Wildfire Jul 21, 2005
When you think about it, it's amazing that Christianity spread at all when it first began.  I mean it was led by this crazy guy who did magic tricks to heal people; it was taught by his followers, a bunch of poor, uneducated nobodies; and it was spread through non-violent means while its spreaders were being imprisoned and killed.  It's like if some guy came up to you one day and said, "Hey man, I can tell you the meaning of life.  Just follow this dude Jesus and you're all set."  And then the next day the guy's dead.  Who would listen to him?  And if it looks like everybody who becomes a follower ends up dying, why would anyone want to sign up?  It's a dying organization.  This is why it's so amazing that Christianity did spread.  It really had no benefit for the people who spread it.  It had no benefit for the people who followed it.  There was no money, fame, power, or the promise of women involved.  I think this is one of the stronger arguments for Christianity.  If it's a made-up crutch of a religion, why do people still follow it?  [I'm sure I could get some pretty harsh answers to this...] #religion
Democrats and Republicans (3) Jul 20, 2005
Republicans are generally dumb, while Democrats are generally hateful.  Republicans try to focus on the positive aspects of things, which usually means ignoring the negative ones.  For example, a Republican would say how well the war effort in Iraq is going.  A Democrat would say something like, "[insert exact number here] Americans have died since this 'war' began.  Is it worth that many American lives?  And what was the original purpose of the war?  To get Osama Bin Laden.  Have we found him?  No!  Therefore the war is unsuccessful."  While all these points are true, Republicans ignore them and focus on the fact that Saddam Hussein is no longer in power.  Democrats point them out and focus on character flaws in the leadership of our country.  Without Democrats and the American left, the country wouldn't be where it is today.  We wouldn't have things like civil rights, women's rights, and stuff like that.  The left has always brought about unpopular opinions and made them standard policy.  This is good.  It was a good idea.  But a lot of ideas are good.  Take the Catholic church for example (Politics and religion in the same post?  Bold!).  The Catholic church set up many things in the beginning that were great ideas.  The idea of catechism/confirmation was to teach young people about Jesus and to baptize them into Christendom.  The problem is that things change over time.  Nowadays, people blindly go through catechism to please their parents (or to avoid punishment from their parents) and make a significant profession of their faith without even blinking.  So anyway, back to politics.  Republicans usually don't have answers to Democrats' questions about the goals of the war.  They usually just ignore them or find a way around them.  And let's face it, President Bush isn't the most eloquent man alive.  I think he means well.  It just doesn't always come out well.  So then there's name calling, which Republicans and Democrats both participate in.  In conclusion, I would say that both parties in this two-party system have their problems.  But I also think it's obvious that I lean a certain way. #religion
Bible versions (5) Jul 5, 2005
A lot of Christians think that the only viable translation of the Bible is the King James Version, which was written in 1611 in "Olde English."  They reject all modern translations, such as the New International Version and the New American Standard Bible.  The problem with language is that it changes over time.  Twenty years ago, people said things like "radical" and "bodacious".  These words aren't used too much anymore.  And that was just 20 years ago.  What about 400 years ago?  They not only used thee and thou, they also had a squiggly letter s that looked like an f.  And here's my biggest complaint about the KJV:  1 Samuel 24:3 says, "And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave."  Ok so Saul went into a cave to cover his feet.  Big deal.  But here's what it really means:  "He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave." (NIV)  Whoa.  So covering one's feet is the same as relieving oneself.  That wasn't exactly clear to me.  How many other details in the Bible are obscured by an outdated language?  That's why I don't use the KJV. #religion
I'll pray for you (2) Jun 30, 2005
I've been noticing this sneaky little insult coming up among Christians.  When they see someone doing something sinful, they say, "I'll pray for you."  But it usually comes out with a tone that implies that prayer is the only thing that could possibly help the person, since they're otherwise totally helpless.  The Christian answer to this is that yes, of course prayer is the only thing that can help people; people are otherwise helpless on their own.  But that's not what I'm talking about.  This statement usually comes after they see something terrible that's out of their control and they say it sort of as an insult.  Or maybe they don't mean it that way.  But that's definitely how the receiver takes it.  I saw it at a Bible study once.  A guy was saying how he didn't really feel the need to go to church, and another person spouted out, "I'll pray for you."  That guy never came to the Bible study again.  And I saw it at the Billy Graham crusade as I was walking past the protesters holding signs that spoke out against Billy.  A guy in the crowd yelled out "I'll pray for you" as he walked by.  But he didn't mean it in a nice way.  He meant, "You're obviously wrong even though you don't realize it, so I'll pray that God will open your eyes to your error."  I'm sure the guy holding the sign wasn't too happy that somebody would be praying for him. #religion
Choose your battles Jun 27, 2005
I went to the Billy Graham crusade in Queens this weekend.  People came from all over the country to see this guy speak.  He's a legend.  People gave him a standing ovation when he came out.  I didn't.  I don't think he wanted a standing ovation.  It puts too much emphasis on him and not enough on God.  As we were walking into the venue, there were a bunch of protesters handing out propaganda and spouting out lies.  But some of them were truths.  One group was called A True Church.  They had signs that said stuff like "Graham leads to hell" and "Jesus caused 9-11-01" and "God kills people".  I listened to some of the things they had to say, and they based everything they said and believed on the Bible.  It was Biblical, but without any of the positive stuff.  Just the negatives.  What about God's love for us (Romans 5:8) and God's care in creating us (Psalm 139:13)?  What about God's forgiveness (1 John 1:9) and mercy (Ephesians 4:7)?  It's one thing to be a hardliner, but it's another thing to fight against people who are on your side.  My point:  choose your battles.  Jesus said, "...whoever is not against us is for us." (Mark 9:40).  Wouldn't it be a little more worthwhile to fight against corrupt church leadership and abortion?  Or how about the rights of Christians in the eyes of the US government?  Ravi Zacharias put it nicely:  "If a spiritual idea is eastern, it is granted critical immunity; if western, it is thoroughly criticized." (Jesus Among Other Gods, p. vii).  There are bigger and more important battles out there than interpretation of the Bible. #religion
Self Jun 6, 2005
I guess this shouldn't surprise me anymore.  Whenever people talk about what's most important to them, the most common answers are something along these lines: 
1.  My happiness/fun/health/safety
2.  My family/friends
3.  My work
I like to say "God."  It throws people off.  In my dumb class today, a few people said God.  I'd be interested in talking to them.  Most people said that other stuff.  One guy even said that he works to make money so that he can have a night life and enjoy himself.  He said, "I'm looking out for this guy," as he pointed to himself.  I guess I respect his honesty. #religion
Grace and Mercy May 19, 2005
It was once said that grace is defined as getting what we do not deserve, while mercy is defined as not getting what we do deserve. #religion
Power of God's word May 12, 2005
I really believe in the power of God's word.  Sometimes I go to Bible studies and listen to some dude talk about stuff that I've probably already heard, and I think about what else I could be doing or what I have to get done after the Bible study.  It's times like that when I think about not going to the Bible study anymore.  I mean, I attend some sort of Christian group 6 days a week.  Isn't that enough?  But then I walk away or I drive home, and that's when I realize how important it is to meet with other believers in Bible studies.  I don't know how or when or where God's word is gonna speak to me, but I know it will.  It might be during the Bible study or church, when I suddenly decide that I need to start doing something in my life, and I need to start soon/now.  Or maybe it's next week, when I'm talking to somebody about Christian things, and I realize that I learned it at last week's Bible study.  God's word has this power that you can't really feel or see or define.  It goes beyond what we can understand.  But it's definitely there. #religion
Fully convinced Apr 14, 2005
I'm fully convinced that Christianity is completely true.  I think the problem lies in the fact that we as little tiny humans can't fully understand it all.  I really have no proof of this or no way to back this up, but it's what I believe.  I think that any apparent errors in the Bible or any ideas we have trouble explaining are there because we don't have the mental capacity to get past them.  Like the idea of the trinity.  Even when we explain it, it still doesn't quite add up.  I think this is because we don't fully understand it, and we can't.  But I think it'll all make sense when we meet God face-to-face, and he says, "Yo, here's how it is..."  Or there's the idea of being saved by faith or good works (which I've already proven in a previous post).  When we explain it, it might not completely answer all questions.  But I think God will answer any questions we have when we get to heaven.  Or how about our thoughts on when the world will end and how many more popes there will be?  We have our guesses about things and some of them might even be true.  But I think God will say, "Yeah almost.  You were close on this one.  But on this other thing, you didn't quite have it right." #religion
Everything happens for one reason Apr 13, 2005
The more I think about it and the more I pray about things, the more I realize that everything happens for one reason:  the same reason, which is to bring all people to a realization of their need for God and a savior.  I wrote about this before concerning sickness.  But even more than that, everything else in life happens for this same reason.  Death, for example, occurs in order to show us that we won't be here forever.  When people die and we're unhappy, it's normal; it's showing us that we don't want to die either and that we wish that person was still around.  This is saying two things:  we wish people could be around forever so we could enjoy them as we always did, and we're afraid of dying because we don't know what happens afterwards.  God's solution:  we go to heaven after death if we put our faith in God and his savior, and we don't need to worry about other people because our level of enjoyment in heaven will far surpass any amount of enjoyment had during this life.  But this is just death.  What about everything else?  We get sick to show us that we won't be around forever and we need to put our faith in something eternal.  We experience unhappiness to lead us to God's joy.  We go through tough times with money to make us not depend on it, but to depend on God.  We're put in uncomfortable situations to make us stronger so that we can stand for God.  Some people enter our lives to teach us to react in such a way that would be contrary to how we're tempted to act, so that we can love God's people.  This is a short list of things that happen all the time.  I noticed this every time I pray because I say things like, "God, please use this situation to bring people to You."  I've said that on so many occasions, that it made me realize that everything happens for the sole purpose of bringing people to God. #religion