Living it
It's been a long time since I've written something here, and I'm discouraged about it. I remember praying the other day about not being able to read and write more…
The End Justifies the Means
This is going to be one of those topics I don’t like writing about because it’s going to upset nearly everyone who reads this blog (if there is anyone left). But the purpose of this weblog is to inspire people who are interested in finding truth, and what I am about to say is an important part of finding it.
About four years ago, I attended a bad church. The pastor of this church had a problem – he constantly lied (about anything and everything) and plagiarized. When my friend confronted him on this problem, he responded with a lot of self-centered dribble, but one comment he made stuck out in my memory: he simply asked my friend how many people he had personally led to the Lord. What was he implying? That his tactics, although unorthodox, lead people to Christ. This excuses his sermon plagiarizing. This somehow excuses his constant lying. In other words, the end justifies the means. I couldn’t believe I was hearing this from a Christian pastor. My rosy-colored view of the Christian “church” began to slowly fall apart from that point on. But this wasn’t the first time I saw this.
Father, forgive them.
I’m taking a quick break from my weekly paper writing. I was recently asked by my pastor, who didn’t know better :), to give a short meditation to speak in church on Jesus’ first statement while on the cross. I thought I’d post it, because in seeing Jesus’ reaction, I was immediately reminded of my failure to be anything like him when I was going though very painful times in my life, specifically my ugly church experiences where I made many enemies. It has been an inspiration for me to read and think about this moment in Jesus’ life, and is a story about a person’s heart that we should all strive for, whether Christian or not.
When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right and one on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.†And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. – Luke 23:33-34
Imagination
My wife and her best friend have been reading the books that the movie Twilight was based on, and it made me think about the kind of entertainment we are drawn to. My wife and I are both passionate about different things – she about passionate romance and meaningful relationships, and me about bravery and fighting for good causes. I find it interesting that we are both drawn to certain media (video games, movies, books) that feature these themes.
While my wife reads Twilight, I am currently playing Fallout 3, a video game that is full of fighting and moral choices, a dreamworld for me. I am also reading Cherryh (science fiction) which involves a war between humans and aliens on other planets – way cool.
I thought a long time ago about being drawn to these things. Why is this? In my wife’s case- how is it possible anymore to have a passionate romance with very young children who constantly need your attention? In my case, how can I get out a gun and go fight the bad guys and be brave when I have a family and a wife that takes top priority?
Finding Spiritual Truth (A response to Craig at MOF)
I messed up my comment badly at a post over at Mind On Fire – so I had to repost here so it will be legible. Go over there and check out what the post is about and the discussion there first to get some context…
Dangers to finding truth
I was just doing my daily reading this morning, and I came across some interesting quotes that really got me thinking:
“Get truth and don’t ever sell it.” ~ Proverbs 23:23
“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: …the feeling that everyone is wrong except for those in your own little group…” ~ Galatians 5:19-21.
These are two passages point out dangers that the person who is searching for truth will inevitably encounter. Since truth is what this website is all about, and the people who come here to read stuff care about it, I thought it would be a good idea to write about these dangers.
Where Jesus Grew Up: A Study of Lower Galilee
Hey all! I thought I would start the new semester off by publishing a paper I wrote about the history, culture, and geography of the Lower Galilee region of Israel, the place where Jesus lived for about 30 years before he began his public ministry. I left out the footnotes, but included a cited works section at the end if you are interested. If you don’t feel like reading the entire thing, I can sum it up for you:
The region is quite conservative. Many scholars- atheist, agnostic, and Christian alike seem to agree that the area Jesus grew up in was populated by people who were resistant to outside religion or spirituality. This culture was in many ways linked to its secluded location up in the mountains off the main roadways. Although they could see out over the valley of Armageddon where the main roadways were, they were not influenced by the foreign influences that traveled along them. The body of research work I surveyed seems to agree – Whatever cultural influences that affected Jesus growing up, its certain that little to none were of a foreign nature. He grew up in a very traditional Jewish world, one that remembered very clearly the stories of Elisha and Elijia, and the many Judges. For a resident of Nazereth need only look out over the valley to see the very location of where a majority of the stories took place – where God acted on behalf of his people.
Enjoy!
Emerging PA
I just found a new blog that I've added to my blogroll. It's one by a fellow grad student who loves writing about the Christian life from a philosophic /…
TruthandPurpose is 2 years old!
I just realized the other day that this website has hit its 2 year mark! It dawned on me that I've been writing on this site longer than my son's…
A possible key to moral living…
Over the past couple of months, I’ve taken a good look at myself, and realized that I’m not too thrilled with what I see. I’ve become discouraged with the blatant fact that I cannot become a more moral person by mere effort. If I look hard enough at my motivations for doing good things, I begin to see I have partial selfish reasons for doing nearly all of them.
More recently, I think I’ve discovered something that has really helped me, and I thought I’d share it with everyone out there who struggles with being a moral person and has decided to devote their life to doing what is right. You know who you are, and you know what I mean by being “moral.” To put others first in your priorities, to love without expecting to be loved in return, to not steal, lie, wish harm to others, or to talk badly about them, etc. We have a desire to leave our spheres of influences in better shape then if we were never around to influence them. In fact, we have decided that being moral and following a moral code is more important than anything else – it is a cause that drives our lives as we sit in the passenger seat.