Sometimes HATE Feels Like LOVE

Introduction

     People love to hate, but I would assert that it isn't our natural tendency.  From an early age, we are told what is right and wrong.  This alone would be great; all people need a sort of moral compass taught to them when they are too young to understand the world around them, but we are also told to hang out with the "right" people and avoid the "wrong" people.  Since these values are taught at such a young age, they are ingrained in us; this creates the false illusion that hate is love.  The reality of this is that, for many of us, hate feels just like love.

God is Love vs. God is Just: What is Just?

     On a crisp clear night in the bustling cityscape of New York, two friends bump into one another.  Gabe and Drake had grown up together; they lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same church most of their lives.  Both Gabe and Drake went away to college and didn't see each other or talk much during the school year.  Tonight they had randomly met while walking through their peacefully noisy city.  Two years had passed since they had last had an in-depth conversation and tonight would be the night to change that.

Jesus and the Cross - Theories of Atonement

Jesus is NOT the Cross

     Why did Jesus, the centerpiece of Christianity die?  It's interesting how many people believe that the cross was the way Jesus paid our debt to God (or the Devil). There is absolutely no doubt that Jesus died for our sin. But some people think He died because of our sins and some think He died to forgive our sins.  There is a distinct separation between the two and there is no shortage of people ready to speculate on them.  Some say Jesus paid our debt to God, others say He paid the Devil, and still others say He led by example.  These ideas have been debated throughout history, but one idea of Penal Substitution has dominated the playing field for almost 1,000 years.  However, it has recently been challenged by the very ideas that it had silenced so many years before.  Penal Substitution is a refinement of a slightly older idea known as Satisfaction.  For the thousand years before Penal Substitution was created, two ideas were formed about the death of Jesus.  One was Ransom, and the other was Moral Influence.  The more prevalent of the two was Moral Influence.

Why Matt Walsh's Spanking Arguments Ultimately Fail

REFUTING MATT WALSH ON SPANKING

INTRODUCTION

     I just finished reading Matt Walsh's new blog from yesterday (09/18/2014) entitled "Spanking is a disciplinary measure, not child abuse. Get a grip, people."  I am almost unable to retain my composure in responding to this, not because I am angry, but because his arguments are the most laughable serious arguments that I've ever read.  Matt completely butchered philosophical arguments and basic logic.  I say philosophical arguments because any arguments pertaining to morality automatically fall under the category of philosophy.  I will not only refute Matt's, but I will fix his arguments.  My position personally is that spanking is wrong, but any good philosopher/debater can argue from both sides effectively.  For the purposes of this blog, I will only be refuting the general points rather than traveling deep into the intricacies of the points because his points are so ridiculous and paper thin that they can be refuted at the basic level, let alone on a deeper, more complex level.

Them is Just Us without the Justice

Us vs. Them is a dangerous place to be.
Us vs. Them breeds a violent mentality.
Us vs. Them turns brother against brother.
Us vs. Them turns sister against sister.
Us vs. Them turns children against children.
Us vs. Them turns citizen against citizen.
Us vs. Them turns fishin' into lynchin'.
Us vs. Them turns the playground into a battleground.
Us vs. Them turns children into soldiers.
Us vs. Them turns belts into holsters.

Biblical Creation vs. The Big Bang

Introduction

     “In the beginning there was…” can lead to complete concurrence or dissension depending on what completes that statement.  If the Evolutionary theory is added to complete the statement, then you will have the scientists’ concurrence and the Christians’ dissension.  If Biblical creation completes that statement, then you will have the Christians’ concurrence and the scientists’ dissension.  There are also various positions that find themselves in-between the two sides; some Christians believe in the Evolutionary theory, while some scientists are Christians and believe their Bible.  This paper focuses on the argument between Christians who believe that the Bible is clear about creation, the scientists who believe that science paints a different picture, and the ever-increasing middle ground that sees both sides coinciding rather than contradicting the other.  It also will be written under the assumption that God exists.  Many Christians tend to demonize science because it seems to revoke their traditional values; however, scientists see their work as not revoking traditional values, but progressing onto better values.  A good example of this in another realm would be that slavery was a traditional value and seemed to be Biblical, but it was morally wrong and we progressed onto a better set of ethics, which were better supported by the Bible than slavery was.

Grace / Law

     The “Grace/Law” picture at first glance conveys a message of Jesus the Christ’s grace being sufficient for all religions and beliefs.  It also shows the law dying on the cross, which would remove the notion of sin in the world.  This is very controversial in Christianity today and there is great criticism between the grace and law messages, as well as all of those in between.  The letters of grace each represent a belief system; the beliefs being Evolution, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Gender Equality respectively.  The cross has the Ten Commandments nailed to each arm representing the law being fulfilled through Jesus’ death.  The cross also reinforces this idea with the words, “The Law Fulfilled” engraved on it.

Jesus and the Cross

     Jesus' death on the cross doesn't really make sense as a sacrifice, but His death to fleshly desires does. We are called to be Christ-like and are called to be living sacrifices, so wouldn't it be safe to venture that Jesus' sacrifice was a living sacrifice? Sacrifice for atonement of sins was a specific practice for the ancient Hebrews and was nothing like what Jesus did for us on the cross. Sacrifice for the Hebrews consisted of choosing an animal without blemishes, projecting their sins onto the animal, slaughtering the animal, and laying it before God. Jesus came and was set before God at His baptism, slaughtered His flesh in the desert when He was tempted by Satan, projected His cleanliness onto us, and rose again because He was perfect in the sight of God.

Genesis Chapter 1

     Genesis chapter one is a very controversial chapter and is commonly targeted by atheists in an attempt to disprove the rest of the Bible.  The thought process seems to be that if you can disprove that God created the world, then you can disprove that God exists entirely.  The issue with this is that they have helped the Biblical creation account more than they have hurt it.  I will follow with an in depth study of Genesis chapter one using the New American Standard Bible, which is agreed upon by most scholars as the most accurate word for word translation from Hebrew/Greek to English that we currently have available.

Jonah and the Whale

     In the book of Jonah we read a story about a man named Jonah who was supposed to go to Nineveh in order to warn them of God's wrath and to urge them to change their ways.  Jonah, however, decides that the people of Nineveh did not deserve God's grace and ought to be damned as a result of their disobedience.  Thinking theses things, Jonah ran from God and took a ship in the opposite direction.  A storm ends up raging over the ship that he was on and the crew starts asking why they are in this storm.  Jonah then admits that he has disobeyed God and he is thrown overboard.  When Jonah is thrown overboard, a whale catches him in its mouth, carries him to Nineveh, and spits him on the shore.  While Jonah was in the whale, he recognizes God's sovereignty and realizes that God showed him grace even when he refused to show the people of Nineveh the same grace.  Jonah, then goes to Nineveh and warns them of God's wrath and they change their ways.

Science or Christianity: Why Not Both?

     We see a common trend between scientists and theologians in the world today and it seems to be a competition of who is right and who is wrong.  This is a major issue because neither side will ever when because they are looking at two separate issues: the scientists are concerned with how and the theologians are concerned with why.  You can't argue against how with why any more than you can argue against why with how.  Imagine two parties examining a mouse trap and the first is studying how the mouse trap is built and how it works, whereas the second is studying why it was built in the first place.  Now lets assume that they come to a realization about how and why the mouse trap was built.  It was built with a block of wood, a spring, and some metal (there are obviously more details, but lets keep it simple) and when a plate is pushed down the spring releases the metal and it smashes into the wood.  The purpose of the mouse trap is to kill a mouse.  Now how ridiculous would it be for the first group to tell the second group that it is not meant to kill mice because it is wood, a spring, and some metal and it only clamps down when it is moved; it would be equally ridiculous for the second group to tell the first that it doesn't clamp down and kill the mice, it just kills them.  Do you see how ignorant this sounds?  This is an extreme example, but it is exactly what is going on today.  The scientists know for a fact that the earth is more than 6,000 years old, but they have no idea why it came to be in the first place and try to use how the earth is more than 6,000 years old to prove that God doesn't exist.  The theologians are just as bad; they try to tell scientists that the world has to be 6,000 years old because God created it.  Neither of these arguments make any sense, but you may say, "The Bible clearly shows that the world is 6,000 years old because Jesus lived 2,000 years ago, Adam lived 4,000 years before that and God says He created the world in 6 days in the Bible.  My response to that is that God does not say anything in the Bible.  The Bible is inspired by God, not spoken or written by God and the Bible even says so itself*.

What Christianity Is: Faith or Works?

     Many people try to separate faith and works thinking that you have to earn God's favor or that just faith in Christ is enough to be a Christian.  Those who believe that we have to earn God's favor tend to be harsh and judgmental towards others.  However, those who believe that we only have to have faith tend to be overly sympathetic and accepting of sinful acts.  What I believe to be the correct choice is the middle ground: faith and works are the only way to Christianity.

The Difference Between Pastors and Evangelists

      I hear so many "pastors" in the church today speaking about how wrong some Christians and other leaders of the church are for being on the other side of a topic within Christianity and it really bothers me.  Pastoring a church is not about making sure that everyone believes just like you do because the fact is that everyone's beliefs vary slightly because no one has the same understanding or experience as anyone else.  An Evangelist is concerned with whether others share there beliefs or not, not a pastor.  Many "pastors" seem to be more concerned with people agreeing with their belief system than they are of spiritual growth.  The position of a pastor is to help the members of his/her church grow spiritually, not to tell them how they should believe and condemn them when they don't believe that way.  The job of the evangelist is to bring people to their own understandings.  Many "pastors" will argue against this idea by using the shepherd parables from the Bible*.  They will say that it is their job to keep the sheep pointed in the right direction, however, a shepherd is to feed and nourish his sheep to facilitate growth as well as lead the sheep in the right direction.  This "right" direction doesn't mean that the pastor has to conform the congregation to his belief system, but it does mean that he has to give them a general direction and that it is ok for them to waver back and forth because they are all going to the same place as they are all his sheep.  The shepherd is also supposed to protect his sheep, but this doesn't mean that we shouldn't have freedom to explore ideas, it means that the pastor is to be careful of what he allows in his church.  I believe that a great example of the position of a pastor is my Resident Chaplain (RC), Jake.  Jake is a Calvinist and doesn't believe that we have free will to choose God; he believes that God chooses us.  This does not stop Jake from leading Bible studies on our floor and speaking into our lives whether we agree with Calvinism or not because his job is to help us grow in Christ, not to impose his beliefs on us.  Pastoring is not about cloning your own beliefs, but it is about raising up a generation of strong Christians to change the world!  Evangelists on the other hand are the ones who are supposed to bring people to Christ.  Unlike pastors, they are not dealing with people who are already Christians, but are dealing with those who have yet to come to Christ.  Therefore, evangelists are meant to bring people to their own beliefs in Christ and help lead them into a church where they can make their own assumptions about scripture and grow into a healthy relationship with God.

*1 Peter 5:2-4 "2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away."

The Race of Life

     The Bible uses an analogy of running a race to symbolize our walk with God, but most people don't realize that they aren't racing the rest of humanity, but are actually racing Satan to the end of their lives*.  There is only one winner in this race and the winner gets the prize.  If you win, you bring your soul to Christ, but if Satan wins, he takes your soul**.  Too many people believe that the race is with the rest of the world, but this cannot be true because that would mean that Christ is the only one going to heaven; the Bible is clear about there only being one winner in the race*.  This is the race we call life and now that you know the stakes, what are you willing to do to win?

     Our race is not with the world, but with ourselves.  We are not trying to beat out our friends and family, but we are trying to save ourselves and our family from losing the race to Satan.  We focus so much on seeing others who are better in areas of their lives than we are in ours, but how can we compare ourselves to them when we are not even in the same race.  God has made each and every one of us unique and if you don't believe me, just look at your finger tips.  They are one of the smallest parts of your external body and even they are drastically different from every other person in the world.  If we are unique, then we are meant to be different by God's design and why would His plans and callings for our lives be any less unique***?  How can we compare ourselves to others when our callings are different?  Joe may be the most proficient Biblical scholar that you have ever seen and Jamie may be the best singer you have ever heard, but you may be the best public speaker that they have ever seen.  There are things that you are supposed to do that no other person in the world can do and that is something to marvel at.  God separates you from others, so why should you compare yourself to them?  You are in a different race!

     Now that we see that we are not racing others and are actually facing Satan, the issue of knowing how to beat him comes up.  The weapons of our warfare in this race are not physical, but they are in God.  Our weapons are the knowledge of scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit<>.  These weapons are not for use against our fellow man, but are for use against Satan><.  Too many Christians are more concerned with what their brother is doing and not concerned enough with their own path in the race<*>.  I would propose that we stop focusing on others issues and start building up others in Christ so that we all may finish our race first!


*1 Corinthians 9:24-27 -- "24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

**Revelation 20:14 -- "14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death."

***Jeremiah 29:11 -- "11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

<> 2 Corinthians 10:2-5 -- "2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

><Ephesians 6:12 -- "12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

<*>Matthew 7:3-5 -- "3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

Willful Ignorance: The Plague of Christianity

     A major issue that is plaguing Christianity today is willful ignorance.  Willful ignorance is defined by the Urban Dictionary as, "The practice or act of intentional and blatant avoidance, disregard or disagreement with facts, empirical evidence and well-founded [arguments] because they oppose or contradict your own existing personal beliefs." (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=willful%20ignorance)  Ignorance in itself is not wrong; it is actually impossible not to be ignorant because ignorance is just not knowing something.  Willful ignorance is knowing that you don't know something and refusing to learn about it.  Many Christians today believe that willful ignorance is something holy and that you must be ignorant in order to love God.  They will deny fact and say things such as, "If it's not in the Bible, then I don't believe it!" or "I will not read or listen to anything outside of God's word!".  It's just too bad that they believe that God and his words are limited to the Bible.  Do they not know that all knowledge is knowledge because God made it to be so?  Do they not understand that if they believe in the Bible, then the world around them is all God's words that came into being*?
     If you are truly reading the Bible, then you should know that knowledge is something that we are told to attain.  We are told to seek knowledge and to be wise**.  Many Christians would claim that Paul tells us to forsake knowledge and love***, but he tells us that Jesus is the embodiment of knowledge<>.  Are we to forsake Jesus?  What is happening in Christianity today is that many people are missing the point when Paul forsakes knowledge in the wake of love.  What he is saying is that we are not to use knowledge to make ourselves feel important, but we are to love others and build them up.  He further explains this when he claims that knowledge without love is nothing, however, he doesn't say that you cannot have knowledge along with love.  His point in saying all of this is that if you are standing on knowledge alone, you will fall because people will reject you.  What is knowledge if you cannot share it?  However, if you have love, then people will listen and you will have solid ground to stand on and share your knowledge.
     What Christians need to realize is that knowledge is a part of God because He created it and when they abandon knowledge; they are abandoning a part of God.  How could we know things if God had not first given us the ability to?  I will continue to do everything I can to learn because the more I learn, the closer I get to God!

*Genesis 1

**Nearly all of Proverbs

***1 Corinthians 13:7 & 8:1

<>Colossians 2:2-3

Is Jesus or the Bible the (W)word of God?

     Which is the (W)word of God; the Bible or Jesus?  My answer depends on what you mean by word.  If you are using word as the means of communication (the way we generally use words) then it is definitely the Bible.  However, if you are using Word as the power that caused things to happen at God's "word", then my answer would be Jesus.  Too many Christians try to elevate the Bible into the fourth member of the trinity and you cannot do that.  The Bible has an important message, but it is about Jesus and is not the written form of Jesus.  The Bible explains why we are here and tells us of our purpose, but Jesus gives us what the Bible can't, life and power.  The Bible is not the fourth perfect member of the Godhead because that is reserved for the three-in-one.  The Bible is just the means of communication.
     In John 1, it can be seen that Jesus is the power of God. Power in this sense means authority or exousia in Greek.  When God spoke, Jesus was the word that came out and caused things to be*. This is why we see that Jesus had power on Earth during His life to speak things into being; He is the Word that God used. This is also why He told us that anything asked in His name would be done because He is the means of making it happen**.  Jesus is the power, God is the initiator, and the Holy Spirit is the Overseer.  I have already explained how Jesus is the power.  When I say, "God is the initiator", I am referring to the fact that everything was created from God's will and He had a perfect design for it, thus He initiated it***.  God is the one who starts everything.  In saying that "the Holy Spirit is the overseer", I am saying that the Holy Spirit is watching over what has been created and is guiding us in God's perfect plan for our lives.  The Holy Spirit was placed here to guide us and lead us in our following of Christ<>.
     To see the Bible's part in being the word of God, we must look at 2 Timothy 3:16. In this scripture we see that the Bible is the inspired word of God meaning that God revealed Himself in someway to the writers of the Bible and they captured what they saw, heard, or felt in writing that we now recognize as the Bible><. When reading the Bible we must realize that it is in the perspective of the writer of that specific portion of the Bible. If we heard, saw, or felt what God showed them, then we may have noticed and written down something different. If you would like proof of this, then read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and compare the four. All four tell the same story of Christ, yet all say something different because they saw things differently from one another. This does not mean that the Bible is flawed, but that everyone notices something different and the writers wrote down what they thought was most important.

* John 1:1-10 -- "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not."

** John 14:13-14 -- "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."

*** "The Lord God, the great initiator – the story begins One of the things that struck me as I reread the first chapters of Genesis is seeing God as the great initiator – or the central actor in this divine drama.  Watch Him move: “God said” – 15 times in Genesis 1-3 “God made” – 7 times “God saw” – 7 times “God blessed” – 3 times “God commanded” – 1 time  Starting in 2:15, though, is where the drama begins: 2:15 – God “took” and “put” man in the garden that he created for him (setting) 3:9 – God “called” to the man (the tension is building after the fall) 3:21 – God “made” for Adam and eve garments (sacrificial covering for their sin – at the height of climax) 3:23 – God “sent” them out of the garden (resolution)" http://r3cru.com/2010/01/god-as-the-great-initiator/

<> John 14:16-17 --  "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
<> John 16:13 -- "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come."

>< 2 Timothy 3:16 -- "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"

A Good Christian Must Be A Conservative/Liberal Christian?

     We constantly see conservative "fundamentalist" Christians in the media for speaking out against the LGBTQ community, trying to force Christianity on others, speaking poorly about Muslims, ranting about the liberals, and speaking about the anti-Christ and the "end times".  However, we also see liberals feeling that sin is ok because it will always happen and they believe all roads lead to heaven.  I personally find my comfort in the middle ground between them.  I think both sides have gone off their rails and are halfway down the slippery slope to self-destruction.  Before I go on into my real motive for this status, I would like to dive deeper into the issues of the far-left and far-right mentioned above.  The right would love to keep the LGBTQ community oppressed because they are "sinning", but you would know that is untrue if you read my last post, (http://somewhereinthemiddleground.blogspot.com/2014/03/homosexuality-yesno.html).  Then we have forcing Christianity on everyone; how can you force your beliefs on others in the name of Christ when Christ explicitly gave people the choice and left if they rejected Him.  The next issue on the right is about Muslims.  Muslims and Christians have a bad history, but we are cousins who just follow different sons of Abraham and we worship the same God (Elohim, Elah, Allah) and there is no reason to spew hate between us.  The right wing and the left wing are guilty of this one; attacking the opposite end of the spectrum which needs no explanation to why it's wrong.  The last thing that the right wing does that really aggravates me is it is always speaking of the "end times" coming and Obama or some other figure being the anti-Christ.  I will delve further into this later.  Let's move onto the left wing.  I don't know much about the left wing because I was raised in a right wing home, but what I do know is that they are really passionate about the idea of all roads leading to heaven.  This is something that is severely scriptural and I cannot support it completely because God speaks of only one way to Him and that is through the son.  However, this is cleared up by the scripture that says all tongues shall confess that you are God and therefore, it can be assumed that all will be saved.  They also seem to believe that we can just continue to live in sin with no intent to change and lead holy lives, which is scriptural.  I will admit that I identify more with the left-wing Christianity than the right, but both have issues and I find it better to be somewhere in the middle ground between them.
     Right now, I would like to focus on the conservative side of Christianity that loves to preach about us living in the "end times" due to the oppression of the church and 9/11.  These Christians believe that right is becoming wrong and vice versa just like the Bible says the end times will be.  Some will even stretch to say that 9/11 was caused by the U.S.'s tolerance of the LGBTQ movement.  I would like to suggest that today's Christianity is the cause for the oppression of Christianity.  We see everyone attacking Christianity and even the U.S. and most Christians are so blind to their own failings that they assume that it is the end times, but I think that they are abandoning the teachings that Christ gave to us and therefore rejecting God and His protection just as Israel did when it was continuously conquered in the late Tanakh (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament).  I would also propose that this is the same reason that the 9/11 attacks happened; not because of the U.S. tolerance of the LGBTQs, but the Christians intolerance.  If it weren't the Christians, then why would the church still be oppressed and not blessed by God and made favorable in the eyes of men?  I propose that Christianity is what is wrong with Christianity because we have forgotten the love of Christ and adopted the condemnation of Hell.
     You may have seen what I have said as extreme, but this is a big and controversial question that demands a radically different answer than what we have seen.  I am merely providing my readers with food for thought and knowledge that Christians today, much like the Ancient Israel, have strayed from God and rejected Him and therefore, are dealing with the consequences.

Homosexuality YES/NO

     If you would have asked me what my stance was on homosexuality less than a year ago, I would have been firmly against it.  I thought it totally immoral, and had trouble associating with anyone who liked members of the same-sex.  I was always raised to know that homosexuality was wrong and a horrible atrocity in my right-wing, conservative, Christian home and church.  I actually probably would have agreed with this article that makes my stomach turn now: (http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/franklin-graham-world-vision-doesnt-believe-in-bible.html?fb_comment_id=fbc_1437792219796749_207595_1437797499796221#f1ffe67028).

     If you were to ask me the same question a month ago, I would have given a different, yet similar response.  I have experienced a few gay people in my time at college and at first I was disgusted, but as time went on I became more and more accepting with the help of my wonderful girlfriend.  I was still against homosexuality, but I was rationalizing my hate by accepting these people for who they were and allowing God to change them rather than me spewing hate at them.  At least I got something right at this point.

     Asking me my what my feelings on homosexuality were yesterday would have yielded a very different answer than I had given in the past.  I would have answered that homosexuality is no more wrong than most heterosexuality we have today.  This statement was a huge leap forward in recognizing the ignorance of the people around me in believing that their own sexual lives were somehow superior to those of homosexuals when they were both lustful and sinful acts.  I will admit, I didn't think it was as much of a sin as I did previously, but I still thought it to be a sin.  My standing on this argument was formed by this article: (http://www.firstthings.com/article/2014/03/against-heterosexuality).  Later, I realized that this article wasn't just damning obscene acts of hetero- and homosexuality, but it was promoting only procreation based sex, which damns everyone in the world to gross sexual sin in the authors mind.

     If you were to ask me today, if I believe in homosexuality, I would respond with a resounding, "YES!"  Homosexuality is not only a misconstrued of the 19th century, but is also not demonized in the Bible at all!  The scriptures that gay bashers oh so love to use are not even valid when you truly put them in context.  Even if they were, there are only six verses that support their claims and the other three that they may mention are completely irrelevant.  Do you really think that it is right and just to use six of the thirty-one thousand scriptures (0.01935% of scripture) in the Bible?  Even if you added the other three for some reason, that is still only nine out of thirty-one thousand scriptures (0.02903% of scripture).  Is this really an issue to attack people over?  I can say that today, I am a full supporter of LGBTQ rights and this is the first time I have ever been one.  I feel like a huge weight of spiritual oppression has been lifted off of me and that I can look at things more like Christ and less like the world!  Here is the article that helped to shape my view on this matter: (http://www.thegodarticle.com/7/post/2011/10/clobbering-biblical-gay-bashing.html).

The issues brought up in the previous article are: Genesis 19:1-11, Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13, Romans 1:26-28, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 & 1 Timothy 1:9-10.

     Genesis 19:1-11 is the story of Sodom & Gomorrah where most people see the moral of the story as abstaining from sexual sin; more specifically homosexual acts.  However, this is not the case.  The moral of the story is that Sodom was evil because it was not hospitable to outsiders, not because it was committing sexual sin.  If Sodom was committing sexual sin, then why would Lot offer up his daughters at all?  He did so because it was better to harm his family, than to be inhospitable to his guests.

"The sin is not about being gay. It is not about non-straight sexual orientation. The sin of Sodom was lacking hospitality, not being just, bullying, hating strangers, not caring for those marginalized.  Funny, they are all things Churches (and individuals for that matter) sorely need to keep in mind and be better at practicing when it comes to how we do or do not welcome LGBTQ folk into our lives. After all, in today's society, who is more marginalized, more bullied, more treated like a “stranger,” than them? Come to think of it, not so funny."

     The Leviticus scriptures are a favorite for the gay bashers as it seems to actually condemn male-on-male sexual activity until you take a closer look at it.  The fact that this is the book where eating birds, pigs, and shell-fish were banned along with cutting your hair in certain places and mixing fabrics is enough to just throw these gay bashing scriptures out of the water immediately, but some Christians cling to these scriptures while they break just about every other rule in the book.

"Scholars have pointed to various reasons for ancient Israel's seeing male-male sex as taboo in Leviticus. It may be the same reason the rhythm method was thought to be wrong in the eyes of God, which presumably is that, as I have mentioned, they thought sperm contained the whole of life (how typically male-dominated-society of them). Therefore, in their way of seeing it, “Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is great. If a sperm gets wasted, God gets quite irate.” On the other hand, it may be that they thought it was taboo because it went against their understanding that mixing of kinds, just like the mixing of two kinds of cloth was taboo. Male-male sexual relationships, in that way of seeing things, mixes up their understanding of gender roles.

Whatever the reason, the perspective in these clobber verses were based on an understanding of sex and sexuality that was just as misinformed as their understanding of the earth in relationship to the sun, of fish, of pork and of reasons for stoning children. In our scientific age, it is time to let go of archaic perspectives and start recognizing the things that are truly an abomination in the eyes of God: lacking in compassion and love, exercising judgment against others, and practicing and encouraging hate."

     To further explain the book of Leviticus, I will share another important set of details.

"Homosexual acts were prohibited because they don't produce children. What people need to realize is that these books in the Old Testament were basically a survival manual for a community that was finding itself in conflict with others and frequently "on the run." The whole point of the various injunctions is to ensure the next generation.

Take the dietary injunctions for example. You eat some bad beef, you might get sick. Eat some bad pork or shellfish and you could die, hence the rule to not eat those meats. The injunction against mixing meat and dairy falls in the category of preserving your resources. Both meat and dairy are good sources of protein. If you're eating them together, you're more likely to run out sooner.

Also in the category of preserving your resources is mixing fabrics. It is unnecessary, from a standpoint of survival, to wear clothes of various fabrics. Use one fabric to wear and the other(s) for bartering or for clothing in the future. 

The injunctions regarding keeping oneself clean are self-explanatory when you're in close quarters and need to worry about lice, scabies, etc. 

Now onto the sexual injunctions. The acts that are prohibited are ones that don't produce offspring such as masturbation, sleeping with a woman who is menstruating and homosexuality. As mentioned in the blog post, people at the time thought sperm was it so you didn't want to waste it. People also used to think men had a finite amount of sperm, making being wasteful with it problematic. Of course we know now that isn't the case.

All this is to say that these injunctions existed in a very specific context for a specific group of people, people who had an interest in preserving resources and ensuring the next generation as a means of their very survival. That said, it's ridiculous to exhort people to follow the same rules (or rather carefully selected ones) today in 2012. If one rule is irrelevant today, they all are because we're not in a position where we have to worry about our survival the same way."

     The next scripture is Romans 1:26-28 uses the poorly translated word "natural" and seems to speak against homosexuality.  However, the Greek word here is actually "physikos", which is better translated to "produced by nature" or "the realities of nature".  This means that the Bible is condemning people who commit acts against the nature that they were born with, which would mean that is sinful for a straight man to sleep with a man or for a gay man to sleep with a woman.

"In reality, physikos has more to do with how things naturally occur in God's Creation.  At this point, you may have begun to guess that physikos is based on the same root word from which we get the word “physics” which is, of course, the study of the realities of nature. Conveniently, the way Paul uses physikos here in Romans, it also means something very similar to “the realities of nature.” It is concerned with what is of our nature and not with what is defined as acceptable. That is to say, Paul is concerned with how God created something or someone to be. He is concerned with people going against their nature or in the words of Lady GaGa herself, if they are “born that way” he's concerned with them behaving as if they were not.

That is the sin here in Romans, acting against the very nature of who God created you to be. In this case he seems to be addressing the idea of a same-sex sex act in which at least one of the two are not attracted to someone of the same sex; they just are not born that way."

     The last set of scriptures used in this argument are 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 & 1 Timothy 1:9-10.  There is a huge issue with these two scriptures because they use a word that is nearly impossible to translate, "arsenokoitēs".  This word is generally translated to "homosexual", which doesn't work because it only refers to man-on-man acts.  Some people, then decide to translate it as "sodomite", which is equally absurd because we already abolished the idea of Sodom dealing with sexual sin.

     The next issue with these scriptures is the word "Malakos", which means "soft".  Most people see this as meaning effeminate, but that is an extreme stretch of the word soft as it could mean a fearful man or plenty of other more believable things.

 "Malakos was a word that could be used to refer to things as diverse as men who were weak in battle (or who were “soft”), to men who lived extravagant and pampered lives (or who were... well, “soft”). It was not specifically about sexual relationships. If Paul was actually trying to describe something about a submissive male in a male-male relationship (which is still not the same as homosexuality as we understand it today), it's very likely that he would have used kinaedos, which was frequently used to describe that very relationship. But he didn't. So, stop acting like he was."

     In reading this, it is very clear that what the conservative Christians of today have outlined as anti-LGBTQ is a stretch at best and just an excuse to hate.

Life Is Beautiful

     In our modern culture we too often are too busy to step back and appreciate the beauty of life.  Have you ever just stopped and looked at the trees, flowers, animals, or even the ocean and just thought about how perfect all of those things are?  Have you ever thought about everything it takes for something to live and how beautifully perfect it is?  Look at the stars and take in the amazing sight that they are for they are the light in the darkness!  Look at the plants that live and grow into such beautiful things that give life to everything around them!  Look at the animals who live and do only what is necessary for survival!  There is such an awe striking quality in the complex simplicity of life!  Life gives life so that it can continue to live and grow!  Life never stops, it just moves on from one being to the next!  When one thing dies it provides life for the next, so is it truly dying?  When a living thing dies it can either decompose into the ground and become fertilizer for plants, or it can be eaten by animals and give them energy; both of these things are used to keep living things alive.  Life is the most complexly simple beauty that we have available to us!

 "Nothing.  Nothing cannot exist, because it is the opposite of existing.  To believe in nothingness is just that nothing.  Like death, death is not a state, its the absence of state.  Death to me is very unreal.  All I see is life.  In a dead body, I see simply life, the bacteria have already begun to decompose it.  Where then is death?" -- Chris Featherstone

     Biblically speaking God created all life.  Let that soak in for a moment.  God created all life!  Remember this next time you go outside soak in the life around you and recognize that God did all of it.  The next thing I want you to recognize is that God is life.  God breathed life into Adam and he became alive*.  Breath is commonly associated with spirit in ancient texts, therefore God gave Adam part of His spirit to bring him to life.  We all have God's spirit dwelling in us no matter who we are or what we believe!  God is in the plants and the animals.  God is life!  Therefore life cannot begin or end because God does not begin or end.  God is in all things and thus all things are Holy; this is why it is a sin to kill.  The Bible states that man is not to live by bread alone, but also by the words of God**.  God's words are what created all things and life itself, therefore we are to live by scripture and the world around us!  We are to love the world as God does because it His creation!

     *Genesis 2

     **Matthew 4:4

The Creation Account and The Big Bang

     If you look into what science and Christianity have to say about the origins of the world, then you may be surprised and you may realize that there must be a God. In the big bang theory everything began as a small dense fourth dimensional mass which can be seen as in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. God is timeless and so is the fourth dimension according to most science fiction writers; coincidence? I think not. Science doesn't know what cause this immensely dense fourth dimensional mass to expand(not explode), but they do know that the reason it did is because somehow light began to separate from the mass causing many chemical reactions. The Bible states that God said, "Let there be light". How would early Christians know that light came first without access to the amazing science that we have today unless God clued them in on it? Then the Bible says that God separated the waters of the Heavens from the waters of the Earth, thus the Heavens and the Earth separated and grew apart as the universe expanded. But wait, there is even more to these theories. Science states next that there was so much heat from the expansion of all of the molecules that the light was muffled by a dense fog-like state of the molecules and light would not return again until the sun and stars were formed. This explains why the Bible recreates the separation of light from dark and God creates the sun, stars and moon. As the stars appeared in Science everything began to cool and thus planets were formed. I don't think that it is a coincidence that everything lines up almost perfectly with the Bible. How could early Hebrews know the order that science has determined the world came to be in without divine enlightenment from God? I don't think they could have.  These are my thoughts on the topic and I know the two theories don't fit together perfectly, but they are close enough that you have to wonder how the Hebrews could have gotten so close without our modern advances.

     Genesis 1

The Vicious Cycle - Live Dangerously

    When we are young we are taught to go into the world and to win it for Christ and to love as Christ did, but once we become old enough to do so we are ridiculed for doing it.  We go into non-Christian communities and are told that instead of going into the world, we are to be careful who we associate with.  We open ourselves up to the people who we were taught "need God the most" and are told that it is dangerous to do so.  We treat them as people and show them the love of Christ instead of pushing them away because of their sin and we are told that we are speaking blasphemy.  Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this picture?  What I see is that the leaders in the church today are starting to look a lot like the leaders of the church in Jesus' time.  We are being told that we cannot go into "foreign" land.  We are being told that we cannot associate with non-Christians*.  We are being told that we are supposed to point out other's sins rather than showing them love of Christ.  I refuse to conform to the relapse going on in Christianity and if that means I am living dangerously, then I wholeheartedly accept!
    This leads to the question, "What is living dangerously look like?"  Living dangerously is not being afraid to go into the world!  Living dangerously is not being afraid to befriend the people outside Christianity!  Living dangerously is not being afraid to love the world as Christ did!  We are to love people no matter what they have done.  Many people will use the cliche phrase "love the sinner, hate the sin", but they hate the sinner and the sin with their actions.  It doesn't make any sense to accuse people of breaking a law that they don't even believe exists.  Also, if they don't believe in the Bible, then how can we convert them with it?  People outside Christianity don't accept the Bible as truth, so using it to convert people doesn't do anything because to them the Bible is just a group of myths.  So how do we convert people?  We walk out the love of Christ and show them that Jesus is real through our actions!  People can argue with words, but not action.  You cannot argue with what someone did, you can only accept that it happened and discuss whether it should have happened or not.  I leave you with this: How can we convert people to Christ if we avoid them?

     *John 4

Defending Christianity With Other Beliefs

    When someone questions, denies, or attacks your beliefs you are to defend them if you are a Christian*.  In order to defend your beliefs, you must know what the other person is saying about your beliefs.  To know what the other person is saying about your beliefs, you must know what they believe.  To know what they believe, you must research the ideas of their beliefs.  If you do not do this, then they will not listen to you because you will not be able to defend your beliefs against theirs.  Once you do know what they believe and the main points of their beliefs, then you will be able to have a conversation with them without looking(and sounding) like a fool.  Many Christians today would avoid everything about other religions at all costs because they believe that even discussing them will lead to confusion and the dangers of "falling off the path".  They believe that learning about these religions is a sin because you are somehow denying God.  These are the same Christians who are generally sola scriptura and they have no idea that they are denying the Bible by refusing to learn about other religions*.  The scripture reference that you will find on the bottom of this post tells us to always be ready to defend our faith, but to do it with care and respect.  This doesn't mean to tell them that we claim our faith because of something in the Bible or something that we have experienced.  Why, because they don't believe in the Bible and are not going to start because we can quote a scripture and if we try to use our own experiences they will write us off as crazy.  Once you realize this, you may ask what else you can do.  You can research their beliefs and find out what makes their beliefs so appealing to them.  Show them the common points in your beliefs and how they tell the same story and how their beliefs actually point to yours because that will affect them a lot more than mindless quoting of scripture.  Now you may ask how you would stay respectful and kind in doing this.  My answer is that you present your common points and show them that you understand where they are coming from and then explain how the Bible shows where everything adds up in the gray areas of their texts.  This won't offend them and the worst that could happen is they think their beliefs suit them better and then you can still talk to them regularly and gain a new perspective on the world.  Another way to share your faith is to not be disgruntled or angry when it is questioned.  So many Christians fall into the trap of non-Christians and get angry, defensive, and confrontational when their beliefs are disrespected or questioned.  Instead of going into a frenzy and trying to throw scripture at the attacker, defend your faith by showing that it is real.  How do you do that?  You do not get angry and throw insults back, you respectfully disagree and either move on or do as I have instructed above.

Lets face it, you cannot defend God, convincingly. You can offer explanations and all that but the truth is no one is bound or obliged to believe how you think your God is good. To an atheist, a Muslim praising his God, a Buddhist praising Buddha and a Christian praising Jesus is all the same.  Most atheists display a remarkable ignorance of faith and its inner working. And so very often if you are going to quote your bible, my bet is it is not going to work because to the atheist it is a “crap load of fabricated stories”.

 Regardless of what you believe, he is entitled to his opinion. But my point is, do not step into something you can not achieve, and that is you can not defend God and the truth is you are never asked in the scriptures to defend God. There is a difference, you are called to show how God changed your life. Don’t be pissed off, do not be angered, frustrating as it may be, do not give into it. God is more than adequate to defend himself, for that he doesn’t need you. But your faith is something that only you can defend and that is something you should always remember.

Read more:  http://johnadavid.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/defend-your-faith-not-god/

 

    The Bible calls us to defend our faith and argument against that are not Biblical.  Some will say that the word of God doesn't need to be defended, but in defining what the word of God is you are defending it.  If someone asks you what exactly the word of God is and you tell them it is the Bible, then you have just defended the stance that the Bible is the word of God.  If you claim that someone talked into faith can be talked out of faith and use that as a defense against reasoning someone into believing in God, then you need to read 1 Corinthians 15, for in it Paul gives reason for believing in Christ**.

Those who oppose these clear biblical teachings and examples may say, "The Word of God does not need to be defended!"  But which of the world's writings are the Word of God?  As soon as someone answers that, he is doing apologetics.  Some claim that human reason cannot tell us anything about God-but that statement itself is a "reasonable" statement about God.  If it's not, then there is no reason to believe it.  A favorite saying is, "If someone can talk you into Christianity, then someone else can talk you out."  Why is this a problem?  Did not Paul himself give a criterion (the resurrection) by which Christianity should be accepted or rejected in 1 Corinthians 15?  It is only misplaced piety that answers in the negative.

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/defend-faith.html#ixzz2wnPOM2wf 

    There are countless other passages that would reinforce reason in the Bible and if you need more, feel free to ask me.

     *1 Peter 3:15 - "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect," New International Version

     **1 Corinthians 15

God in the Universe

     I have encountered many Christians who follow the Sola Scriptura idea.  This idea pretty much means that they refuse to consider any truth outside of scripture.  You will commonly hear comments like, "If it's not in the Bible, then I don't believe it!" from them.  You will also hear them say, "You can't shove God into a box." or something along those lines, yet they want to shove Him into a book?  I don't see the logic in that.  If God created the universe, then anything that is found to be true in the universe is His truth whether it is in scripture or not.  If we pursue truth, then are we not pursuing God because He created truth and Jesus said that He is truth*, therefore pursuing truth is honoring God's creation and pursuing Jesus.  Why would God give us the capacity to think, reason, and comprehend things if He did not want us to use those abilities?  I believe He gave us these abilities so that we could honor and worship Him by using them.  When we take the time to appreciate His creation and study it to better understand it we are honoring Him.  Artists of every kind want people to study and admire there work because that is why they made it, so what makes the potter any different**?

     To take this further, the Bible says that we are not to live by bread alone, but by God's words***.  If we think critically about this scripture we can make connections to other scripture.  If we are not to live by bread alone and Jesus is the bread of life<> and Jesus is the word made flesh><, then we can conclude that we are not to live by scripture alone.  You may see that as a stretch, but there is still more in this.  The scripture goes on to say that we are to live by God's words as well as bread(scripture).  In the beginning, God created the entire universe with just His words.  If God created the universe with His words, then would we not be studying His words by studying the universe?  God does not wish for us to be ignorant, otherwise He would not have created us in His own image.  To believe in Sola Scriptura is to deny all of the marvelous things that God has created.  One of the things that many people forget is that to the first Christian churches the Bible was only the Old Testament and they were living out the New Testament.  This means that the Bible can't contain all knowledge and all truth because it was still being formed while the church was already established.  All that is in the Bible is truth, but not all truth is in the Bible.  I think that it is important to remember that scripture without the church's tradition has no foundation and the church without scripture has no message.

     *John 14:6 - "Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one can come to the Father except through me."  New Living Translation

     **Romans 9:20-21 - "20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?  Will the molded say to it's molder, 'Why have you made me like this?' 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?"  New Living Translation

     ***Matthew 4:4 - "Jesus answered, 'It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.''"  New Living Translation

     <>John 6:35 - "Jesus replied, 'I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.  Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'"  New Living Translation

     ><John 1:14 - "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

The Christian Gospel

     No matter where you go in the United States, it seems that there is always a group of Christians talking about spreading the gospel as it is our duty as Christians.  I have no quarrel with this and I believe in spreading it too, however, I think many Christians have twisted what the gospel is supposed to be.  The gospel or good news of Christ is not that we are sinners and damned to Hell without Him, but it is that Jesus died for our salvation and He loves us no matter who we are or what we believe.  If we really think about the way most Christians present the gospels, they focus on being damned unless you follow what they interpret out of the Bible and that does NOT sound like good news to me.  I would rather suggest that the message be that we are redeemed by the blood of Christ and that we are loved by YHWH who defines Himself as love*!  If God is love, then doesn't that mean that love isn't so much a feeling or an action, but a being?  To love is not to do something, but to be something.  When we offer our hearts to the Father, we are allowing Him to consume us and fill us with His presence.  Therefore, we are to be filled with love and are to allow that love to overflow into others.  You may think of the scriptures that explain that we are to be filled with God's presence and others that explain that God emptied Himself and we are to be the same**.  I believe that this means that we are filled with God's presence (love) in order to empty Him out onto other people and then He will fill us again.
     Does that not sound more like good news than being damned unless you follow a specific code of conduct?  Why are we being told that the gospel of Christ is about damnation instead of redemption?  The answer is that people are more concerned about others lives than their own and not in the selfless way.  The Bible states that we are to deal with ourselves before we deal with others***, yet most Christians believe that what they believe is correct so they tell others that they are wrong because they believe differently.  This is not the gospel, nor is it Christ-like.  Part of dealing with your flaws before you deal with others is putting aside your convictions and assumptions about scripture because there is no guarantee that the way you interpret it is correct.  If you were truly walking in love, then would you not share the love of Christ rather than the condemnation of Hell?  Ask yourself these questions and make changes if needed.

*1 John 4:8 - "But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love." New Living Translation

**2 Corinthians 4:7 - "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." New King James Version
  Philippians 2:5-7 - "5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness."

***Matthew 7:5 - "Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye."

Who We Are

     We go through life every day quietly observing everything around us and listening to everyone's opinions and even though we see how the flaws in what they have said we let it go and move on.  We are a different kind of people.  We analyze every idea and situation.  We see things that no one else sees, not because we look harder, but because our eyes are naturally drawn to them.  We find it hard to sit quietly and accept what others say at face value because we know that nothing is as easy and simple as that.  We have seen the good and bad in every political party and aren't naive enough to exclusively follow one party or sect of any movement or establishment.  We cannot stand ignorance and thrive on well thought out concepts.  We are intellectuals and our minds are only satisfied by other intellectuals.  We see the middle ground between extremes as the narrow road because the extremes are wide to the right or to the left and have gotten off track*.  We don't see ourselves as better than others, but as different.

     *Matthew 7:13 - "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way." The New Living Translation