encourage us all to get to know people as individuals instead of making assumptions based on a particular label they carry. I know, I know, we don't like labels, but we all still do it. That person is white, black, Christian, white collar, gangster, bum..... We see, we label, we assume. Let's not pretend it doesn't happen. We just don't have to lump them all together and believe that they're all the same. Every homeless person is not a lazy drug addict that doesn't want to work. Every white person is a rich entitled jerk who has the world handed to them on a silver platter. Every Christian is not out there holding hateful picket signs. Need I go on?
I know many Christians who are wonderful loving people who are afraid to even use the term Christian because of the negative reputation that is now attached to it. It's sad. The word is supposed to mean follower of Christ, and if you actually read His story, I don't think anyone could take issue with how He treated people and what He taught. He showed us how to love and have peace in society. We need that so desperately now.
We need to get out there and love people. We need to act as Christ acted. There is no room for us to be attacking anyone for their sin. There is not one sin that is worse than any other in God's eyes. We are all sinners in need of God's love. Only God's love will set us free, heal out hearts, and change our lives for the better. That is the good news. We are not capable of earning His love or salvation, but He doesn't ask us to earn it. He offers it as a free gift. All we must do is accept His love. After that, the change just starts to happen as His love permeates our being and heals our wounds. We are not responsible for changing ourselves, so why do we think we can hold signs demanding others to do so?
Jesus doesn't hate any person, He hates sin. I wrote another blog awhile back, I think it's on my Facebook account though, I should transfer it over here. Briefly, I have a different opinion than most about what sin is. I don't think it is our actions (it can be, but I'm exploring a different side here), I think it is the evil thing that is out to destroy us. The Bible personifies sin in some places. It is our enemy, it is that thing that is feeding us lies and convincing us to do harmful things. That is why Jesus hates it, that is why He died a horrific death to defeat it. If sin is the thing attacking us, why would we feel the need to act hateful to those under attack? If they are deceived, or wounded to the point of believing that is their lot in life, how can we be mad at them? I know that I have been deceived. I know that I was wounded and I acted badly out of that place. I needed God's love to heal me before I ever had a chance at beating sin in my life. I tried for years, no success. People need Love. Period. They need to be brought into an encounter with the One who can give them that love. The rest is up to Him. If He feels the need to change them, that's His prerogative as Creator. It's none of our business.
I am pleading with my fellow Christians - stop attacking, stop defending, stop fighting. Love is the only answer. We need peace and unity, not to be "right." I think of that verse about a clanging gong. You can be right about everything, but if you don't have love, you have nothing. We need relationship and love more than anything. Sin is still sin, but it will never be defeated with hate and judgement and accusation. It's our job to love, not point out that people sin. I think we all know that already, quit beating that drum. Please.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Hearsay
Let me write about a strange phenomenon I've been observing. People are much more inclined to believe some outlandish negative story they hear instead of trusting in their own experience and observation of the facts. I've been watching it happen around me as I happen to attend a large, somewhat famous church that has a lot of attackers spreading rumors about it. I know the stories are false because I've attended there for 2 years. Because of my own experience, I don't believe the gossip. It just has me thinking about where in life we have this tendency. How is it affecting us?
A woman is told by someone that her husband is cheating on her. What is her first response? Is it 'I know my husband, that is outside his character so I don't believe you are telling me the truth.' or... 'Oh no! I'm devastated! My life is over! How could this happen?!?!?' I would hope that a married couple has a good relationship based on honesty and trust, but it seems that mistrust and suspicion are often lurking, ready to pounce. How can a marriage be strong if there's no trust? How can there be love without trust?
In the case of my church, not that it's unique, it has happened to many others... People like to tell crazy stories about what happens there, and other people like to hang on every word and form opinions about the crazy people up on the hill. I've overheard co-workers talking about how creepy "those people" are, yet at the same time, there are many of them employed here and these very people love them! They think they're great and put them in leadership positions often. Do you see the problem here?
It seems our first response is to believe a negative report about things we hear. How about the news? How many of us repost instantly when we see a scary "article" shared on Facebook? How many of us actually look into it first instead of spreading fear? How many "news" magazines post horrible things about celebrities that turn out to be not true? How many of us can ever get those lies out of our heads when we look at our fellow man? How many of us are willing to trust someone after we've heard something bad about them? What if it isn't really true? How are our relationships affected by all this negative gossip we are constantly bombarded with?
In my observation, I can conclude that gossip and hearsay hold more weight than personal experience. Does that make any sense at all? I'm all for being open minded, being cautious, but I would hope people would actually look for evidence before passing judgement and believing all the things they hear.
I wonder how our relationships would change if we would stop speaking negative things about other people, if we stopped allowing others to speak negative things to us, if we trusted our own observations instead of instantly believing the stories we are told by people who have a grudge? Would it make our relationships stronger? Would it make people better? Would it reduce our stress? Would it add to world peace? I think it would.
A woman is told by someone that her husband is cheating on her. What is her first response? Is it 'I know my husband, that is outside his character so I don't believe you are telling me the truth.' or... 'Oh no! I'm devastated! My life is over! How could this happen?!?!?' I would hope that a married couple has a good relationship based on honesty and trust, but it seems that mistrust and suspicion are often lurking, ready to pounce. How can a marriage be strong if there's no trust? How can there be love without trust?
In the case of my church, not that it's unique, it has happened to many others... People like to tell crazy stories about what happens there, and other people like to hang on every word and form opinions about the crazy people up on the hill. I've overheard co-workers talking about how creepy "those people" are, yet at the same time, there are many of them employed here and these very people love them! They think they're great and put them in leadership positions often. Do you see the problem here?
It seems our first response is to believe a negative report about things we hear. How about the news? How many of us repost instantly when we see a scary "article" shared on Facebook? How many of us actually look into it first instead of spreading fear? How many "news" magazines post horrible things about celebrities that turn out to be not true? How many of us can ever get those lies out of our heads when we look at our fellow man? How many of us are willing to trust someone after we've heard something bad about them? What if it isn't really true? How are our relationships affected by all this negative gossip we are constantly bombarded with?
In my observation, I can conclude that gossip and hearsay hold more weight than personal experience. Does that make any sense at all? I'm all for being open minded, being cautious, but I would hope people would actually look for evidence before passing judgement and believing all the things they hear.
I wonder how our relationships would change if we would stop speaking negative things about other people, if we stopped allowing others to speak negative things to us, if we trusted our own observations instead of instantly believing the stories we are told by people who have a grudge? Would it make our relationships stronger? Would it make people better? Would it reduce our stress? Would it add to world peace? I think it would.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Freedom.... To or From?
I was pondering freedom today after a brief conversation with a co-worker. It started with a mention of the Pride parade that I had seen some pictures of on a friend's wall yesterday. I was commenting on how they sometimes have gone beyond what I feel is appropriate in a public setting, i.e. nudity. I feel that they shouldn't be doing such things, and my co-worker said something about their freedom. So I was thinking....
What is freedom? I want the freedom to make choices for myself. I want to choose what comes into my "self" through my eyes and ears. I want to choose how I live my life. But so does everyone else. So what happens when what I want to do messes with someone else's life? Whose freedom wins? If Bobby chooses to smoke, and George chooses not to smoke, what happens when they pass each other's sphere? If Bobby is smoking at that moment, George's freedom to not smoke just got taken away.
I have to conclude that my freedom only extends as far as it doesn't encroach on another person's freedom. I can only have freedom as far as it only affects my life. As soon as my freedom takes away the freedom of another, I've crossed the line of polite society.
We live in a nation full of laws. How many of those laws are written solely because so many people don't understand or live by this basic principle? We've made laws that you can't smoke within a certain distance of a public door because so many smokers did not act in a way that honored the freedom of others choosing not to smoke.
We all want our freedom, but I wonder how often we consider the freedom of others. I want the freedom "to" do something, while another person may want freedom "from" that same thing. I challenge us all to walk with honor, respecting the spheres of our fellow man. Live in such a way as to not rob your neighbor of his or her freedom. It's simple really, but how many of us will step past ourselves to honor another?
What is freedom? I want the freedom to make choices for myself. I want to choose what comes into my "self" through my eyes and ears. I want to choose how I live my life. But so does everyone else. So what happens when what I want to do messes with someone else's life? Whose freedom wins? If Bobby chooses to smoke, and George chooses not to smoke, what happens when they pass each other's sphere? If Bobby is smoking at that moment, George's freedom to not smoke just got taken away.
I have to conclude that my freedom only extends as far as it doesn't encroach on another person's freedom. I can only have freedom as far as it only affects my life. As soon as my freedom takes away the freedom of another, I've crossed the line of polite society.
We live in a nation full of laws. How many of those laws are written solely because so many people don't understand or live by this basic principle? We've made laws that you can't smoke within a certain distance of a public door because so many smokers did not act in a way that honored the freedom of others choosing not to smoke.
We all want our freedom, but I wonder how often we consider the freedom of others. I want the freedom "to" do something, while another person may want freedom "from" that same thing. I challenge us all to walk with honor, respecting the spheres of our fellow man. Live in such a way as to not rob your neighbor of his or her freedom. It's simple really, but how many of us will step past ourselves to honor another?
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Rules.
I have been challenged recently by a friend on some fairly "set in stone" , "basic common sense" type guidelines I held in my own life. Growing up in church, we all learn some extra rules and think nothing of it. I'm someone who always understood rules in general as things meant to keep us safe. I found it easy to follow rules because they made sense to me. Go outside the rules and you'll find a negative consequence. Easy.
As I've gotten older, I have come to realize that specific rules aren't even really necessary if you understand the underlying principle. I remember when I was helping out at my old elementary school while in high school and they had just switched over to the "Make your day" program. They threw out the long list of rules and whittled it all down to just one. "No one has the right to interfere with the learning or safety of others." Simple, but I think it really covers everything. This new rule got me thinking. Isn't that really the bottom line? Isn't that why we make specific rules for ourselves? It all comes down to acting in a loving manner. Don't hurt people and allow them their freedom to do what they need to do. It's fair.
I look around our culture and notice how many stinking rules we have! Why? Because people aren't able to police their own lives very well it seems. Too many people walk around thinking only of themselves and hurting others in the process. Jack wants Joe's iPod, so he hits Joe over the head and takes it. Inability to govern himself to act in love. We are drowning in rules around here! It's like slavery. Don't do this, don't do that, one person screws up and ruins it for the whole crowd. Aren't we tired of this?
I was reading Kris Vallotton's book Supernatural Ways of Royalty today and I came across this same concept again. This quote stood out to me.
"I am against governmental structures that react out of fear to the abuses of leadership..."
I began to think about our rules. Every time there is a school shooting, there is a big push to make more gun laws. Reacting in fear as if more laws would help when the shooter already broke a handful of the laws already in place. Instead of dealing with the real root issues of why people shoot up schools, we make more stupid laws that never fix the problem. It is a useless and expensive process. We constantly punish people who break the law, but how often does anyone stop to address why they broke the law in the first place? I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that hurting people hurt people. It's the theme of so many movies and tv shows, I'm certain that it's no secret, but who is trying to help them? Make more rules, punish more people. Is it working? I don't think so.
So back to my initial statement about the challenges in my own life, my friend pointed out to me how I was also making rules for myself based in the fear of messing up. Specifically in the arena of boy/girl relationships, there are a lot of basic rules in a church setting. They have put up a lot of boundaries to try to keep kids from sleeping together. Side hugs, no boys in your room, no dates alone, no kissing... the list goes on and on. My friend made me see that it is a fear based response to the possibility of sin and an ignorance of the roots of sin. Anything that is based in fear is not of God. Perfect love casts out fear, so if you're walking in that perfect love with Jesus, you don't have to be afraid of mistakes, or sin. It is for FREEDOM that Christ has set us free. If two people truly honor one another, no sin will be committed, and if you're in a relationship where you can't trust yourself or the other person to do that, I would suggest you not be in that relationship, because what is the point without love and honor?
Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't be careful, we all have areas where we are weaker and it is wisdom to put up some guardrails, especially if the consequences of a fall are big. I'm saying that we don't all have to have the same guardrails. I'm saying that we shouldn't live in fear of mistakes. God loves us, He knows our heart, and that is what matters. Are you being stupid and just trying to get away with something wrong because you know God forgives? Then your heart probably isn't right and that's another issue. But if you just slip and fall, God is right there to pick you up and help you out. The intention of the heart needs to be love, and as we learn to hear God's guidance more and more, we worry less and less about falling into temptation. His love and grace is what enables us to have victory over sin. Rules are just more bondage. He wants us to live in freedom. He came to save the broken and lost. He doesn't expect us to be perfect on our own, He just wants us to join Him on the journey called life and to do our best to live in love.
As I've gotten older, I have come to realize that specific rules aren't even really necessary if you understand the underlying principle. I remember when I was helping out at my old elementary school while in high school and they had just switched over to the "Make your day" program. They threw out the long list of rules and whittled it all down to just one. "No one has the right to interfere with the learning or safety of others." Simple, but I think it really covers everything. This new rule got me thinking. Isn't that really the bottom line? Isn't that why we make specific rules for ourselves? It all comes down to acting in a loving manner. Don't hurt people and allow them their freedom to do what they need to do. It's fair.
I look around our culture and notice how many stinking rules we have! Why? Because people aren't able to police their own lives very well it seems. Too many people walk around thinking only of themselves and hurting others in the process. Jack wants Joe's iPod, so he hits Joe over the head and takes it. Inability to govern himself to act in love. We are drowning in rules around here! It's like slavery. Don't do this, don't do that, one person screws up and ruins it for the whole crowd. Aren't we tired of this?
I was reading Kris Vallotton's book Supernatural Ways of Royalty today and I came across this same concept again. This quote stood out to me.
"I am against governmental structures that react out of fear to the abuses of leadership..."
I began to think about our rules. Every time there is a school shooting, there is a big push to make more gun laws. Reacting in fear as if more laws would help when the shooter already broke a handful of the laws already in place. Instead of dealing with the real root issues of why people shoot up schools, we make more stupid laws that never fix the problem. It is a useless and expensive process. We constantly punish people who break the law, but how often does anyone stop to address why they broke the law in the first place? I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that hurting people hurt people. It's the theme of so many movies and tv shows, I'm certain that it's no secret, but who is trying to help them? Make more rules, punish more people. Is it working? I don't think so.
So back to my initial statement about the challenges in my own life, my friend pointed out to me how I was also making rules for myself based in the fear of messing up. Specifically in the arena of boy/girl relationships, there are a lot of basic rules in a church setting. They have put up a lot of boundaries to try to keep kids from sleeping together. Side hugs, no boys in your room, no dates alone, no kissing... the list goes on and on. My friend made me see that it is a fear based response to the possibility of sin and an ignorance of the roots of sin. Anything that is based in fear is not of God. Perfect love casts out fear, so if you're walking in that perfect love with Jesus, you don't have to be afraid of mistakes, or sin. It is for FREEDOM that Christ has set us free. If two people truly honor one another, no sin will be committed, and if you're in a relationship where you can't trust yourself or the other person to do that, I would suggest you not be in that relationship, because what is the point without love and honor?
Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't be careful, we all have areas where we are weaker and it is wisdom to put up some guardrails, especially if the consequences of a fall are big. I'm saying that we don't all have to have the same guardrails. I'm saying that we shouldn't live in fear of mistakes. God loves us, He knows our heart, and that is what matters. Are you being stupid and just trying to get away with something wrong because you know God forgives? Then your heart probably isn't right and that's another issue. But if you just slip and fall, God is right there to pick you up and help you out. The intention of the heart needs to be love, and as we learn to hear God's guidance more and more, we worry less and less about falling into temptation. His love and grace is what enables us to have victory over sin. Rules are just more bondage. He wants us to live in freedom. He came to save the broken and lost. He doesn't expect us to be perfect on our own, He just wants us to join Him on the journey called life and to do our best to live in love.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Good news!!
If you've clicked through to here, I'm asking that you read all the way through and not give up thinking you've heard this line before. The whole point of writing it is that I think you haven't. Based on my observations and conversations with all sorts of people, I don't think you've heard this. At least get through the 5th paragraph before you decide to quit.
I grew up in church, so God was always just there, a fact, something I never really questioned. To me He just made sense, I saw the rules and they seemed a logical way to live. As I got older, I learned more about life and I decided made the faith my own. I began my own journey of seeking out this God I'd been told about. I want to share with you what I've learned.
I think the idea of salvation has gotten pretty muddled up over time. The tactics used are those of a used car salesman, or worse, the hellfire and brimstone style. I'm not down with those methods. In this blog I hope to offer up some basic info that will hopefully help you to find the truth so you can make an informed decision for yourself.
I read a lot of apologetics type stuff, and I read comments on public forums from athiests and the like. 'God is a big whiny tyrant in the sky that wants everyone to choose him or he's gonna throw them in hell as a punishment. God doesn't want us to have any fun, and if we do, he's going to punish us. God can't be loving because he allows evil to torment us.' The list goes on and on, you know what I'm talking about. But the Bible says that there is no fear in love because fear has to do with punishment. If God is love, as He claims to me, punishment can't be a part of Him can it?
It really breaks my heart that people think like this. What it tells me is that they are grossly misinformed about so many things. That is heartbreaking, because this choice is of ultimate and eternal significance. If God is really true, don't you think you better have the right facts? Isn't it worth looking into with an open mind, just in case He's real? Seems to me that is the intelligent choice. If He's not true, an open minded honest bit of searching should show that, and what have you lost? A little time? But if He is true, you've lost everything. I think that alone deserves some serious consideration.
.
God is good. He loves us, He created us to be loved by Him. He wants to walk side by side with us in friendship. He is always good and always loving. The only way we can love Him is if we have a choice not to, otherwise, it's not really love is it? That is why there is evil. God is a gentleman and He won't force anyone to love Him. Where we run into trouble is when we really look at what His love means.
Are you a parent? If not, can you at least think like one? If your child wants to play in the fire, you're going to tell him "no" right? That child might think you are a big meanie for not letting him play in the fire right? But you love him and don't want him to get hurt. That is the bottom line with God. He created us, so He knows what will make our life run the best possible way. Initially He only gave one rule. 'Don't eat from that tree.' That one choice was His love, simply giving us free will to choose Him or not. All the other rules came later, and I don't think they were really what He wanted, nor what He expected. (IMO - this bit is my understanding) Mankind didn't want to listen to God directly, so they asked for rules, and they asked for a king. It wasn't how God wanted things, but He gave them what they asked for. He gave them a ridiculous set of rules and penalties that they could never hold to so that they would come back to His original plan of relationship. People who quote old testament law all the time have missed the point of it all if you ask me. God didn't intend for us to have those rules, or He would've given them to us all back in the Garden of Eden instead of waiting a couple thousand years. (again, this little portion is my own belief based on my understanding - I am not a theologian)
The Israelites chose over and over to walk away from relationship with God, and they ended up stumbling into trouble every time. Was that God's fault? Was that God punishing them for ignoring Him? No! He wants to be in a relationship where He can talk to us about our path and our choices and help us make good ones that bring blessing instead of consequence. This world is fallen, so the consequences are piling up as we make more and more poor choices. It's just a big sick circle..... but there is a way out!
Some people think that all the things that God tells us are bad are actually fun. I understand that they may be fun in the moment, but if you're really honest, there are plenty of not so fun results from those choices. They may not be immediate, but they're there. The thing is, God loves us enough to still allow us to make those choices, but I'm sure it breaks His heart to see the pain that we suffer as a result. But He still doesn't stop us. Do you know of anyone who has been struck down by a lightning bolt because they sinned? I don't. God loves us enough to tell us the way to go, but also to not drag us kicking and screaming down said road.
I've heard people talk about hell being one big party full of all the 'fun' behaviors that God calls sin. They seem to think it's going to be great. Here's the problem with that theology. Hell wasn't created for humans, it was created for Satan. We are given a choice. Be God's friend, or not. Choosing 'not' leads to an eternity without God. There is a verse in the Bible that says that ALL good things come from the Father. That means that apart from Him, nothing will be good. I don't believe it's direct torture, but there will be no comfort, no peace, no happiness at all without God's presence. Hmmmm... Kinda throws a wrench in that whole 'Party in Hell' theory. That is why the Bible also tells us that it is God's will that none should perish. He doesn't want us to choose eternity without Him, but He will still let us make that choice. Would He really be loving if He didn't?
God is good. I believe that with all my heart because that has been my experience. Does that mean my life has been all wonderful and perfect? No way! It means that bad stuff happens, but as I look to God for my help, He makes all things work out for good, some way or another. I fully believe that He has my best interest in mind. He wants to see me healed up, set free, and living life to the fullest in His love. He knows the hurts of my past and He is working with me gently to heal them up and help me to be me in every situation. He is helping me grow in so many ways. Always gentle, always loving, never condemning, never throwing lightning bolts. Jesus already paid the price for my sin, so I don't have to. Being a Christian isn't a license to sin because we're forgiven, it's the freedom to live a life full of love, peace, and joy without being tied down to the consequences of our sin. It's a beautiful gift given freely by an incredible loving Father.
I would love to converse with anyone who has thoughts on this topic. If you liked this post, please share it on your own wall.
I grew up in church, so God was always just there, a fact, something I never really questioned. To me He just made sense, I saw the rules and they seemed a logical way to live. As I got older, I learned more about life and I decided made the faith my own. I began my own journey of seeking out this God I'd been told about. I want to share with you what I've learned.
I think the idea of salvation has gotten pretty muddled up over time. The tactics used are those of a used car salesman, or worse, the hellfire and brimstone style. I'm not down with those methods. In this blog I hope to offer up some basic info that will hopefully help you to find the truth so you can make an informed decision for yourself.
I read a lot of apologetics type stuff, and I read comments on public forums from athiests and the like. 'God is a big whiny tyrant in the sky that wants everyone to choose him or he's gonna throw them in hell as a punishment. God doesn't want us to have any fun, and if we do, he's going to punish us. God can't be loving because he allows evil to torment us.' The list goes on and on, you know what I'm talking about. But the Bible says that there is no fear in love because fear has to do with punishment. If God is love, as He claims to me, punishment can't be a part of Him can it?
It really breaks my heart that people think like this. What it tells me is that they are grossly misinformed about so many things. That is heartbreaking, because this choice is of ultimate and eternal significance. If God is really true, don't you think you better have the right facts? Isn't it worth looking into with an open mind, just in case He's real? Seems to me that is the intelligent choice. If He's not true, an open minded honest bit of searching should show that, and what have you lost? A little time? But if He is true, you've lost everything. I think that alone deserves some serious consideration.
.
God is good. He loves us, He created us to be loved by Him. He wants to walk side by side with us in friendship. He is always good and always loving. The only way we can love Him is if we have a choice not to, otherwise, it's not really love is it? That is why there is evil. God is a gentleman and He won't force anyone to love Him. Where we run into trouble is when we really look at what His love means.
Are you a parent? If not, can you at least think like one? If your child wants to play in the fire, you're going to tell him "no" right? That child might think you are a big meanie for not letting him play in the fire right? But you love him and don't want him to get hurt. That is the bottom line with God. He created us, so He knows what will make our life run the best possible way. Initially He only gave one rule. 'Don't eat from that tree.' That one choice was His love, simply giving us free will to choose Him or not. All the other rules came later, and I don't think they were really what He wanted, nor what He expected. (IMO - this bit is my understanding) Mankind didn't want to listen to God directly, so they asked for rules, and they asked for a king. It wasn't how God wanted things, but He gave them what they asked for. He gave them a ridiculous set of rules and penalties that they could never hold to so that they would come back to His original plan of relationship. People who quote old testament law all the time have missed the point of it all if you ask me. God didn't intend for us to have those rules, or He would've given them to us all back in the Garden of Eden instead of waiting a couple thousand years. (again, this little portion is my own belief based on my understanding - I am not a theologian)
The Israelites chose over and over to walk away from relationship with God, and they ended up stumbling into trouble every time. Was that God's fault? Was that God punishing them for ignoring Him? No! He wants to be in a relationship where He can talk to us about our path and our choices and help us make good ones that bring blessing instead of consequence. This world is fallen, so the consequences are piling up as we make more and more poor choices. It's just a big sick circle..... but there is a way out!
Some people think that all the things that God tells us are bad are actually fun. I understand that they may be fun in the moment, but if you're really honest, there are plenty of not so fun results from those choices. They may not be immediate, but they're there. The thing is, God loves us enough to still allow us to make those choices, but I'm sure it breaks His heart to see the pain that we suffer as a result. But He still doesn't stop us. Do you know of anyone who has been struck down by a lightning bolt because they sinned? I don't. God loves us enough to tell us the way to go, but also to not drag us kicking and screaming down said road.
I've heard people talk about hell being one big party full of all the 'fun' behaviors that God calls sin. They seem to think it's going to be great. Here's the problem with that theology. Hell wasn't created for humans, it was created for Satan. We are given a choice. Be God's friend, or not. Choosing 'not' leads to an eternity without God. There is a verse in the Bible that says that ALL good things come from the Father. That means that apart from Him, nothing will be good. I don't believe it's direct torture, but there will be no comfort, no peace, no happiness at all without God's presence. Hmmmm... Kinda throws a wrench in that whole 'Party in Hell' theory. That is why the Bible also tells us that it is God's will that none should perish. He doesn't want us to choose eternity without Him, but He will still let us make that choice. Would He really be loving if He didn't?
God is good. I believe that with all my heart because that has been my experience. Does that mean my life has been all wonderful and perfect? No way! It means that bad stuff happens, but as I look to God for my help, He makes all things work out for good, some way or another. I fully believe that He has my best interest in mind. He wants to see me healed up, set free, and living life to the fullest in His love. He knows the hurts of my past and He is working with me gently to heal them up and help me to be me in every situation. He is helping me grow in so many ways. Always gentle, always loving, never condemning, never throwing lightning bolts. Jesus already paid the price for my sin, so I don't have to. Being a Christian isn't a license to sin because we're forgiven, it's the freedom to live a life full of love, peace, and joy without being tied down to the consequences of our sin. It's a beautiful gift given freely by an incredible loving Father.
I would love to converse with anyone who has thoughts on this topic. If you liked this post, please share it on your own wall.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
God's Not Dead: a review (possible spoilers)
Since this blog is called "Through My Eyes" - it stands to reason that I should write about what I see, and that includes movies. I love movies. I go to the dollar theater to see pretty much every movie I'm interested in, which can mean weekly. Sometimes I splurge and go to the "big theater" and pay the higher price to see something I'm really interested in.
Today I saw God's Not Dead. If you're not aware, the premise is a college philosophy professor asks his students to write "God is dead" on a sheet of paper and sign it, acknowledging they won't be wasting any time talking about God in this class. Freshman student, Josh, can't sign the paper, so instead he must defend the antithesis in three 20 minute lectures to the class and they get to decide.
I enjoy apologetics, so I thought this movie looked fun. It didn't hurt that my favorite Clark Kent (Dean Cain) was in the movie, as well as Kevin Sorbo as the professor. I did enjoy the movie, but I will say that I don't think they proved the point they set out to prove. (Here come possible spoilers)
Josh started out his lecture by basically trying to prove the Creation story. He shared quotes from famous scientists, athiest ones, and shared how they sort of line up with the Bible. While that's all well and good, how does that prove God is not dead? If anything, it might prove that God was once alive, but something that happened thousands to billions of years ago (depending on your beliefs) hardly proves He is alive today.
It later gets a little better when Josh discovers why his professor is so adamantly against God. When we start to hear the backstory, then we gain some compassion and understanding. That's great.
I won't go too deep with the story, in fact, I think I'll stop there. It goes on to show some divine interventions and one powerful miraculous moment with Dean Cain's character.
My thought in leaving is that if you want to prove God is not dead today, all you'd really have to do is the very things Bethel church is doing every day. Bringing God's supernatural power into the here and now. We see people healed every week of all sorts of things. Pain leaves, cancer disappears, blind eyes open, deaf ears open, crooked feet straighten out, metal dissolves out of bodies .... the list goes on and on. If those things don't prove God is alive and well today, nothing does.
Apologetics is fun, but I don't think an intellectual debate is going to have half the sway that an outright supernatural encounter will. The thing is, a lot of today's church doesn't really believe in that stuff. When we pray for people, not everyone sees the answer they're looking for. So instead of continuing to take God at His word, we re-write our theology to say that God once healed people, but He stopped. Why would He stop? That makes no sense. When we stop expecting a miracle, we stop praying for them.
I know that not everyone gets the healing they were looking for. I can't answer the why question that comes with that. I know that when Bill Johnson and his team started praying and believing for healing, they didn't see anywhere near the positive results they do today. I know that they just kept pressing in, believing that when Jesus told His followers to go out and heal the sick, He actually meant it. Now, 20 yrs later, they have a totally amazing healing ministry with many, many healings every week.
I was diagnosed with the need for a root canal in July 2012. I told the dentist "no" and have gone to the healing rooms almost every week since then to receive prayer for healing. It's been almost 2 yrs, and I still have a slightly tender tooth and a small bump on my gums. But I keep going. I know that God showed me a picture of some new teeth He was making for me. I know that my time is coming. I also know that it hasn't gotten worse, and I would expect after 2 yrs in the natural, it probably should have. I believe that God is good, and in His time, I will get this tooth fixed.
Why do I believe that? Well, because God's not dead. ; ) I don't believe in God because some old book tells His story and I'm just supposed to blindly believe in it. I don't believe in God because my parents took me to church and raised me to believe. (although that gave me a baseline from which to start) I believe in God because He has revealed Himself to me in such personal ways. He has shown me love and spoken to me in my language. He has physically healed my arm in a powerful way. 11 yrs of pain, gone in an instant when I watched online as Bill Johnson called out a word of knowledge about a left arm. He's healed my heart, changed the things inside me that I hated but had no power to change, pulled me out of the miserable pit I'd found myself in. There's too much to even list. He has proven Himself real, alive, powerful, and GOOD to me beyond a shadow of a doubt. I can't call a list this long coincidence. There are no other explanations.
I did enjoy the movie, but I would much rather have seen them give testimony of God in the here and now. He is here, He loves you, and He has an amazing plan for your life, for which He wants you to be saved, healed, and set free to do. He's not out there with a lightning bolt waiting for you to screw up. He loves you and wants more than anything for you to find what you were created for and do it with all your heart! I've found my purpose. He planted Uganda in my heart back in 2007 and everything about me makes sense in light of that calling. I am thrilled to find what He made me for. I look forward to stepping into the now with that vision. I have hope and a purpose, because Jesus loves me. He has only good things for me. Life may throw me some curves, but I know that God will give me the grace to knock 'em out of the park.
Today I saw God's Not Dead. If you're not aware, the premise is a college philosophy professor asks his students to write "God is dead" on a sheet of paper and sign it, acknowledging they won't be wasting any time talking about God in this class. Freshman student, Josh, can't sign the paper, so instead he must defend the antithesis in three 20 minute lectures to the class and they get to decide.
I enjoy apologetics, so I thought this movie looked fun. It didn't hurt that my favorite Clark Kent (Dean Cain) was in the movie, as well as Kevin Sorbo as the professor. I did enjoy the movie, but I will say that I don't think they proved the point they set out to prove. (Here come possible spoilers)
Josh started out his lecture by basically trying to prove the Creation story. He shared quotes from famous scientists, athiest ones, and shared how they sort of line up with the Bible. While that's all well and good, how does that prove God is not dead? If anything, it might prove that God was once alive, but something that happened thousands to billions of years ago (depending on your beliefs) hardly proves He is alive today.
It later gets a little better when Josh discovers why his professor is so adamantly against God. When we start to hear the backstory, then we gain some compassion and understanding. That's great.
I won't go too deep with the story, in fact, I think I'll stop there. It goes on to show some divine interventions and one powerful miraculous moment with Dean Cain's character.
My thought in leaving is that if you want to prove God is not dead today, all you'd really have to do is the very things Bethel church is doing every day. Bringing God's supernatural power into the here and now. We see people healed every week of all sorts of things. Pain leaves, cancer disappears, blind eyes open, deaf ears open, crooked feet straighten out, metal dissolves out of bodies .... the list goes on and on. If those things don't prove God is alive and well today, nothing does.
Apologetics is fun, but I don't think an intellectual debate is going to have half the sway that an outright supernatural encounter will. The thing is, a lot of today's church doesn't really believe in that stuff. When we pray for people, not everyone sees the answer they're looking for. So instead of continuing to take God at His word, we re-write our theology to say that God once healed people, but He stopped. Why would He stop? That makes no sense. When we stop expecting a miracle, we stop praying for them.
I know that not everyone gets the healing they were looking for. I can't answer the why question that comes with that. I know that when Bill Johnson and his team started praying and believing for healing, they didn't see anywhere near the positive results they do today. I know that they just kept pressing in, believing that when Jesus told His followers to go out and heal the sick, He actually meant it. Now, 20 yrs later, they have a totally amazing healing ministry with many, many healings every week.
I was diagnosed with the need for a root canal in July 2012. I told the dentist "no" and have gone to the healing rooms almost every week since then to receive prayer for healing. It's been almost 2 yrs, and I still have a slightly tender tooth and a small bump on my gums. But I keep going. I know that God showed me a picture of some new teeth He was making for me. I know that my time is coming. I also know that it hasn't gotten worse, and I would expect after 2 yrs in the natural, it probably should have. I believe that God is good, and in His time, I will get this tooth fixed.
Why do I believe that? Well, because God's not dead. ; ) I don't believe in God because some old book tells His story and I'm just supposed to blindly believe in it. I don't believe in God because my parents took me to church and raised me to believe. (although that gave me a baseline from which to start) I believe in God because He has revealed Himself to me in such personal ways. He has shown me love and spoken to me in my language. He has physically healed my arm in a powerful way. 11 yrs of pain, gone in an instant when I watched online as Bill Johnson called out a word of knowledge about a left arm. He's healed my heart, changed the things inside me that I hated but had no power to change, pulled me out of the miserable pit I'd found myself in. There's too much to even list. He has proven Himself real, alive, powerful, and GOOD to me beyond a shadow of a doubt. I can't call a list this long coincidence. There are no other explanations.
I did enjoy the movie, but I would much rather have seen them give testimony of God in the here and now. He is here, He loves you, and He has an amazing plan for your life, for which He wants you to be saved, healed, and set free to do. He's not out there with a lightning bolt waiting for you to screw up. He loves you and wants more than anything for you to find what you were created for and do it with all your heart! I've found my purpose. He planted Uganda in my heart back in 2007 and everything about me makes sense in light of that calling. I am thrilled to find what He made me for. I look forward to stepping into the now with that vision. I have hope and a purpose, because Jesus loves me. He has only good things for me. Life may throw me some curves, but I know that God will give me the grace to knock 'em out of the park.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Sexuality is a Choice
I could be called all sorts of things for this one, but I am ok with that. I'm tired of hearing the gay rights struggle compared to the race struggles of this country. I don't believe they are parallel issues.
Race is something you are born with and cannot change, and has no moral implications, nor does it cause any damage to yourself or anyone else. Sexuality on the other hand is all about choices and has many ramifications.
Before anyone jumps all over me yelling, "no one chooses to be gay!" let me clarify that that is not the issue either. None of us can choose how we feel about anything, but maturity and responsibility means that we make choices about what to do with our feelings. That's all I'm saying.
I believe in a certain moral code. So do you. We may not agree on what that is, but we do each have one. My moral code says that sex is to be enjoyed solely in the marriage relationship between a husband and wife. I believe that is the only context in which sex can be morally participated in. It is not a basic human need (except in the large scale of society). We can live without it if the appropriate context never arises. While I know that not everyone holds that view, we all do have a belief on this issue. We are all free to choose how we believe and act accordingly.
In any relationship, I think that more often than not, the partners expect the other to be faithful to them. That brings to mind a popular modern idea - 'if I feel like doing it, it's ok to do it.' So what happens if you are attracted to another person while committed to your spouse? It happens. Here is the moment of truth. What do you really believe? What is more important? Your feeling, or your commitment? It all comes down to a choice. Stereotypically, a man is sexually attracted to many women. In today's logic, he should be able to follow those attractions whenever he has them, but we all know that his wife will probably be very upset about that. In general in this society, we expect our spouses to make a moral choice to go against their feelings and stay faithful. Do we believe our feelings are more true than our convictions? Are we swayed easily by emotion until we compromise our core values?
A person can make a choice to be monogamous, polygamous, promiscuous, or celibate. What do you believe, why do you believe that, and how true are you to your own beliefs? Do your beliefs change based on your feelings, or are they grounded on a solid foundation?
We always have a choice, and in the end, we each reap the consequences and benefits of the choices we make. I'd just like to say, count the cost. Make educated decisions. Don't act out on your feelings without adding logical thought to the situation. I've seen so many people go through so much pain because they act in the moment, based on emotions instead of solid core beliefs. I want this message to be an encouragement to people to think through their own process. Consider who you want to be, what you want to stand for, how much lasting pain you want to endure for the sake of temporary pleasure. You are powerful and you can control your feelings and make choices that you won't regret in the morning.
Race is something you are born with and cannot change, and has no moral implications, nor does it cause any damage to yourself or anyone else. Sexuality on the other hand is all about choices and has many ramifications.
Before anyone jumps all over me yelling, "no one chooses to be gay!" let me clarify that that is not the issue either. None of us can choose how we feel about anything, but maturity and responsibility means that we make choices about what to do with our feelings. That's all I'm saying.
I believe in a certain moral code. So do you. We may not agree on what that is, but we do each have one. My moral code says that sex is to be enjoyed solely in the marriage relationship between a husband and wife. I believe that is the only context in which sex can be morally participated in. It is not a basic human need (except in the large scale of society). We can live without it if the appropriate context never arises. While I know that not everyone holds that view, we all do have a belief on this issue. We are all free to choose how we believe and act accordingly.
In any relationship, I think that more often than not, the partners expect the other to be faithful to them. That brings to mind a popular modern idea - 'if I feel like doing it, it's ok to do it.' So what happens if you are attracted to another person while committed to your spouse? It happens. Here is the moment of truth. What do you really believe? What is more important? Your feeling, or your commitment? It all comes down to a choice. Stereotypically, a man is sexually attracted to many women. In today's logic, he should be able to follow those attractions whenever he has them, but we all know that his wife will probably be very upset about that. In general in this society, we expect our spouses to make a moral choice to go against their feelings and stay faithful. Do we believe our feelings are more true than our convictions? Are we swayed easily by emotion until we compromise our core values?
A person can make a choice to be monogamous, polygamous, promiscuous, or celibate. What do you believe, why do you believe that, and how true are you to your own beliefs? Do your beliefs change based on your feelings, or are they grounded on a solid foundation?
We always have a choice, and in the end, we each reap the consequences and benefits of the choices we make. I'd just like to say, count the cost. Make educated decisions. Don't act out on your feelings without adding logical thought to the situation. I've seen so many people go through so much pain because they act in the moment, based on emotions instead of solid core beliefs. I want this message to be an encouragement to people to think through their own process. Consider who you want to be, what you want to stand for, how much lasting pain you want to endure for the sake of temporary pleasure. You are powerful and you can control your feelings and make choices that you won't regret in the morning.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Dancing --> Love
I just wanted to say something, not really deep or anything, but I wanted to say it. I love Dancing With the Stars. :) Normally I don't watch any reality shows, but this one I've watched pretty consistently since the 3rd season. So many people complain about different parts of it, but I just wanted to write about why I think it is beautiful.
Sure, some of these people have some dance experience, but not specifically in ballroom. Every dance is different and they all have something to learn. I'm sure some have a harder time than others each week. Some say Derek always wins because they give him the best partners, but I say he's just a great teacher and great choreographer, and the girls vote for him. But that isn't why I watch anyway. I don't care about the logistics of the show.
I love to watch the pairs grow together. The pros are all wonderful teachers, adapting to each student and showing so much patience and encouragement. We see two strangers fall in love. (and I don't mean romantically) Whether it's the two young beautiful people that everyone is whispering about, wondering if they're becoming a real couple, or the older man with the 20 something dance partner that become like father and daughter, a really cool relationship is developing week by week.
It's not just the pairs either, we get to see how all the competitors love and support one another. There's something that happens when you go through something difficult together. You form a very tight bond. I love seeing them cheer each other on, even though there is only one prize. I see them tear up each week as the star who is going home is announced. The respect and admiration and friendship among the stars and pros is so great!
Each star has a mountain to climb, and the pro is there to help them in any way they can. I love to see the creative ways they work to achieve a goal each week. Some of the stars have come with major disabilities and everyone wonders how they will dance. There was the deaf girl who had to feel the music, stars in their 70s that have bad hips and knees, and this season a girl with 2 prosthetic legs! They are inspiring beyond words. How much can a person accomplish, is any mountain too high? The pro partner is the coach, the teacher, the encourager, the cheerleader... How far can one star go?
I don't care so much about the actual dance routine, though some of them are great fun. I just love to watch love bloom. Love is something our screens are greatly lacking in. True love, that is. Hollywood throws us so much crap and calls it love, but they rarely have a clue what love is. Love is partnering together with a commitment to chase a prize together. Love is supporting each other, encouraging each other, working together. What I love about Dancing with the Stars is seeing TRUE LOVE in action. I see two people that see each other sweaty, frustrated, angry, and worn out, and they still love. No one ever bails because the other person fails. They just pick back up and go back to work. True partnership. True love.
Sure, some of these people have some dance experience, but not specifically in ballroom. Every dance is different and they all have something to learn. I'm sure some have a harder time than others each week. Some say Derek always wins because they give him the best partners, but I say he's just a great teacher and great choreographer, and the girls vote for him. But that isn't why I watch anyway. I don't care about the logistics of the show.
I love to watch the pairs grow together. The pros are all wonderful teachers, adapting to each student and showing so much patience and encouragement. We see two strangers fall in love. (and I don't mean romantically) Whether it's the two young beautiful people that everyone is whispering about, wondering if they're becoming a real couple, or the older man with the 20 something dance partner that become like father and daughter, a really cool relationship is developing week by week.
It's not just the pairs either, we get to see how all the competitors love and support one another. There's something that happens when you go through something difficult together. You form a very tight bond. I love seeing them cheer each other on, even though there is only one prize. I see them tear up each week as the star who is going home is announced. The respect and admiration and friendship among the stars and pros is so great!
Each star has a mountain to climb, and the pro is there to help them in any way they can. I love to see the creative ways they work to achieve a goal each week. Some of the stars have come with major disabilities and everyone wonders how they will dance. There was the deaf girl who had to feel the music, stars in their 70s that have bad hips and knees, and this season a girl with 2 prosthetic legs! They are inspiring beyond words. How much can a person accomplish, is any mountain too high? The pro partner is the coach, the teacher, the encourager, the cheerleader... How far can one star go?
I don't care so much about the actual dance routine, though some of them are great fun. I just love to watch love bloom. Love is something our screens are greatly lacking in. True love, that is. Hollywood throws us so much crap and calls it love, but they rarely have a clue what love is. Love is partnering together with a commitment to chase a prize together. Love is supporting each other, encouraging each other, working together. What I love about Dancing with the Stars is seeing TRUE LOVE in action. I see two people that see each other sweaty, frustrated, angry, and worn out, and they still love. No one ever bails because the other person fails. They just pick back up and go back to work. True partnership. True love.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Debating the Truth - not the best choice
I like to debate. I get into debates with strangers on Facebook quite often and usually end up angry or trying to beat someone's head in with my words. I regret this and have been trying not to engage in this manner. I don't think it does any good. I usually end up just leaving the conversation and biting my fingers when the other person continues to argue. I still have a lot of room to grow, but I want to share a little of that process and what I have been learning.
The first point I have to ask myself is 'are you more interested in being "right" or making human connections and loving people?' When two people get into a debate, they are seeking a win/lose outcome usually (to convince the other person to come over to their side of the argument). That isn't good. It's not worth the "win" if someone else is left feeling defeated. And really, does anyone ever change their mind through these type of conversations?
There are times when I have sought to find common ground from which to build my case and found that we have totally different foundational truths. That befuddled me. To me truth is obvious, but I had to realize that probably everyone feels that way. We all learn truth based on our experiences. That means we can all come to a different conclusion. I do believe in ultimate truth in Jesus Christ, but that is a moot point when talking to someone who does not hold that same belief. In order to debate or even just explain your point of view, you must find common truth. I still don't have a clue what to do when the bottom line doesn't match up.
A great example of this has come up in our culture a lot lately. People from religious backgrounds that believe in the Word of God that tells them homosexuality is wrong often begin to question that truth when they find that their child, or someone else they love believes they are gay. This issue has shaken many a family. They begin to question the Bible, their faith, God... How could this person that I love, who is going through hell in their identity, be sinning? How can God be right in this situation? Their truth begins to be shaken because of their personal experience. Before they had this experience, they would argue til they're blue in the face that homosexuality is a sin.
(From my perspective, understanding both sides of this issue, I do not believe there should be a crisis of faith. I believe God's word is true, therefore, freedom must be available to the person who believes they are gay. (and btw, having the feelings is not a sin - only acting on them, just like any other sin) The family should never disown or hate their child, they should continue to love as they always have. This issue has been so divisive, but it doesn't have to be. It's just the religious mindset that says we should shun only certain kinds of sinners that is in the way. Jesus taught us to love. Truth is, we are all sinners in need of Jesus.) So in this situation, I would say the religious folk had a wrong understanding of the Bible to begin with, not in that homosexuality is listed as sin, but in that sinners should be shunned or disowned. They reach a place of realizing that their heart won't let them shun the child and instead of realizing shunning isn't called for in the Bible, they decide the Bible is wrong about homosexuality. But still, my point is that personal experience shapes our version of truth.
I recently attended a class at church called Brave Communication taught by Bethel's Dann Farrelly. It was only an intro, but he gave a couple pointers for what our mindset should be when going into a "confrontation." He said to seek first to understand, then to be understood. In other words, try to see where the other person is coming from. I think we often think people are being stupid and stubborn and we must convince them to see things our way. Maybe if we lost that initial mindset, we could consider the possibility that maybe they have a specific reason for believing the way they do. If we tried to understand, maybe we'd have a better chance of finding unity instead of having a win/lose outcome. This helps us when truth isn't the same for the two people involved. If I understand a person's experience that led them to their truth, I have a better chance of loving them in seeing their point of view. Listen first, don't just talk and force your own point.
We don't have to agree with someone to love them, if we did, we'd have no friends. It's ok to disagree with people, as long as we act in love. When disagreement equals hatred, we have a bigger problem on our hands. I see our culture believing that we must all agree on everything and it's tearing us apart. Do you see any benefit from all this fighting over issues? We are more divided than ever as a nation, trying to bully everyone into joining our "side." United States of America? Not anymore. We seriously need to lose our "us vs. them" mentality and start seeing ourselves as parts of a whole.
I believe that if we seek first to understand, we have a better chance of making a connection and building relationship and restoring our culture. A person who feels heard, feels safe and valued. A person who feels attacked in a debate will not be very open to hearing what you have to say, nor being convinced of what you say. I do not mean we should listen as a form of manipulation, but with a heart to build connections and find unity. I need serious help in this area! I want to grow. Who is with me?
The first point I have to ask myself is 'are you more interested in being "right" or making human connections and loving people?' When two people get into a debate, they are seeking a win/lose outcome usually (to convince the other person to come over to their side of the argument). That isn't good. It's not worth the "win" if someone else is left feeling defeated. And really, does anyone ever change their mind through these type of conversations?
There are times when I have sought to find common ground from which to build my case and found that we have totally different foundational truths. That befuddled me. To me truth is obvious, but I had to realize that probably everyone feels that way. We all learn truth based on our experiences. That means we can all come to a different conclusion. I do believe in ultimate truth in Jesus Christ, but that is a moot point when talking to someone who does not hold that same belief. In order to debate or even just explain your point of view, you must find common truth. I still don't have a clue what to do when the bottom line doesn't match up.
A great example of this has come up in our culture a lot lately. People from religious backgrounds that believe in the Word of God that tells them homosexuality is wrong often begin to question that truth when they find that their child, or someone else they love believes they are gay. This issue has shaken many a family. They begin to question the Bible, their faith, God... How could this person that I love, who is going through hell in their identity, be sinning? How can God be right in this situation? Their truth begins to be shaken because of their personal experience. Before they had this experience, they would argue til they're blue in the face that homosexuality is a sin.
(From my perspective, understanding both sides of this issue, I do not believe there should be a crisis of faith. I believe God's word is true, therefore, freedom must be available to the person who believes they are gay. (and btw, having the feelings is not a sin - only acting on them, just like any other sin) The family should never disown or hate their child, they should continue to love as they always have. This issue has been so divisive, but it doesn't have to be. It's just the religious mindset that says we should shun only certain kinds of sinners that is in the way. Jesus taught us to love. Truth is, we are all sinners in need of Jesus.) So in this situation, I would say the religious folk had a wrong understanding of the Bible to begin with, not in that homosexuality is listed as sin, but in that sinners should be shunned or disowned. They reach a place of realizing that their heart won't let them shun the child and instead of realizing shunning isn't called for in the Bible, they decide the Bible is wrong about homosexuality. But still, my point is that personal experience shapes our version of truth.
I recently attended a class at church called Brave Communication taught by Bethel's Dann Farrelly. It was only an intro, but he gave a couple pointers for what our mindset should be when going into a "confrontation." He said to seek first to understand, then to be understood. In other words, try to see where the other person is coming from. I think we often think people are being stupid and stubborn and we must convince them to see things our way. Maybe if we lost that initial mindset, we could consider the possibility that maybe they have a specific reason for believing the way they do. If we tried to understand, maybe we'd have a better chance of finding unity instead of having a win/lose outcome. This helps us when truth isn't the same for the two people involved. If I understand a person's experience that led them to their truth, I have a better chance of loving them in seeing their point of view. Listen first, don't just talk and force your own point.
We don't have to agree with someone to love them, if we did, we'd have no friends. It's ok to disagree with people, as long as we act in love. When disagreement equals hatred, we have a bigger problem on our hands. I see our culture believing that we must all agree on everything and it's tearing us apart. Do you see any benefit from all this fighting over issues? We are more divided than ever as a nation, trying to bully everyone into joining our "side." United States of America? Not anymore. We seriously need to lose our "us vs. them" mentality and start seeing ourselves as parts of a whole.
I believe that if we seek first to understand, we have a better chance of making a connection and building relationship and restoring our culture. A person who feels heard, feels safe and valued. A person who feels attacked in a debate will not be very open to hearing what you have to say, nor being convinced of what you say. I do not mean we should listen as a form of manipulation, but with a heart to build connections and find unity. I need serious help in this area! I want to grow. Who is with me?
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Beauty
Not my typical subject, but for some reason I couldn't get this out of my head this morning, so here goes. Recently a friend has been pinning things like this....
We would call the image on the left beautiful right? This is something that has disgusted me since I was young. I remember once telling my pastor's wife that make-up was a mask, a fake thing that I didn't want anything to do with. I wanted someone to love me for me. That opinion of mine has been beat down over and over for years. Well, I'm not going to be shut down on this one.
About 10 years ago I was subjected to a Macy's makeover and then paraded in front of the boys of the class to be told I was now beautiful. They seemed to think that was what I wanted to hear, but it only made me more disgusted with them, and with the women who had subjected me to this hideous torture. Did they really have no clue as to the message they were sending? I am only beautiful with a new paint job. I am not beautiful as God created me.
To men who want that woman on the left, I would say you don't deserve her unless you can love and appreciate the beauty of the woman on the right. If you want the one on the left and you praise her for her beauty in this state only, I laugh at the cosmetic bills you will face in your future as she desperately strives to maintain this outer facade that you will cherish and adore. She will forever be insecure and unloved because she knows that you don't find her beautiful unless she is totally fake.
If a woman believes she is loved "as is" she may still choose to put on the makeup, to dress nice, to "look pretty" - but she does it because she wants to, not because she has to. A woman in love with a man in love with her will be able to be truly beautiful because she is secure and feels loved. There is nothing that makes a woman more beautiful than knowing she is truly loved exactly the way she is.
I have never believed myself to be beautiful, an opinion validated over and over by society and my peers, but I'm not going to do anything about it. I am who I am, and if you don't like what God created, that's your problem. I can't help how He made me. Sure, I've added 50 pounds to my frame, and that is my fault, but other than that, I can't change it. If you can only see the outside, you won't ever find out what kind of person I am. Your loss, because I'm amazing! If I were to suddenly lose the 50 pounds, start dressing fashionably and cover my face in makeup, would you love me then? Would you prefer it if I were a fake? I guess we'll never find out because I know who I am and I won't put on the mask to please anyone. I want to be loved for who I am, not who others want me to be.
I saw this video recently of Dustin Hoffman - I found it to be an incredible commentary. Watch and see what Dustin discovered...
On the flip side of the coin, I've noticed that girls are starting to show a much more shallow side as well. I have pondered posting this as a status update, but figured it would be odd out of context. I wanted to post - Are good looking people better at sex? - Odd question sure, but based on what I see in social media, that seems to be the underlying belief. So many pictures of hot guys with great abs and a girl commenting "I would do him" or something just as profound. Really? You would give your most precious self to someone for simply being born outwardly beautiful? No attempt to discover if he is a man worthy of your trust, a man with any depth of character at all, just good abs and a pretty face. No wonder there is so much pain in the world from misplaced sexual favors.
So.... bottom line.... when will we stop judging people for what they look like and realize that we were all dealt a certain hand and we had no say in it? Will you take the mature path and look for inner beauty or continue to miss out on some really great people ? I too am guilty of this, so I share my own process of thought with you.
P.S. -- I like a beautiful face or body as much as the next person, but it has never been cause for me to want to marry / sleep with said person. I view it like I'd view a nice sunset or a beautiful tiger. Beauty is great, but let's just make sure it is what it is and we don't devalue people because we don't think they are beautiful on the outside.
Introduction
I have finally decided to start a blog for my random musing throughout the day. I often get fired up over things I read or see and want to share my thoughts on the subject. Facebook isn't really the format for this type of writing, so I moved over to an official blog site. Of course I will post my link to Facebook for those who wish to read.
The title is based on my opinion of opinions. :) We all have lived a life that is different than everyone else. We each develop a worldview based on that life we have experienced. My title is my attempt to convey that my thoughts are my thoughts based on my life experience. I love a good debate / discussion with someone of an opposing viewpoint, but only as long as it remains civil and we both remember that our thoughts are based on "Through my eyes." I believe that this is the only way progress can happen. If you are rude, I will not want to listen to why you believe as you do, leaving us in opposition. If you and I are both willing to be respectful and open minded, I think we can both learn from each other and gain understanding and compassion. This is the path to peace and unity in society. I do not have to agree with you to love you and respect you.
Since this is my blog, I will be stating my opinion. I will moderate comments and delete any that do not seem to fit that basic requirement. I will allow opposing thoughts that are civil and respectful.
Thank you for your consideration.
The title is based on my opinion of opinions. :) We all have lived a life that is different than everyone else. We each develop a worldview based on that life we have experienced. My title is my attempt to convey that my thoughts are my thoughts based on my life experience. I love a good debate / discussion with someone of an opposing viewpoint, but only as long as it remains civil and we both remember that our thoughts are based on "Through my eyes." I believe that this is the only way progress can happen. If you are rude, I will not want to listen to why you believe as you do, leaving us in opposition. If you and I are both willing to be respectful and open minded, I think we can both learn from each other and gain understanding and compassion. This is the path to peace and unity in society. I do not have to agree with you to love you and respect you.
Since this is my blog, I will be stating my opinion. I will moderate comments and delete any that do not seem to fit that basic requirement. I will allow opposing thoughts that are civil and respectful.
Thank you for your consideration.
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