Groups Mar 20, 2005
I probably shouldn't complain, and I usually don't.  But I need to say a few things about a few groups of people that I have problems with.  For one, there's the ACLU.  What I can't stand about this group is that they are just a bunch of lawyers who take the side of the "victim" and bring about judgments that are just totally stupid.  There was that whole 10 Commandments thing at a court in Alabama (I think), there's the thing about taking "under God" out of the pledge of allegiance (it was actually added in the 1950s, read here), and there's all that stuff about gay marriage and making it constitutional.  I think the ACLU will lead to the downfall of this nation.

Another group I don't like is feminists.  I agree with the whole idea of equality and non-discrimination, but I think it's just gone too far.  In fact, it's gone so far that things today are the opposite of what they were 50 years ago.  But feminists are especially bad because they boycott the typical male:  macho, chauvinist, aggressive, abusive, inconsiderate, etc.  I agree with them on this.  These types of people should be boycotted.  The problem is that I'm grouped into this category because all males are grouped into this category.  See, I don't fit into this category.  I'm not macho; I'm not aggressive.  So I just think it sucks that a typical feminist would hate me just because I'm male, when there's really much more to me than just being a male.

This leads me to my final point which is an idea that I've been thinking about for several years now.  I want to start a group that fights for the rights of straight, white, Christian males.  Right now, we've got nothing.  We're the most discriminated-against, hated group of people in the world.  We're heterosexual, so all the gays and gay-supporters hate us.  We're white, so that means all the blacks and Hispanics hate us for taking their jobs.  We're Christians, so that means all lefty liberal atheists and other -ists hate us.  And we're male, so that means all females hate us.  You see why we need to start this group? #sociology
I feel strongly Mar 20, 2005
One thing I realized on Friday night after the HALO Bible study (part of Bethlehem Church) is that I feel strongly about several things, and I'm thinking there's a reason why I feel strongly about these things.  For example:  I encouraged Mare to be more consistent with her devotions by devoting a certain time each day or by changing up what she reads.  This made me realize that I feel strongly about encouraging/helping believers have a regular and meaningful quiet time.  I realized just a few weeks ago that I feel very strongly about confronting obvious sin among believers.  I don't think a person can be part a discipleship group and be blatantly involved in sin and have no desire to change.  This was partially brought on by my subteam's study of Revelation, which condemned some churches for allowing sin to exist among their members.  Toleration is terrible.  I also feel strongly about teaching believers an easy way to share the gospel.  A lot of people think it's really difficult and you need several hours to explain everything.  Other people think you need to bring people to an evangelist or an outreach to have the gospel explained properly.  I believe every Christian should know how to explain the gospel to any other person.  It can be as simple as what's on my gospel page.  Another thing I feel strongly about is dating with marriage in mind (courtship) as opposed to dating for fun or "to see where things go."  I hate hearing about people who are just trying dating to see where it leads them.  I can tell you this from experience:  it only leads to bad things.  People are naturally sexual beings; that's how God made us.  You can't put a hungry wolf in a room and expect it not to eat a juicy steak.  I think we just need to be honest with ourselves and realize where things are going before it's too late and we weakly give in.

I think I feel strongly about these things because I've experienced all of them.  I've had trouble with having a consistent quiet time with God; I've been engaged in sin while in a discipleship group only to be confronted about it; I've been afraid of sharing the gospel because I just didn't know it well enough to share; and I've dating for fun only to realize how stupid it is.  I guess this is all part of the Christian walk.  We experience things and stumble for a reason:  to grow. #religion
Hail to the conquering hero Mar 20, 2005
Here's a random thing about Christianity that just came to me today (from God most likely) while in church (I always realize the coolest things in church): The Jews around Jesus' time were expecting a political and/or military leader to release them from Roman rule. Jesus came as a conqueror, but as a spiritual conqueror -- to conquer death, not people. So once again, people didn't realize what God was doing because they were expecting him to act in a certain way. This kind of thing happens all the time. When we pray about something and "our wish doesn't come true," we immediately think God didn't answer us. We're expecting him to act in such a way as to answer our prayer in a positive way. But God can answer with a "no." #religion