Church School
I just finished reading Phil’s blog. It must hurt to be that smart for I do not struggle with such questions (think Homer Simpson). I admit that they are good questions but for people with lees intellect such as myself, those thoughts do not grip me.
For fun, I’ll try to answer the question: If I’m naturally evil, would God’s word be appealing to me?
I might be able to answer the attractiveness of God’s word part in two ways.
1) What would the world be like if there wasn’t a bible A.K.A God’s Word (assuming that this is what Phil is referring to)? Would God still exist? Just because there is a “reference book”, it doesn’t mean that there is a God. Likewise, if there is a God, does He require an “operating manual?” Define God’s Word. I believe that it is a compilation of writings inspired by God. Simply put, it is a bunch of people’s thoughts on God and the enduring struggle to seek Him. I know that it can be a little more complacated than that, but I am refering to the basics. Other than history, what is different that the current books out there now that seek Him and write of His works? What is different than what you are reading right now (I am not inferring that this is holy)?
2) I believe God’s word would be appealing to most because it is history, it is filled with stories and it answers the big question. Our minds tend to work off of stories. Example: when I mention prodigal son, woman at the well, and Noah – our minds could ramble off these stories quickly and, for the most part, be identical. This is why Jesus used parables when he taught. The people would listen to the parables and, though they didn’t understand it at the time, the story would repeat in their mind until on day they figured it out.
The big question: Where did the world come from? Every person on this earth is restless until that one is answered for themselves and God’s word does a pretty damn good job of it.
Now let’s look at the naturally evil part. Human nature consists of many things and evil is just one of them. Curiosity is another. To state that, according to the Christian church – not catholic, we are naturally evil and to infer that to mean that we will not deviate from our evilness would be the same as saying that we live on dry land and that we hate swimming in the ocean, lake, pond or pool. Our nature is to live on dry land; our desire is to do a cannon ball into any given pool at any given moment. Our nature is to revert back to sin because sin is simpler and a hell of a lot more fun (crap, I just sinned – doh!!). Take for example the disciples: most of them were fisherman/sailors and I know that sailors haven’t changed. The opposite is also true. The Catholic Church states that our nature is to do good (I am not very well versed on the catholic church – this is just an assumption). What if they (both churches) are wrong and spend too much time trying to prove that they are right?
What if we are just to go out into society and make disciples and then not remove them from said society? What would we look like to other Christians?
Rupid, rupid!!!
When one opens a carbonated beverage that has been agitated, why must one drastically search for a sink to contain one’s carbonated beverage? Please allow me to make a suggestion. If ya’ hear it a fizzin’ close the flippin’ cap before the blessed beverage falls too the floor!!! Before I go and mop up the front of my store, I have an idea about blogging. What if, instead of everybody using his/her links to review everybody else’s lives, we use one web page and all of us blog off of that page. We would still have a separate page but maybe the latest blog entries would show. Similar to, but different than, blogger.com’s “Fresh Bloggs”. It’s a brain storm that’s fur shur!!!
Different subject, same blog
Why must the answer always be that if you want to make it better, put more money in it? Our school system sucks in my town and it isn’t the teachers fault. Last year the government spent something like $745 billion on schools. In the ’89 when Reagan left office the total government spending was $975 billion. What is wrong with this picture?
a stranger's blog made me laugh!! -
poop chute
Spiritual Leadership –
I was listening to a pastor talk about how the men in his church took a survey. The question – what is your greatest pursuit I life as a man (I think - not verbatim)? The number one answer was to be a spiritual leader at home and at work. The pastor continued on with his sermon by digging into the bible to try to answer that question. It was then that it struck me.
To be a follower of God – what does that mean? How do we follow him and lead others along the way? Does it require us to have the fullest amount of knowledge? Does it require us to read the bible and fifty other books, and pray about it once we have completed them? Does it require us to be proficient at debating to each other weather Paul’s favorite color was red?
To sum it up, I can do all of this with ease. I have had more training in the Christian “arts” than I care to mention. I could name all of the books of the bible and quote four chapters in the bible by the age of 5. When I was a child, I had all the best albums by Carmon and M. W. Smith. I am not trying to be cynical; this was all that I knew. However, although I was trained, I was not a “leader” of anything. Maybe it was because I hadn’t read the “How to be a leader” book series at the Christian book store. Honestly, I was content. I didn’t know that there was anything else out there. I was trained by people that had this same mindset and so I was doomed so to speak.
Not until I met you guys did I realize that there was more out there. Leadership, and all of the other B.S. secular names that come along with it, was not a focal point. Living love was. Our tag line might be “house church” but community is our apologetic and our reason. Acting spiritually like 7 year-olds when we come together and live like we are in a kingdom with a great and wise king – that’s what God intended. Not being able to contain our joy amidst poverty – God is with us. Praising the King while neck deep in death and pain: finally our lives are seen as different to the secular world and surprisingly to the church world.
I hope that this life that we live will be addictive to all who hear and see it. There are so many people that have the desire to live for Him but who aren’t able to see it first hand. Come to think of it, I would be in that same boat. To you guys, I owe my deepest gratitude. I love you guys deeply.
Ella Brooke arrived in our life last Friday. Damn, we make beautiful babies. She looks like clay when he was new except she looks like a girl and she has a sweet girl cry and she has cute little girl hair and she has such beautiful eyes and she looks a lot like her mom and I am in love with her. Life is sweet. Sleep is precious. God is good.
I feel restless. My spiritual life is limp at best. I haven’t had time to talk to those that challenge and stimulate me. Lately, I dust my bible more times than I read it. I pray fewer times than I need it. I am frustrated. I see all of the potential that is brewing out there and all I can do is wait for God to work. That is not a simple thing for me to do. I am not a patient person. I get antsy just waiting for a package to be shipped from UPS even when I know the delivery date.
I feel that our life here on earth is short – for everybody. I also want to use my time to its fullest. As a result, I get irritated at myself and the mundane things in life – those that have no spiritual significance, those that divert our attention off of our quest, and those that encourage laziness. I want to have the passion that Jesus and his disciples had. I want to persist with my training and communication with God but I get diverted with stupid things. If I meditated on God as much as I play XBOX or watch TV, I betcha I would be one of those guys that made people throw their wheelchairs and crutches off the stage and pass out. Maybe it is a good thing that I play XBOX.
- Halleluiah
