Saturday, November 30, 2013
The Prodigal Blogger Returns
I'm back! Well, not yet. But I plan on getting back into blogging very soon.
I actually had a post made up about 2 months ago, but I shut down my computer and clicked "Don't Save" on my file before I ever put it online. That annoyed me and I haven't felt like typing up a new post ever since. But I'll try to summarize what I said in that post the best I can.
I now have a lot of respect for people who write/blog on a regular basis. It's hard to stay consistent and it takes awhile to actually finish my thoughts on a topic. I end up leaving out a lot of what I want to say because I want my post to be short enough as to not turn away readers. I know that before I read a blog post or article, I scroll to the bottom to make sure it won't take too long, especially with blog posts on Christian topics (I don't feel like reading an entire sermon all the time). I like to keep my ramblings short enough to read within a few minutes. So to those who are able to do this and still get their message across, props to you.
I also wanted to give the few people who read this something to look forward to, so here is a preview of my upcoming topics (in no particular order).
Topic #1 - "Counting the Cost"
This topic is based on Luke 14:28-33. Jesus tells the crowd who should and should not follow him. I've always liked these verses and want to give my commentary on it.
Topic #2 - "The Great Commission...and that part of it we usually leave out"
This is based on Matthew 28:19-20. Perhaps due to the big debate on whether baptism saves you, we seem to always stop reading the Great Commission right after "baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit". And of course, the verse 19 conveniently stops right there. Verse 20 is important though, and I will go over it in the near future.
Topic #3 - "You're Going to Hell"
This one has to do with "pushing" our beliefs on others. Not sure what verse I will base this on but I want to talk about it anyways.
I have a few more topics that people have requested I cover and I will be doing those as well. So I have plenty of topics. Now it's just a matter of sitting down and doing them.
Anyways, that's pretty much it. I'll be back. A dedicated Facebook page is also on the way. Be on the lookout for my new posts!
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Christianity and Social Media
If God saw your Instagram
profile, would he follow you? Better yet, if God already followed
your Instagram, would he consider deleting you based on what you
post? (BTW, considering he is omnipresent
and omniscient,
he's already seen everything you've posted and liked)
Christianity and
Social Media
Social media is great.
You can connect with old friends, share your thoughts, photos, etc.
It's also a way to get to know what people are interested in. You can
get a feel for what people like based on what they've posted and
"liked". But enough of that, I doubt any of us need a
lesson in social media 101.
Realize I am now talking
to Christians. This doesn't apply to you if you are not a
Christian...because it's about to get judgmental up in here.
I once heard someone say
that they prefer to not put a "Jesus fish" or any type of
Christianity-based symbol on their car because they know they drive
like a maniac. By not doing so, that person would avoid making
Christians look bad with their speeding,
lane-switching-without-a-signal, red-light-running, impatient
tendencies. Fair enough. I see their logic; it prevents themselves
from giving Christianity a bad name.
This was so fitting. Its social media and the Jesus fish in one picture! |
Sometimes, I wish people
would follow this logic on social media. All too often, I see too
many examples of people with a metaphorical "Jesus fish" on
their Facebook and Instagram profile, but are out there posting what
is not characteristic of a Christian.
I see profiles that say
"child of God" or "I love Jesus" but you scroll
through their picture feed and see pictures of them doing drugs, in
strip clubs, degrading men or women, or those weird pictures of words
saying all kinds of odd things. (Type the number of what you think
about me! 1 = you're cute! 2 = let's make out, 3 = I can't live
without you, 4 =...use your imagination where this eventually
leads, and I've seen it go up to the number 18).
And
it's not just what you post. It's also what you "like".
There's a big inconsistency when instagram user Joe4Christ's last 8
likes are of a Bible verse and
pictures of naked women. (To my knowledge, Joe4Christ is not a real
person.) You can tell a lot about a person based on the pictures they
like. What are you telling people about Christians when you like
things that you shouldn't?
Understand my point here.
Every time you post and like a sinful status or picture, you are
misleading all of your followers/friends on what it means to be a
Christian. You are effectively saying, "Hello world. I am a
Christian and I approve of this status/picture." When Christians
approve of things that God doesn't approve of, that's sin.
Romans
1:32 - And
knowing the judgment of God, that those who commit such things are
worthy of death, they not only do the same, but have pleasure in
those who do them.
Here
is the above verse in the New Social Media Translation: And knowing
the Judgment of God, that those who post such pictures are worthy of
death, they not only post the pictures, but like other user's
pictures who post them. (no, that Bible version does not exist. But
if it did, it would probably say that.)
Let's think through the
scenarios of what can happen when you post or like something you
shouldn't have. One of these two results will probably happen:
- Non-Christians will see hypocrisy on the Christian's part, and further dislike the church
- Non-Christians who are curious about Christianity and not very educated on doctrine (or new Christians, or anyone who looks up to you such as your younger siblings) will assume that kind of behavior is okay because you posted/liked it, misleading them as to what Christians actually believe and leading them down the wrong path
Please
realize this is not me condemning you bunch of hypocrites
out there. I'm guilty of this
too. I have posted things for vain reasons and liked what I should
not have. I'm as guilty as anyone, but I've repented of that. I
stopped doing these things and I'm urging you to stop as well. As
ambassadors of Christ, we have to be very careful of what we are
telling the world with our actions. An ambassador for Coca-Cola
wouldn't be caught dead with a picture of Pepsi on their daily
Instagram lunch photo. An ambassador for Nike wouldn't have pictures
of Adidas shoes in their feet picture.
In
a nutshell, what I'm saying is...If you are going to like those
posts, then it might serve the Christian community better if you
don't have a "Jesus fish"
or whatever type of Christian symbol you have on your profile. In
Joe4Christ's situation, maybe he should change his name to something
else without Christ in it. Just like how the bad driver, knowing his
tendencies, does not put the Jesus fish on his bumper.
Paul
says in Romans 6, "We
are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"
and
in the same chapter, also says "Do
not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness,
but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought
from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an
instrument of righteousness. "
I
think that our social media accounts can be considered "instruments"
in this verse. And our accounts can either be instruments of
wickedness or righteousness.
After
saying all of that, I guess an appropriate question would be, "what
is a 'righteous' social media profile look like?" I guess its
easier to explain the negative aspect of this than the positive,
because I don't really have an answer to what your profile should
look
like. I think as long as you are wary of what you post and like, you
have freedom in that realm of your life to use it however you want.
Go ahead, post pictures of all your meals, take another sunset shot,
and lets see your feet picture again.
(Easy on the selfies though, that might be a vanity issue).
Let's
leave it at this - we as Christians simply should never take pleasure
in sin, whether it's on social media or in real life.
My guess is there will be
someone who reads this and thinks to themselves, "why are you
judging so much? The Bible says don't judge. He that is sinless shall
cast the first stone!"
I plan on answering
that question in my next post. But I have yet to stick to my posting
plans...
Until next time. Stay
holy, my friends.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Jesus Never Sinned: Part One - The 10 Commandments
I
think we don't completely appreciate the sinless life that Jesus
lived. He never committed those "little" sins that we don't
really think about or we may not even consider to be a "real"
sin. Think about the most menial, tiniest, expected, common,
"least-damning"
(sarcastically speaking) sin you could imagine, and realize that
Jesus never did it or even came close.
I
was going to try and make a mini-series out of this and post in
detail about one particular sin he never committed every day for one
week, but that causes me to, dare I say, dive so
deep into
scripture that I would not come out on a timely basis. Because then I
have to define each sin, find the Greek and Hebrew meaning of words
and what they translate into today, find out what is and is not
included in certain sins, etc. So I may not give each act he never
committed its proper spotlight, but I think a list will suffice in
getting my point across.
Let's
start with the 10 Commandments:
No, that's not Jesus...that's Moses. But you know all those Bible characters look alike.... |
1.
Jesus
never put anything before God. Yes
that sounds weird since he is
God.
But remember, the Bible says even when he was 12 years old, he was
always "about His Father's business". (Luke 2:49). We are a
long way off from this. A very long way off. The first thing I do in
the morning is check my Facebook and Instagram...
2.
Jesus
never worshiped an idol/graven image. I
wasn't sure what to say about this one, but it just occurred to me.
Jesus has seen
the
Father. He is the only person who knows what he looks like who lived
on Earth and could, in theory, erect an accurate
statue
or some sort of depiction of God the Father while He was here on
Earth. But he didn't.
3.
Jesus
never misued God's name in vain.
Yes, also a weird one because He is God. But if you think about it,
he was human and did not give into the many temptations he dealt
with. If he did, the name of Jesus would have no significance because
he would have had sin in him, thereby making all of his efforts to
save mankind in vain. So, by staying true to who he was and what he
came to do, everything he did was not in vain. (kind of a stretch on
describing this one)
4.
Jesus
kept the Sabbath holy.
This one is interesting because the Pharisees gave Jesus grief for
healing on the Sabbath, which was considered "work", but
Jesus challenged their views on it and showed mercy to people any day
of the week. Not much else for me to say on this one. If you want
more explanation, check out
http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~cmadd01/healsabb.html
5.
Jesus
honored his father and mother.
Both his earthly father and mother, and his Heavenly Father. He never
made his parents look bad. Most children begin a rebellious phase
around their pre-teen years but he was in the temple teaching the
teachers. That's the only written record we have of Jesus' youth, but
we still know he never dishonored his parents. I wonder if he ever
corrected his parents on what they thought was good advice for Him.
In fact, I wonder if Mary and Joseph just stopped trying to teach him
how to live because He already had his life in order.
6.
Jesus
never murdered anyone.
Moving on...just kidding. Jesus said himself that anger with someone
without
cause is
the equivalent of murder in God's eyes. That without
cause part
is important, because the first thought that came to my head was
"Hey! Jesus flipped those tables in the temple because he was
angry! Why can he do that?". He, of course, had proper cause to
be angry. They turned His Father's house into a market. He even
flipped over the money table! I'd be scared of angry Jesus...he was a
carpenter! People who build things are usually pretty strong...Could
you imagine? You just pissed off the creator of the universe! And he
can beat you up! But He didn't...
So
he was never angry at anyone without proper cause. Again, we cannot
relate. If anything, we can probably instantly think of people we
dislike for no apparent reason. I know I can.
The
more I type all of this, the more I realize how bad we really are...
7.
Jesus
never committed adultery.
Ahh...good old adultery. The sin that all churchgoers say
"well...yeah I've done that. I think everyone has" as if
that makes it any less sinful. And I'm not talking about cheating on
your spouse. Of course Jesus never did that, he was never married. Im
referring to "looking with lust". We know he dealt with
"sinners" on a regular basis and interacted with
prostitutes a few times. We can assume at least some
of
them were good-looking. And although its not said specifically, I
doubt when Jesus told them, "go and sin no more", he was
staring at their backside as they left, thinking to himself "check
her out, I want me some of that...". I can safely assume this
never happened because if we know that Jesus never sinned, these
thoughts could have never entered his mind. Plus, would it make sense
for the creator of the universe to be tempted by his own creation?
8.
Jesus
never stole anything. 12-year-old
Jesus never stole a piece of fruit from the open-air markets. (I'm
picturing Disney's Aladdin right now). We also know that we can
"steal" from our employers by not doing our jobs while on
the clock. So while Jesus was a carpenter, its safe to assume that he
was the best employee anyone could ask for. He probably showed up on
time every single day, worked his butt off, and never complained
about work.
9.
Jesus
never lied.
Every single thing that came out of his mouth was true. He made some
big claims and bold statements.
10.
Jesus
never coveted.
He never coveted the fact that maybe another carpenter in his city
might be getting more business than he is. He never coveted another
man's wife; he was happy being single and serving God. He knew His
life was going to end in agonizing pain, separation from God and
ultimately spending time in Hell. With all of this, he never coveted
someone else's comparatively easy life. He did ask that there could
be some other, less painful way, but in the end dealt with what he
came to do.
Another way to think of this is almost the inverse. Jesus never did the things he wasn't supposed to do. But he also did everything he was supposed to do. He said that the commandments are summed up into "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself." By not doing these, we are sinning. And since Jesus never sinned, he never stopped doing these; he never stopped loving God or his fellow man/woman. Everything He did was a reflection of His love for God and a reflection of His love for us.
I'm
going to have to stop there because this could go on forever. I will
do a part 2 to this topic at a later date because honestly it's kind of fun. This may have been
discouraging to some because most of us have committed all of these
sins, but the good news about Jesus' perfection is that he represents
us when God judges us, making us perfect. But we must follow
Him.
More on what it means to follow Him (God-willing) in my next post.
Who knows, I might feel like talking about something else, again.
Just be ready to read the next post!
And
please, if you enjoy this at all, let me know! Leave a comment, give
me some positive/negative criticism, and share it with your friends.
Also,
feel free to suggest a topic!
Until
next time. Keep on keepin' on, readers.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Christianity and Sports
It happened already. 3 posts in and I've already veered off of what I was going to talk about. Right Living will come, don't worry. But for now, I wanted to talk about something that I've been thinking about for a long time that no one seems to say when it comes to sports and the outcomes of competition.
If
you ask someone if God cares about who wins a sporting event (lets
use football), you generally get one of two answers:
"God
doesn't care about who wins a football game! He is concerned about
more important things! Football doesn't really matter."
"God
wanted that team to win because (insert player here) is a Christian."
You knew I was talking about this guy...
|
Remember
Tim Tebow? Remember when every single success on his part was
attributed to divine intervention? That seemed to make sense
considering how bad he is/was at the quarterback
position. People credited God for his successes (partially because
there really was no other explanation...he could barely throw a
spiral), but what about now? He spent a season on the bench with the
New York Jets, and then they released him. Sports commentators were
discussing whether Tebow would ever play NFL football again. I'm sure
some football fans sarcastically said, "Hey Tebow! Where is your
God now?" (Yes, I know he just got picked up by the Patriots.)
So
what happened? Was God a fan of the Broncos for one year and jumped
off the bandwagon? What about all of the other teams with Christians?
If Adrian Peterson and the Vikings plays against Tim Tebow and the
Broncos, who does God pick? They can't both win. (yes, Adrian
Peterson is a Christian too). Is God on a team's side when they lose?
Does God even care about the result of a sports competition anyways?
Does God favor Adrian Peterson over Tim Tebow? That's only if stat sheets are indicative of God's favor |
Let's
be real. God has a grand plan for humanity. His plan spans every
single event that takes place on this Earth. And that plan does not
include Christians winning every sporting event they participate in.
Just because you say a prayer before the game does not mean you're
guaranteed the victory. I cannot stand hearing coaches tell their
players "they may be tough, but we have God on
our side" like he is the invisible man on the field ready to
help you win the game. Because I'm sure there are plenty of games
where both teams are praying that same prayer. What
if God's plan is that you lose the game? No one ever says that. Its
always either "God gave so-and-so the victory and rightfully so
because so-and-so is a true Christian!" or the Christian
community goes silent on the topic of sports.
It's
like we think we deserve the victory, but what if
there is a greater, more important victory waiting for us on the
other side of that loss, such as an opportunity to share the gospel
with someone who would not have heard it if you won the game because
you would have occupied with other things due to winning? Don't get
me wrong, its great to see the winners get down on one knee, point to
the sky, and thank God on camera after the victory - there's no doubt
that God gets the glory there.
But
what if Tebow's new "position" on the bench gave him the
opportunity to share the gospel to his teammates in ways he could not
have before because he would have been too busy as a starter? God
still gets the glory, just in a different way that isn't in front of
any cameras. And which is better? Thanking God in front of millions
on live TV, or leading a teammate to Christ? During one, Christians
around the world are vibing with you, and you can bravely say that
you are not ashamed of your beliefs on while secular TV (Romans 1:16
- For I am not ashamed
of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings
salvation to everyone who believes) For the Hypotehical Tebow
situation, the angels in heaven rejoice over the new believer (Luke
15:10 - there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents...). God has legions of
angels, so technically, the second situation will bring on a bigger
"cheer from the crowd" if that's what we are going for.
Regardless, both are equally importantmoments and a Christian in
either situation should always remember to put God first and/or thank
Him for the victory.
By
the way, I'm not saying that backup football players are just sitting
around all day with time to talk, I'm just making a point.
What
if while I was playing golf this weekend, instead of doing great and
reminiscing on all of my great shots on my way back to the car, I
instead hit all of my golf balls in the water hazard (which I sadly
almost did on the first hole). That causes me to end my round early
and run into a staff member on the way back to my car. We get into a
conversation because I have some extra time on my hands due to my
short round of golf, and we end up talking about Christianity, and
that leads him to read the Bible on his own and eventually come to
faith. My horrible score on the course is now the reason that I got
to interact with this person. While I understand that this too is a
big hypothetical situation, I can guarantee that a similar story is
behind hundreds of thousands of conversions. How many people did
Jesus "run into" on his way somewhere?
So
whether our favorite teams, our favorite athletes, or we ourselves
win or lose a game, realize that there is something much bigger and
much more important happening. God's will - His good, pleasing and
perfect will (Romans 12:2) - is taking place, and it includes so much
more than sports victories. It uses sports
victories, and He can use a win or a loss to forward his plan.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
For God So Loved the World...
My first real post! Starting things off positive.
I want to talk about the love we receive yet don't deserve - God's love for us. I tend to overlook His love and take it for granted.
Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
John 3:16 is, by far, the most popular verse in the Bible. Whether you read it yourself or saw the guy at NFL football games always holding up the sign, you've heard it somewhere. It sums up essential Christian doctrine in a few short words; it shows how much God loves us. But I think we have heard it so many times that we don't understand the magnitude of what this verse is saying because we don't realize who (or what) we are.
We are "the world" that God loved. We are the reason he had to send His son to die a gruesome death. Jesus died for us because we failed to keep God's standard of right living. Even that statement cannot be fully appreciated because it has been said so many times within Christian circles that we begin to take it for granted. We don't realize how sinful we are. One slip up and you lose. I know I can't firmly grasp this concept, but I got a glimpse of it one day in church. Here is one of my stories...
At one of my old jobs, I was no stranger to workplace gossip (Proverbs 11:13 - A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.). One day while sitting in church, I received a text message from a coworker asking me if I had told another coworker about a rumor (which I knew to be true) that was spreading around the workplace. And I had.
Before you think "well that's not so bad, it was a small sin", remember God's standard. I was caught red-handed, In church of all places. Not only did I sin, I betrayed the confidence of my two good friends. Also, as a representative of Christianity and Christians all around the world, I failed my brothers and sisters in Christ and made us look even more hypocritical. After reading that text message, I came to the realization that I'm not as "holy" as I thought I was. I felt like I didn't deserve to be in church anymore because of that small slip up. I deserve hell just as much as the people I'd like to think I'm better than.
I heard the piano in the background at the end of the sermon, playing the children's song "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so". And then it hit me. I'm a complete and utter failure, but Jesus still loves me and died for me. The burden was lifted off of me and I, for once, felt truly grateful that my sins have been forgiven (I should note that I also apologized to both friends, and told them I understand if they no longer trust me. There are still consequences we have to deal with when we harm others, even though God sees us as sinless).
This brings me to my next verse, Romans 5:8 (posted above).
Jesus died to save a bunch of failures. God loves people who broke all of his rules, and sent His only Son to die for them. He didn't just die for the people who "weren't that bad". He died for the worst of humanity. Think about the most evil person alive. Whoever you think that is, Jesus died for them too. God will forgive ANYONE of their sins if they believe in Him.
I heard the piano in the background at the end of the sermon, playing the children's song "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so". And then it hit me. I'm a complete and utter failure, but Jesus still loves me and died for me. The burden was lifted off of me and I, for once, felt truly grateful that my sins have been forgiven (I should note that I also apologized to both friends, and told them I understand if they no longer trust me. There are still consequences we have to deal with when we harm others, even though God sees us as sinless).
This brings me to my next verse, Romans 5:8 (posted above).
Jesus died to save a bunch of failures. God loves people who broke all of his rules, and sent His only Son to die for them. He didn't just die for the people who "weren't that bad". He died for the worst of humanity. Think about the most evil person alive. Whoever you think that is, Jesus died for them too. God will forgive ANYONE of their sins if they believe in Him.
It really doesn't make sense to us, to send our closest loved one or ourselves to die to give our enemies a chance to live. Because we can't comprehend the negative side of what happened, we cannot fully appreciate the positive outcome of Jesus's death. It's like a student with a 4.0 GPA gave away their perfect grades to the failing, slacking, partying student with a 0.0 GPA so that the bad student could have a chance to graduate (that's one of many metaphors used to describe what happened, but it still does not do justice to what Jesus did for us). No one in their right mind would do that, But God did. Which is why hearing about God's love for us should never get old. In fact, it should mean more and more every time we hear it because in between each time we hear it, we break his laws and disobey him, yet we are still forgiven and technically more forgiven than the last time as we keep racking up more sins.
I could go on, but I'll stop there. God loves us and we don't deserve it.
It is because of this love that we should strive to keep his commandments, no matter how hard it is. This brings me to my next topic...
"Trying to Live Right".
Until then, God Bless...
Until then, God Bless...
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Welcome to "Christianity and Stuff"
Welcome to "Christianity and Stuff".
I plan on covering a lot of topics that involve Christianity and how it relates to our everyday lives. I promise I'll have some very interesting things to say and questions to ask. Hopefully (I should probably say prayerfully or God-willing) you will find them interesting and thought-provoking.
A little bit about myself regarding Christianity --- I was raised in the church. I've literally been going to church all my life so I cannot remember a time when I wasn't a "Christian". There was also no drastic life-changing salvation moment that I experienced, which is common of the life-long church-goers. Outside of that, I am a marketing major, I love sports, working out, video games, and Corvettes. Each of these facts about me will become their own topics for posts in the future so stay tuned. You'll learn more about me if you follow my posts.
I am not a theologian. I know a thing or two about the Bible/theology, but I am open to the idea of being wrong and corrected when necessary - especially when it comes to Christian doctrine. So if you happen to be reading any of my posts and see something I say that is wrong (factually or doctrinally), please don't hesitate to let me know.
The concept for this blog has been in my head for a long time but I never got around to it because it never felt like the right moment to start. I kept waiting for that perfect moment where it "feels right", or when I had the perfect introductory post planned out. But thanks to some encouragement from a friend of mine, I think it's time to just jump in and learn as I go. I have much, much more to say but I want to keep the introduction short.
That's it for now. I'll start things off on my next post.
Next topic: "For God so loved the world..."
(photo courtesy of www.mrdowling.com)
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