holy long time, Batman!

to be honest, I'd more or less forgotten I even had a blog. I used to blog a fair amount back in the day (and by "fair amount," I mean I'd have stretches of a month or so where I'd blog followed by years where I wouldn't). anyway, I've been contemplating blogging for a few months now, and I said I'd review some material from Logos on here, so I may as well get back into the swing of things by trying to put thoughts on screen again.

I had a post rolling around in my head on the drive home from work today. Bethany wasn't with me, otherwise I would've had her write down some of my thoughts so I could remember. I'll probably try and compose it later, but the post was going to be a brief examination of the question of whether God knew Adam would sin. I've heard recently of a church that some friends go to where God set things in motion without knowing the outcome (that's really butchering the concept, by the way - I'm stating a complex concept as concisely as possible, so bear with me). I've also heard of a few churches that believe God created Adam to sin. I have my opinion, of course, and I'm not the best at being able to present all sides accurately, so what I intend to do is set up what I think the Bible says and then try to come up with objections. no promises it'll be any good, but hey, that's what comments are for.

speaking of Logos, I've more or less sold out to them as hard as I've sold out to Google. I'm doing grad school through them, I've got their highest base package, I've got our church using their presentation software, and I'd get a tattoo of them on my body if I thought it'd be proper (kinda hard to justify that one to the church board). aside from doing a review of some of their material that I said I'd do (Abraham: Following God's Promise - Complete Church Curriculum), I'll probably be describing my experiences with their software from time to time. likely I'll be talking about the classes I'm taking in future posts, assuming I'm able to get my work done within a reasonable time frame. I'd hate to find a new distraction, I've got enough of them already.

raw emotions

seeing them in other people usually affect me. I'd imagine they affect most people. regardless, this particular song, esp. the last 1:35, makes me want to cry listening to it. funny, it was only after listening to the agony in his voice that I started thinking about what he was singing.

sitting in the haze of incense smoke

I'll preface with my growing awareness of an ever-increasing cynicism of American Christianity. I shouldn't be, but I'm comfortably distant from my target and can call out criticisms without fear of retribution. it's a luxury of a lazy bloke with nothing present to fight.

I was talking to my coworker yesterday. he's led an interesting life, to be sure. he's a fairly opinionated feller and is willing to share with just about anyone who has a somewhat-functioning cochlear nerve. I forget why the discussion came up, be we were talking religion again. why I do this to myself, I'll never know; perhaps because I feel like I can get a word in edgewise given my familiarity with the subject. plus he knows my pastoral training. not that it ever inclines him to make inquiries on my behalf, but it's still something to talk about regardless. but I digress.

he made the comment that he'd spent a fair amount of time in the foster care system while growing up. he's spent a fair amount of time doing just about everything, so this didn't surprise me too much. he did say, though, that the best homes to live in were the Mormon homes and the worst homes to live in were the Catholic homes. I believe we must've been talking about Christians using one another, or something along those lines. regardless, it made me think for a sec.

my immediate thought had to do with Mormon culture. my coworker mentioned how much Mormons gave to the church, mentioning something along the lines of a 90% tithe rate at the particular church he went to with this foster care family. he's one for exaggeration, so I'm sure this is skewed a bit. anyway, what got me thinking was the difference between Mormonism or any other religion that usually sounds like its adherents are decent chaps, and Christianity and how its adherents are ridiculed for not following the golden rule.

so finally, the point of the post: my thought. I wonder if perhaps those Mormons behaved well, took care of their family and foster kids, and paid out a lot of tithes because they had to earn their spot in heaven. I'm not sure on the particulars, but given that following Christ is the only religion that doesn't involve earning salvation, it's a safe assumption that this is the case for Mormonism (and I've heard the stories about 3 heavens etc.) I wondered right after that if perhaps the reason the Christian homes were so bad to my coworker because those were the homes where salvation was "entitled" to the occupants. sounds fairly American to me, again with the whole cynicism thing.

whether these thoughts of mine are reality or a gross farce, it still makes me want to rant at what I'm supremely susceptible to becoming. in a nation where the most-honored are those who have earned everything for themselves and the most-hated are those who have been given everything, it is no wonder "free" salvation has become so mutilated. my coworker mentioned the heavy restrictions and policies imposed by his Catholic caretakers. free anything is an abhorrence to American thought, at least when it comes to position and status. if you're the receiver of this free position, you hungrily take all of it for granted. if you're watching, you hate the new position-grubber.

so free salvation can't be free. it has to have restrictions, rules, regulations with heavy punishments for deviation. the Christian and Catholic homes would be awful for a dude like my coworker. the Mormon homes, who are earning their salvation directly instead of fabricating ways indirectly to earn it, would be a safe and easy place for my coworker.

I would hope I'm not naive enough to think this is the case across the board. human nature is human nature and there are members from across the gamut in any religion. still, for some reason this makes sense in my head why I've become cynical of the religion I prescribe to. because I'm insulated, safe, hidden, and an easy accuser of wrongs to the face of my "club".

today's musings

I had a pondering today at work. I was on my way to Home Depot to grab some materials for the day in the company flatbed truck. I passed a car parked on the side of the road that had the contents of the trunk on the ground, the spare tire out, and a man on a cell phone. I blasted on past to pick up the material at Home Depot before continuing up to the job.

but I started wondering. I remember a study recently that showed most Christians won't stop and help someone if they are in some kind of rush to be somewhere. I'm guilty of that, given today's events, but still...I almost feel like the non-Samaritans in the Good Samaritan story.

I would've done a disservice to my boss if I had stopped though. would've cost him money. whether I think he should worry about money or not is not my place; what is my place is to perform for him the best I can, as if performing unto God Himself.

so really I was faced with two rather lame options. stop and help the guy, feel good about myself for helping someone in need, and get chewed up and down by the boss for wasting his time. OR, blast on past the guy, getting to the jobsite as quickly as possible to finish as quickly as possible, and save the boss money.

I was left figuring I had to choose the lesser of two evils, but I'm not sure I actually chose the lesser of two evils.

bemusings

saw someone tweet this weekend, a big-name pastor, the well-rehearsed phrase: "Land of the free, home of the brave!"

think it had to do with America in the Olympics.

Land of the free, home of the brave

kind of pompous, arrogant. definitively American. very much "in your face" about American values. the free and brave are in America, duh. of course it's lyrics included in our national anthem, and I'm sure it only makes sense for them to be there.

Land of the free because of the brave

someone's slightly humorous twist on the lyrics. someone who is pro-military, obviously. you can't have national "freedom" without the brave souls fighting and dying to establish and maintain said freedom. still somewhat arrogant, mainly in the idea that the freedom in America is the only true freedom around.

I don't like either one. I don't believe in American freedom. as far as I'm concerned, it's more of a curse than a blessing.

so I propose this change. and I'd emphatically propose it to American Christians, aimed specifically at the egocentric and nation-centric ideals of American Christians.

Global church: home of the free because of Jesus Christ

oversimplified perhaps. the American church isn't better than the Iranian church or the Chinese church or the Russian church or the French church or even the Vietnam church. We all worship Jesus, we all are joined together by His blood, and we are all equal to each other because of it.

and Christian freedom is true freedom. American freedom isn't. the latter, you can attain as a human being through birth, rituals, proscription to a particular national agenda, placement at opportune times in a country's independence day, etc. the key: it's humanly attainable. the former, is not humanly attainable. it is based on nothing I do, rather on the work of Jesus Christ. it's not a club, it's a humbling admittance of inferiority and inadequacy.

I'd submit that neither of those words are comfortable in an American vocabulary.

speaking of ramifications

the current sermon series at church has been on David and his long journey to kingship over Israel. tonights sermon dealt with Saul and the witch of Endor (as Beff put it, she was an ewok) vs. David's inquiry of the Lord whether he should take revenge of the sack of Ziklag by the Amalekites. the point of the sermon was Saul's response to fear at the sight of the Philistine army was to find a quick fix (the Lord wasn't responding to his requests, so he did what he shouldn't to get an answer) whereas David's response to being at the bottom of the pit of despair was to take strength in the Lord. there was a lot more involved, and the two experiences were tied together better than what I just presented, but I'm not trying to relay the whole sermon, just give a brief recap.

cause I was reading while pastor Brandon was speaking, and noticed that Samuel condemned Saul to die for not executing God's judgment on the Amalekites.

and David's city (where all of his wives and children, and the wives and children of his followers who wanted to stone him after the sacking) was razed by the Amalekites.

Saul failed in his responsibility. and it cost David.

I'm sure the connection has been made a lot, and perhaps I'd heard it before, but for whatever reason I just put it together. Saul's failure cost David. David's faithfulness restored him and his men.

my failure won't just cost me. Saul lost his life, and his sons were cut off as well, because of his failure, but his mistake cost more than just his own life.

I'd better be awfully darn careful with what I do and keep myself from screwing up, cause I may be ruining someone else's life too.

when in Rome

I'm helping Bethany lead a small group for church. sign-ups started today, lasting through the beginning of February. it's a small group that aims to help a local charity organization. the whole acting out your faith thing.

certainly hope I'm ready to put my money where my mouth is. I'd rather not put my foot where my mouth is.