This week i am not going to talk about politics, instead i want to talk about a growing trend among Christians these days, one which i am guilty of as well. The trend is this, for many Christians these days, the question that they ask themselves when it comes to making decisions is, "how much can i get away with before i fall over the edge?" Now let me explain exactly what i mean by this. They ask themselves, whats wrong with the movies and TV shows i watch?I am not actually partaking in these sins myself. Or, why shouldn't i go to this party, it's not like I'm going to do anything bad at it. Basically what they are saying is, if there is nothing "technically" wrong with it, and as long as I'm not doing it myself, than what's the problem with it.
Philippians 4:8 says: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Folks, the question should not be how far can i get away from the bulls eye, which is Jesus and His Word, but the question should be, how close can i get to it. Well sure i may not be actually committing any of the acts that are going on in this film, or, well of course i would never be committing the sinful acts that others are caring on at this party. But does that really matter, does the Lord not judge our hearts and our minds as well as our actions? We should ask ourselves, is there anything good or wholesome in this film? Is there anything honorable going on at this party?
Why do we always race to the question of whether we can technically get away with it and justify it to ourselves in our minds? The obvious reason is sin, but it goes deeper than that. We get to that point when we are no longer delving into God's word on a daily basis, when the Word of God is no longer our water and bread, our source of life. If we were to look at the life of Paul, did he sit and wonder what he could get away with? NO, he was asking himself what he could do to get closer to God. In closing, i know i am far from perfect on this issue, but let us all start afresh and shoot for the bulls eye, not the outer ring.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
A few questions
This past Monday, March 02, 2009 I had the amazing opportunity to volunteer with the Justice For All (JFA) exhibit. For those who have never heard of JFA, what it is, is a pro-life group that goes to college campuses all across the country talking to college students about abortion. What is particularly amazing about this group though is that they set up a twenty feet tall triangle exhibit with graphic pictures of what abortions actually look like and other things of that nature. While I was there volunteering with the group, I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of different people about abortion. Now for those who told me that they were very pro-life and thought that all abortion was wrong, I asked them a simple question. Well, what are you doing to try and stop this genocide? Are you a member of the pro-life group here on campus? Every single time the answer was no. I than asked them one more question. When are you going to care enough to do something about it? When the death toll reaches 100 million? 200 million? That is the question that I ask everybody that reads this blog post, when are we going to care enough to rise up and stop the injustices and abuses that are going on in today’s society? When America crashes and burns? When the death toll of those tiny infants reaches 100 million? When Christ is completely thrown out and rejected by our entire society? Now I want to make something clear, we may not be able to stop our economy and our Country from completely crashing and burning. We may not be able to stop America from completely rejecting Christ and we may not be able to stop the genocide of infants. However, that gives us no excuse to not be active in fighting back against those who would seek to destroy us. When Paul was beaten and persecuted for the sake of Christ, he did not give up, but kept right no fighting. When the Romans tried to blame the destruction of Rome on the Christians, St. Augustine fought back and wrote one of the greatest books ever, The City of God, in defense of the Christians. So let us not be apathetic in the fight for our country and our God. Rather let us do all we can to bring this country back to where we came from, for only there will God once again bless us as a nation.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Scripture, Pragmatism, or Neither?
In 1945, a series of trials began which would deal with one of the most important questions on ethics that would be raised in the twentieth century. This trial would look into the activities of 24 men and 6 different organizations, who killed thousands of people. The killing was legal under their laws. They followed the orders of their superiors. Why were they convicted? Why could the court judge the standard for their laws and say that they were wrong? If you have not already guessed, I am referring to the Nuremberg trials. This trial, which convicted the Nazi leaders of murder, stated that it was wrong to kill the millions of people despite laws which allowed such action. The question that this trial bring to mind is, "What is the standard for judging the legitimacy of any policy decision? In several discussion online and in person, many individuals questioned whether or not we should use the scriptures to argue our positions. That is the question I wish to answer.
First, we must realize that whether we like it or not, we will argue with a standard either assumed or stated outright. The problem is when we don't argue with the scripture as our authority, we stoop to rationalism and ultimately we can't defend our beliefs exclusively from a rationalistic mindset. I am not saying that rationalism will never convince someone of your views, but when it comes down to the actual reason for supporting or opposing a position we must know and be able to defend our standard for truth. Why was it wrong to kill millions of people? Why is it wrong to discriminate against a particular race? Why is it wrong to take money from one person and give it to another?
We can say, "It's not our life to take." I ask, "Why?" We can say, "Everyone is equal." I ask, "Why?" We can say, "The citizen earned the money and they should spend it." I ask
"Why?"
Ultimately, if God's commands are not the standard then there is no reason to oppose any of these views. We are left with nothing, except what man decides is best.
Second, we see that the founders themselves had this mindset when they brought this country into existence. Here are just a few of those quotes:
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and the freedom of worship here."--Patrick Henry
"Suppose a nation in some of distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conducts by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God... What an Utopia, what a Paradise would this region be."--John Adams
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure, when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the mind of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are to not be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice can not sleep forever."--Thomas Jefferson
"Where as it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor..."--George Washington
Today, we are faced with a question, "Will we stand on God's Word and not be ashamed, or will we stoop low and argue pragmatically and lose the real battle in the process?" The political and theological issues we face today are very important, but if we are ashamed of using the only infallible source and standard on the face of the earth, because people don't believe them, then what have we won? In reality, we have lost! There was once a gentleman who went on a talkshow to discuss the legitimacy of homosexuality. The man was a Christian. He believed the Word of God should be the standard in all areas of life, but when it came to this radio talk show, he decided that it would be better to not bring up the scriptures. When the radio talk show host asked him why he opposed homosexual marriage he said, "I don't support homosexual marriage because the couple is not able to reproduce." The host smiled and said if that is your reason then why should men and women be allowed to marry if they are not able to reproduce? The host had won. In fact, I would argue that he had won before this gentleman ever entered the studio, because he had left the only weapon which could win the battle at the door. Once again, I am not saying that we should not use rationalism at all to support our points, but we should use it within a framework of Biblical reasoning. The question I leave you with is "Will we as Christians refuse to use the Word of God and "win" the battle or will we refuse to compromise and win the war?"
First, we must realize that whether we like it or not, we will argue with a standard either assumed or stated outright. The problem is when we don't argue with the scripture as our authority, we stoop to rationalism and ultimately we can't defend our beliefs exclusively from a rationalistic mindset. I am not saying that rationalism will never convince someone of your views, but when it comes down to the actual reason for supporting or opposing a position we must know and be able to defend our standard for truth. Why was it wrong to kill millions of people? Why is it wrong to discriminate against a particular race? Why is it wrong to take money from one person and give it to another?
We can say, "It's not our life to take." I ask, "Why?" We can say, "Everyone is equal." I ask, "Why?" We can say, "The citizen earned the money and they should spend it." I ask
"Why?"
Ultimately, if God's commands are not the standard then there is no reason to oppose any of these views. We are left with nothing, except what man decides is best.
Second, we see that the founders themselves had this mindset when they brought this country into existence. Here are just a few of those quotes:
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and the freedom of worship here."--Patrick Henry
"Suppose a nation in some of distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conducts by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God... What an Utopia, what a Paradise would this region be."--John Adams
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure, when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the mind of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are to not be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice can not sleep forever."--Thomas Jefferson
"Where as it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor..."--George Washington
Today, we are faced with a question, "Will we stand on God's Word and not be ashamed, or will we stoop low and argue pragmatically and lose the real battle in the process?" The political and theological issues we face today are very important, but if we are ashamed of using the only infallible source and standard on the face of the earth, because people don't believe them, then what have we won? In reality, we have lost! There was once a gentleman who went on a talkshow to discuss the legitimacy of homosexuality. The man was a Christian. He believed the Word of God should be the standard in all areas of life, but when it came to this radio talk show, he decided that it would be better to not bring up the scriptures. When the radio talk show host asked him why he opposed homosexual marriage he said, "I don't support homosexual marriage because the couple is not able to reproduce." The host smiled and said if that is your reason then why should men and women be allowed to marry if they are not able to reproduce? The host had won. In fact, I would argue that he had won before this gentleman ever entered the studio, because he had left the only weapon which could win the battle at the door. Once again, I am not saying that we should not use rationalism at all to support our points, but we should use it within a framework of Biblical reasoning. The question I leave you with is "Will we as Christians refuse to use the Word of God and "win" the battle or will we refuse to compromise and win the war?"
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