How did I ever get to be so busy?

Remember the days when you had nothing to do? I would just lay around, maybe read a book or go explore. The days were relaxed and slow. Sometimes it would get boring and I’d have to think hard of what could I do.
Somewhere along the way things changed. I think it really happened aft having kids. At first having a kid wasn’t that big of a deal as the first kid kind of just lays there and sleeps most of the time (except at night). However, after the kid gets a little older, and especially after number two, things change and you always have something to do.
Then by the time the teenage years start, things get really busy. There are sports, school and the things they want to do with their friends. They want spend the nights, or go spend the night with a friend. These are usually impromptu things that conflicts with other things you had already planned and also are usually around the time they need correction for bad grades or conduct in school.
I’m getting old enough now to see the light at end of the tunnel. Hopefully I can make it the last few years until they are out of college then maybe things will get boring again (except for the occasional something for a grandkid.) Will I be bored then or will I finally get to rest and then do something for me?

The Essence of Insanity

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The Christian Church today can be said to be insane. How so you ask? Please allow me to explain.

Having grown tired of getting beat up time and again with the Bible by “Christians;” I had finally had enough. I had to find out where they get some of the bizarre ideas they espoused. This led me to go through a ministerial studies course. I also study Spanish and got a bilingual Bible in English and Spanish.

As I went through the ministerial studies course, I did not find where the bizarre ideas came from. However, when I began to study the different translations of the Bible and also the differences in what the Bible said in English versus what it said in Spanish I began to see where the nuttiness comes from. What does this have to do with the Christian church and insanity you ask? Allow me to tie the two together.

From my study of language and translation, I learned that it is not possible to directly translate from one language to another. The conveying of an idea will be phrased differently in one language to another to convey the same idea. For example, in English we say we ARE so many years old however in Spanish, the literal translation would say that we HAVE so many years.

Also there are words that exist in one language that do not exist in another. For example, in English we have evening which denotes a time from late afternoon until a little after dark, say from 5pm to 8pm. Evening doesn’t exist in Spanish however in Spanish they have a word that denotes the time from around 1am to 3am or 4am that we do not have in English.

Also, in languages such as Spanish and Greek, each word has encoded in it its gender, tense and person thus they are called syntactical languages. In English for example, you can tell if the word run is first, second or third person, or if it’s singular or plural until it’s used in a sentence thus English is called an analytical language. Still you ask; what has this got to do with Christian church insanity?

Well let me finally tell you. The Christian church in North America has complained of declining numbers for a very long time. If you go to discussion groups like “Christian Professionals” on a website like Linked In, you will see people asking why that is and what can be done about it.

The non-Christian people are fairly united in that they don’t like the Bible thumpers and they don’t like the confused, mixed message of the church. They believe that there is a lot of hypocrisy and undo self righteousness within the church and want nothing to do with it. So I decided to try an experiment.

I go into some discussions with the so called Christians about how the English translations of the Bible didn’t quite match the original intent that was written in the original language and pointed out how people in the church behave toward the un-churched and guess what happened? You have probably already guessed that I was either attacked, ignored, told I was wrong, or that it didn’t matter because “God can still speak to” them even if the words aren’t right.

So, on one hand, the Christian church sees people leaving in droves and they wonder why. On the other hand, they don’t think that it has anything to do with them. So they continue to do what they have always done and expect a different result.

Is it possible that we have hidden the evidence?

 In the old days, people could see the awesomeness of the heavens at night.  There were more stars than anyone could count.  Advances in science made it even more awesome when they figured out the size of a star compared to the size of our own planet.

However, as mankind became more advanced, the amount of man made light began to dim out the stars.  The more man advanced, the harder it has gotten to see the heavens with the naked eye at night.  Is it possible that as the heavens faded, people began to lose sight of God and as a result have begun to think that man is all powerful?  Is this where liberal thought has gotten it's boost?

I remember as a young kid in the 50s that we could go out and see the Milky Way and the Big Dipper.  As the years have gone by, it gets harder and harder to see unless you can go far away from the urban lights.  As you can see from this image Earth Lights, the areas with the most lights tend to be areas where people believe more in liberal thought such as man-made global warming.

If you can wait out the 15 second commercial, check out this video from Norwegian photographer Terje Sorgjerd of the Milky Way and see how the ancients saw the heavens and see the evidence that we have hidden.  If each star is a thermo-nuclear furnace that last billions of years and dwarfs all the nuclear devices that man has made, how many can you count?

Prisoner By Birth

 In the not too distant path, a person could go anywhere in the world they wished if they had the fortitude and the means to do so. They didn't have to carry any papers to prove who they were and if the land wasn't occupied, they could set up a place to live and live off of the land. Not so anymore.

 In this day and age, you think that some coutries are free and others are not but the truth is, you are a prisoner to the country you were born in.  If you can go to another country, it's only temporary and then you must return to the country of your birth or face possible jail.

  Was I just born too late?

Language of Heaven

Hispanics have a joke that is a play on words between English and Spanish. They say that Spanish is what is spoken in heaven. When you ask how that can be they say that Spanish is spoken in Los Angeles (which is the city of angels) and if the angels speak Spanish then Spanish must be the language of heaven.

Over the years, being a white person in a white church, it seems like the attitude of the church is that the only people in heaven are white and they speak English. I helped out with the sound system for a time in a black church and their attitude seemed to be that the only people in heaven were black and spoke English.

It's really funny when you think of it how narrow and closed minded the citizens of the United States are. If you get into other countries and cultures, it is not that way. Hispanics, for example, understand that there probably is a mixture of people in heaven; after all, hispanic culture is very mixed.

It will be interesting when that day comes and each of us has to face the final judgment. I think there will be an lot of very surprised people when heaven doesn't conform to the way they envision it.

Religion and Sports

Earl Pitts would always start his rants with “you know what makes me sick?  You know what makes me so mad I just want to….”  As funny as he was, like Rush Limbaugh says, there has to be an element of truth in it to make it funny.  And so, I come today to say that people pick their religion like they do their sports team.

How’s that you say?  Well, just as there are different sports, there are different religions and just as there are different teams in a particular sport, there seems to be a different sect, denomination, or whatever in each religion.

How do people pick their sports team?  Well, it is usually because they like the colors, or the symbols, or it’s from their area or it because their family are all fans.  There’s really not much logical thought put into it.  I’ve heard it said that people put more thought into choosing an article of apparel than they do choosing their life’s occupation and I believe it fits with picking their team as well.  People also seem to pick their religion for the same types of reasons.

Once people pick their sports team, then they wrap themselves in the colors, symbols, and traditions of that team.  Then, they rah rah for their team and have the us vs. them attitude; our guys are better than your guys, yay us.  Have we not seen the same thing with religion?

The problem though is that after a while, it becomes tiring to keep rah rahing and you need a break.  That’s why sports have seasons.  For religion though, there is no off season.  Usually what happens then is when the excitement wears off; people tend to drift away form whatever religion they chose.  They drift off unless there is someone to beat them or threaten them to hound them back into the flock.

True Christianity though is different (or it should be).  You don’t choose to become a Christian.  Jesus bluntly told this to the apostle when he said “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-- fruit that will last.”  Just as the drowning person cannot choose who will save him or her, you cannot choose to be a Christian.

This is evidenced again when Jesus chose Saul of Tarsus.  Jesus told him “it is hard for you to kick against the goads.” In other words, when you are chosen, there will be goads or prodding by the Holy Spirit that you cannot ignore.  You can ignore and fight against it but eventually it comes to where you have to make the decision to accept or reject it.  

So if you pick Christianity as your religion like you’d pick a sports team, when all the hoopla fades away, you’ll fade away from church also.  It’ll become something that you are supposed to do instead of something you want to do.  However, if you sense the calling, and seek out how to tune into it (which is “seek ye first the kingdom of God”), your life will never be the same and you won’t need all of the emotion and hype to keep you going.

First Rant

Who are the most belligerent and obnoxious people that are anti-smoking?  It seems to be ex-smokers who finally quit.  Because they had such a hard time quitting, their experience gives them the qualifications to feel they can tell others about the dangers of smoking.

Who are the most belligerent and obnoxious people that try to evangelize and spread the Christian Gospel?  Believe it or not, it is NOT those that went through a multitude of heartbreak and sin before finally accepting Jesus later in life.  Instead, it seems to be those who grew up in the church and have no idea of the depth of depravity that there can be in the human soul.

These Bible thumpers are responsible for driving more people away from the Christian church than anything else.  Have you ever heard of the surveys where one of the major reasons why people don’t go to church is because of the hypocrisy within the church? It is said that your personal testimony is the most powerful tool for the advancement of the kingdom, but what kind of personal testimonies do these people have?

It has been my experience from the military that those with many years of military experience are more subdued than the newbie.  Those with combat experience are even more laid back.  Those who’ve fought the battle have a different perspective on everything.

The same is true of being a Christian.  The person who accepted Christ later in life, who went through hell before that acceptance, and then fought the spiritual battle that comes after conversion, has a different view of Christianity and the church.  They tend to refrain from the clichés and the hype.  They have a deeper understanding of what the Scriptures say.

The same way that a newbie soldier should find a wily combat veteran to stick close to during the battle, newer Christians should seek out the spiritual battled tested Christian for mentorship.  You can only teach what you know and have experienced.  If all you can do is parrot what someone else said, you’re just a noisemaker.

Jesus never said that following him didn’t demand a price.  Jesus simply said that HIS “yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Satan though has other ideas.  When you are in the midst of spiritual warfare, it pays to have the veteran of other battles with you.  They are not really hard to find.  Look for the person who doesn’t say a whole lot, but when they do speak it is very deep and profound, and you may not understand quite what they are talking about at first.  They also never miss worship.  If you ask them they can tell story after story after story of the spiritual battles in their life and how ultimately God supported them and moved them from one blessing to another and another and another.