Posts Tagged ‘christian’

The Conservative Bible Project?

// October 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // My Thoughts

I was browsing  Exploring Our Matrix: A Conservative View On The Conservative Bible Project and there is a bit of speculation about the Conservative Bible Project a fair number of folks are suspicious of a hoax but I have to say… I am actually not surprised by anything these days! I actually went an read some of the translation and the details about the project and I have to say… this does not do any conservative any favors!  First the translation is straight from the KJV, that seems about as smart as making a copy from a copy, it’s just gonna get worse! I don’t want to knock the KJV but in my opinion it already leaves a lot to be desired from the direct Greek  translation which I actually find easier to understand even with the weird positioning of nouns and qualifiers in sentences.  Aside and apart from all of that … the parts of the translations that I read were horrible and were middle school level -possibly high school level English at best!  there were no established methods for commonly used phrases… it’s just some wacky conservatives wanting to paraphrase the bible to fit their agenda… so go take a look at it and let me know what you think!  is it just a bunch of crackpots? or will we all be looking at the new Gold standard for christians? the Conservative KJV?

Tags: christian, conservative

Related posts

God is a Republican?

// September 3rd, 2009 // 4 Comments » // My Thoughts

Over the past 2000 some odd years Christians have always been an eccentric group but I have to admit, I think we got dumber once we got to America.  It seems the longer we stay in America the dumber we get!  God is not a Republican People!    This may offend you or make you think differently about me but I have some news for you.  God is Pro Choice.  He is the original Pro Choice supporter.  He decided to allow you to make ANY choice!  you can choose to kill, or heal, or love, or hate, or steal or deal, or make or break, you can fly or flunk or vote or hope but the choice is yours and yours alone! (sounds a little Dr Seuss eh?) My point is … that the freedom to do good or bad is unquestionably given to us by God, our countries leaders knew that. But somewhere somebody decided that it was our jobs as Christians to be the moral police for the USA… NOT OUR JOB!   Do you honestly think that God intended to create the world, give everyone the freedom to choose right or wrong and then let YOU decide what they could and couldn’t do so that your religious panties would not get bunched up?  Why do  you think that Jesus ALWAYS rebuked the pharasees?  They were religious zealots that sought to control the population with laws that were never intended by God.  Look I love all these great christian leaders that keep telling you that we need to prevent same sex marriage, abortion, etc.. etc… but the fact is that they are incredibly short sighted.  It has been  proven over and over you cannot legislate morality!  The world will do what they want, and we as Christians should be there to pick up the pieces for them.  Look at prohibition,  abortion, homosexuality, same sex marriage,   every time those issues are subjected to intense scrutiny and outrage by well meaning “christian” activists, it only serves to alienate that group of people from Christians even further.   I would bet $1000 dollars that you take a few fishermen and start protesting their fishing as evil and ungodly and those previously harmless fishermen will become pitchfork bearing villagers bent on eradicating every christian in sight.

So before you get up on your conservative high horse and begin railing on me for being a liberal, or a democrat, or a heretic or whatever, hear me out.

I think that everyone should have the right to do what they like… just like God Created us. This works fine… the world takes care of these things naturally… they don’t want to bother with religion. i.e.  you kill someone you will probably end up dead or in jail-pretty much happens all over the world. The thing is you get religion involved with making laws… and you end up with “King James” you know… the guy that created a Church State and killed people for not attending the State Churches?  This is the same Guy we ran away from to America and decided that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”  It wasn’t the state that was the problem in the first place… it was religion all along.

Religious zealots killed Jesus
Religious zealots started the bloody crusades
Religious zealots persecuted protestants
Religious zealots have alienated homosexuals
Religious zealots are unreasonable
Religious zealots are unmerciful
Religious zealots are intolerant of anything except what they believe
Religious zealots bomb abortion clinics

So when you get all excited and worked up and angry about how all of these groups are attacking your morals and fundamental beleifs remember… we fired the first shots in this war… and God never authorized the war.

Tags: activists, Art, choice, christian, christians, conservative, Dr Seuss, exercise, Fun, God, jesus, Love, pharasees, Religion, the past

Related posts

The imonk and I

// August 17th, 2009 // 17 Comments » // My Favorites

My new buddy Greg Rice turned me onto www.internetmonk.com and boy what a find! imonk definitely has my attention. It is always nice to bump into someone that sees things similarly, it makes you feel less… crazy!

So far I have read a few articles and will start you off with some serious reading… go check these two articles out.

Signs I am Weary of Weird Christians

Looney Tunes

Tags: christian, Christianity, imonk, internetmonk

Related posts

When is enough… enough? GET OVER IT!!!

// August 4th, 2009 // 14 Comments » // My Thoughts

man pulling his hair out in frustration

I think this adequately describes my emotions at the moment of inspiration

It seems the media these days is full of news… about the economy, the democratic agenda, the republican agenda, whats happening on Wall Street, how somebody got away with something and everybody else had to pay for it. In some ways.. its good to know the truth about things… to be informed so that you can make good decisions and survive in an increasingly “dog eat dog” world.

I tend to enjoy the social media circle to some extent..I use twitter, facebook, most often and I like to share my favorite websites on Stumbleupon.com . I like being connected to people, my family, friends, and just the occasional acquaintance… I even check in on a few enemies occasionally to see what they are doing in their mad scientist laboratories!

Recently however my social media has become crowded with… how do I say it nicely RAVING LUNATICS!   it seems everywhere I go I am barraged by virtual sign waving screaming crowds of “conservative protesters”  they fill my normally entertaining social media with “this is why obama is evil”, “this is further proof of obamas evil plan”  and “here is even more proof! he was actually born in Australia and they wouldn’t take him!”  the list of antichrist predictions, conspiracy theories, petitions, videos, crappy photo montages attached to sappy music, are more than I can stand!  Please PLEASE!!! I really hoped that the community of Christians was made up of more than this!  the number of people continuously regurgitating unconfirmed and often stupidly one-sided views is absolutely ridiculous!

I am not here to discuss whether I agree with Obama’s ideals or how he is running the country.  Honestly the fact that anyone can keep this flaming runaway wagon of a country within the white lines is a feat of unbelievable skill… America is so fickle that we can single-handedly will bring about our own destruction with or without ANY president’s help.

So you didn’t get the president that you wanted, you are mad.. you lost your 401K, and you may have to pay for someone else’s insurance, or foot the bill for their bonus while you bail them out.  So you may pay higher taxes, the president may be a fraud, he may be the “AntiChrist”, he may be secret friends with someone that is completely vile and distasteful to you. So you are angry… about all of this… but why? why are you angry? did  you expect the world to just come whimpering to your feet and give you every thing you wanted? Who the heck asked you how things should go?  Since the beginning of time tyrants, dictators, coups, and all around nasty empires have risen and fallen… and no one has ever stopped to ask… “oh… so mister John Q Christian, what should we do next?  do you like how things are working out for you?”  America is NOT  YOUR COUNTRY!!! HEAVEN IS YOUR COUNTRY!!! get it through your thick heads!  this country is not a “CHRISTIAN” country! It is the same heathen country that it has always been.  Sure many of the founders were Christians, Almost every great empire has been founded on good ideas and good principals… because they work!  But man is always self seeking and ultimately undermines all the good intentions and even the best laid plans can work to benefit the corrupt. Why do you insist on meddling in the politics of a country that you don’t even belong to?

So again… you are angry, you feel betrayed, you feel taken advantage of, you feel like things are not going the way you like… Get Over It!!!  Focus on what matters, people are jobless, people are homeless, people are hopeless, people are directionless!!!

Instead of just adding to the confusion how about you step away from  your stupid,  Protest-a-matic, Spam-a-holic, mailing list and actually help the people that are hurting!  This is an opportunity to promote “LEGAL IMMIGRATION” to the Kingdom of Heaven!

Tags: capitolism, christian, christians, conservative, decisions, dog, economy, facebook, Family, financial problems, friends, heaven, music, Obama, politics, President, ranting, running, sin, temporal world, thick heads, truth

Related posts

Do you think you will escape?

// June 19th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // My God, My Thoughts

The Pharisees were harsh and judgmental of anything that did not fit their ideology of righteousness. Yet Jesus Continually rebuked them and warned them that they would be judged accordingly.  Isn’t is strange that so many Christians still insist on acting more like Pharisees and less like the Jesus that we claim to follow?

Someone very wise once said that  cynicism, skepticism, and criticism are the opposites of  faith, hope and love.

Harsh, Angry, Judgmental behavior is often more of an indicator of fear and lack of truth than anything else…If you are familiar with discerning truth you probably already know,  Truth can stand up to challenging… without anger, without resentment, without fear.

It seems that I do not go very long these days without hearing fresh news of Christians who forget the Jesus that they follow and begin acting like the very brood of vipers that Jesus rebuked.  Some would seem to believe that a position of leadership entitles them to such behavior, I would beg to differ and I beleive that I can safely say that regardless of your status as a leader, if you deal with your own brothers and sisters in Christ harshly, critizising, accusing,  causing them pain, then you are a fool and you do not understand the message of the Gospel at all!

I say this very seriously and with great love in my heart for every person that reads this.

If you deal with others in a harsh, critical, judgmental manner,  do you think that you will escape the judgment of God?   Do not deceive yourself, such things bring shame on the church and the people of God.

My life is filled with people who have been hurt by religion and Christians in particular, and it fully angers me that these hurting people were never the ones that sat in their pews doing nothing, they were once passionate, and christlike, and hungry to serve.  But some egotist made it their business to shut down the work of God.  Again I tell you …. do you expect to escape his wrath?

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12

PEOPLE!   Give grace!  love each other,  be gentle with each other…  LEADERS!  Be kind, be compassionate, be merciful and nurturing!

If you insist on acting like a brood of vipers get out of the Church business!!! Wall Street needs you!!!DSC_9863_127
photo credit: nsaplayer

Tags: anger, Art, beleive, brother, christian, christians, cynicism, egotist, Faith, faith hope, fear, God, jesus, judgment, Love, pain, pews, pharisees, Religion, resentment, righteousness, shame, sin, skepticism, truth, wrath

Related posts

Fate vs. Destiny

// June 10th, 2009 // No Comments » // My Thoughts

Predestination…  a very simple word… however this word is a minefield when you bring it up in christian circles… I think the real problem these days is that people would really like to understand predestination but when all the cards are on the table… somehow they feel robbed or something..

so lets work out a simple logical path..

Step 1)   I decide to go for a ride

  • I have no idea where I am going

Step 2) I get in my car and start driving south… and at some point I decide that I am going to Louisiana to visit family.

  • there is an infinite amount of choices of roads that I can take to begin the journey
  • many of the choices are completely ridiculous
  • there are a few most logical choices to make
  • at any intersection I can make another choice to take another road.
  • some of the choices that I make may make the trip longer… or faster, more enjoyable or completely excruciating.
  • the closer that I get to Louisiana the same infinite number of choices exist however many of them do not make sense to me as long as my destination is still Louisiana…

step 3) I arrive in Louisiana

  • thus my choice to go for a drive resulted in me ending up in Louisiana

so to summarize… my choice to go for a drive resulted in possibly thousands of small choices… what roads to take.. how fast to drive, when to stop, whether to be nice or ugly to other drivers… however the only real choice that gave me the result of a destination to arrive at  ultimately was the choice to go to Louisiana.   if we were to make all of the other smaller choices all over again a thousand different ways and times.. ultimately all of them would eventually still get me to my destination of Louisiana. because I chose Louisiana as my destination.

In the same way we choose our destiny… and while we may refuse to beleive it every choice that we will ever make has already been made. God sees all of our choices instantly… and ultimately only one choice counts… do we accept Jesus as our sacrifice? or do we reject him?

so when we look at

Romans 8:28-30 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according go his purpose. 29) For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren; 30) and whom he predestined, these he also called; and whom he called, these he also justified; and whom he justified, these he also glorified.

what we see is that God foreknew or saw our ultimate choice and he predestined us… (set our destination to be conformed in the image of Christ)  sure he knows all of our other choices but ultimately the choice to accept Jesus Christ is the one that every other choice is colored by.

To me this is an incredibly elegant design that allows for both our free will and yet shows the ultimate sovereignity of God. It also explains a lot about Grace and why it is such an integral part of God’s plan.

I love the way the Oracle explains choice to NEO in the movie the matrix.

Oracle: Candy?
Neo: Do you already know if I’m going to take it?
Oracle: Wouldn’t be much of an oracle if I didn’t.
Neo: But if you already know, how could I make a choice?
Oracle: Because you didn’t come here to make the choice. You already made it. You’re here to try to understand why you made it

Fate is what a person resigns themselves to because they believe that they have no choice.

Destiny is when a person chooses to make choices.

I hope this made you think a little about predestination…

Tags: Art, beleive, choice, choices, christian, christian circles, destiny, different ways, Family, God, jesus, jesus christ, louisiana, Love, sacrifice, step 1, step 3

Related posts

« Older Entries
data recovery