Faith and Politics

Today's post will be somewhat atypical. I am going to focus on one subject rather than recounting the actions of the day.

Let's start off by posing the question that I have pondered for a few hours now: Is it possible for political philosophy and religion to coexist?

If Jesus were back on the planet, I'm pretty sure he would laugh at the politicians. Neither party actually lives up to Christ's moral standard. Because of this I'm going to write my thoughts in respects to a liberalism-conservatism spectrum rather than basing it on the political parties. Would Christ identify as a current day conservative or liberal. Whatever whatever let's move on

I identify as a conservative. The more I think about my philosophy on life, the more identify with conservative beliefs. I am a Christian Conservative. That's a crazy phrase these days. I think this may be the last time I share my political philosophy for a while. I am tired of talking about it. Some people call me a super conservative. Personally, I must admit that I don't know what I would consider myself. I tend to be conservative on almost all issues. If there were a way to make the United States a Godfull nation instead of the "nearly Godless" country it is now, I'd be all over it. I did not realize that there were so many Christian liberals and until recently. I suppose I understand how a Christian could be liberal. Jesus did stress love. He never really stressed tolerance or acceptance. Actually, the interesting thing was that Jesus ate and drank with anyone who wanted his company. He shared the good news with everyone. He taught us how to be loving and respectful of others, but I think many people overlook Jesus’ stressed the importance of seeking righteousness.

I want to post this later, perhaps tomorrow. I haven't appropriately organized my thoughts. I admit that I'm a little confused myself right now. I'll just put down my basic political profile.

Social Issues: Super Conservative :-)
Economic Issues: Very Conservative
Foreign Affairs: Very Conservative
Political: Somewhere between Very and Super Conservative

I have to admit, I'm a hardcore conservative. I have no idea how I became one, I just know that I am one.

So I'll have a Faith aand Politics post part 2 that's much more organized.

Now for the scripture of the days: Wow, it suddenly came to me.
The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
1 Kings 19:11-13

Song of the Day:
Strong Tower by Newsboys

Religion or Faith

Today was an interesting day. I got up late today, around 9 am. I did a read the bible a little. I didn't do all the reading I intended to doing. I will do some later in the night. When I finish that reading I will post the verse of the day. This morning I came across an interesting verse in the bible a second time: John 14:28. In this verse Jesus says he's going back to the Father and the father is greater than he is. This challenges the trinity, so I sent an e-mail to my youth pastor and Mr. Burger. I'm sure they'll be able to shed a little light onto my confusion.

I did by biblical Hebrew studies today. Hebrew is a lot of fun. I have finally memorized the alphabet and the vowels. Perhaps I will learn this language faster now. I need to practice recognition now. I have to assimilate each word on site. I cannot recognize any units, I’m sure that will merely take a few years of practice. After that I should be able to pick up more and more Hebrew. It would also be cool to learn to speak and write in Arabic. I’m going to be a Middle Eastern expert. If my college offers Arabic, I will definitely take that language.

We had this interesting religious and political argument at work. It was kinda funny. There was a republican at work who believed in an American Empire. I thought that was a little interesting since that's the Republican Party’s goal. I didn't really argue with him. I would prefer the United States not try to deal with all world affairs, but I suppose politics is no longer my focus. Besides, I don't think there is much one nation can do about the actions of everyone else.

My co-worker asked me what type of Christian I was. That's a funny question to ask. I suppose it's a legitimate question these days. Everyone has their own beliefs. I told him I was non-sectarian, not non-denominational, but non-sectarian. He told me that he was catholic. He told me a little about Catholicism. They believe that everyone else, the Protestants, left the true "religion." He told me he also believe that the bible was the "basis" of Christianity, but that God gave man the intelligence to rationalize things. Both of these comments were interesting. I had not time to comment on these statements because we became increasingly busy for the next fear hours. I'm glad I didn't have the opportunity. There was no potential for that conversation. I could just see a terrible fight breaking out. Am a protestant? Good question, I suppose it depends on the definition. If the definition of protestant is any person who identifies with the Christian faith who is not catholic, then I am a protestant. Otherwise I wouldn't say that I'm a protestant.

For his second statement, it took me by surprise when he said that men had the intellectual capacity to "rationalize". I love how philosophy can easily creep into religion. I think it interesting that we can purport God's sayings to monument proportions. We like to change everything so that it fits us perfectly, when the first step of following Christ is to deny yourself. I always have a problem with someone who calls himself/herself a Christian, but they don't believe in the bible. The bible is the only concrete form of Christianity that we have it. It's the basis of the teaching within our faith, but we refuse to believe it. I also think it interesting that we can "rationalize". In other words, we can add anything to the faith whenever we see it fit. Now I understand why the Catholic Church had no problem with killing people in the name of Jesus Christ for conquest. I find the concept of purgatory interesting when I've never seen scriptural support for it. I want to know where they get all of this "stuff" from. I now understand why the book of Revelations is written to the church. It seems like the church is doing the most damage to God's word. Now people don't believe it's God's word, rather it's more of an anthology. I have to admit that was a bit disconcerting. I have always held the Catholic Church in high regards for their ability to maintain the important parts of the faith for centuries. I hope this really doesn't offend anyone, but I'm starting to see Catholics similar to how I see the Pharisees. At least the Pharisees believe the Holy Scriptures were the absolute truth. One must admit that most churches today are either self-righteous and/or focused on maintaining the traditions of their "denomination", rather than focusing completely on Christ. What will God say? I feel or at least I wish I am wrong at times so that it will be me alone and no the many others. It's just sad that we've added so much over the years.

We now have this new age believed that the scriptures provide many different "truths". Many people believe that you don't have to be one religion you just have to believe in something. They believe that good deeds are enough. It's almost like a giant compromise. It basically says you can buy your way into heaven just like you can buy anything you need/want in life. I think it interesting Jesus stress that the mindset/function of his Kingdom is far different from that of this world, yet we refuse to remember that. We try to take the rationality and reasoning of our world and apply it to his kingdom and pretend like it fits perfectly into the hole. It's just sad now! I wish the best for everyone. I feel almost arrogant in saying that I hope everyone comes to Know and understand God better than we already do.

As I wrap this up, I just want to say I'm going to post the reasoning behind titling this blog the House of David this weekend. If you want to guess why I titled it House of David, go ahead. Have a blessed day, night, life!

Scripture of the Day:
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Colossians 2:8

My interpretation: God doesn't need our religion! He doesn't need our additions or our thoughts. He needs us!

Song I'm currently listening to:
My Jesus Todd Agnew

Spring Cleaning

OK, so I know it's almost July and it's already summer, but today it came to my attention that I haven't done my spring cleaning. I have a lot of trash to take out and "stuff" to organize. I guess we'll start with the general apology.

General Apology:
I know in the past few months I've probably burned a few people badly: crushed their ideas, reacted insensitively, or saying something mean about them. I'm guess I'm sorry about that. I'm especially sorry about the Fwop joke I came up with. Regardless of its validity, it was cruel and inappropriate. I'm apologize people to all the people who listen to me tell the joke and writhe with mirth on the floor of Founders. My sister and I were talking today and she told me that I have two different personalities. Apparently, with strangers I'm much more reserved in social environment. I barely speak, and when I do you cannot hear me. I rarely smile and my words are few. I figured this was a once in a while thing. Everyone's a little more apprehensive when they are at in unfamiliar situations. Then I realized that I demonstrate these characteristics more often than I think. Actually, I found I was only truly outgoing in the academic environment or a place where I had a friend from school present. If neither of those two requirements were met, I was more likely to act shyly in that situation. It leaves me with a question, am I a more shy and apprehensive person, or am I the happy excited image I present to school friends. I have to admit, the former was more characteristic of me during pre-7th grade years. During and after 7th grade, I because much more outgoing and willing to share my ideas. I'm afraid I may have hit a critical point, since the summer I’ve felt a lot more introverted. I need much more time to myself to recharge and I have shifted many priorities. I have to admit, the whole process has been rather strange. Enough about that...

I'm not going to say why I decided to title today's entry spring cleaning. If you want to guess, you can. :-). I will post the reasoning behind the title in the next few days. Let’s get on to the point then.

Let's start from the beginning of the story. My parents recently switched our phone service to digital phone, so an ADT security system guy had to come over and make sure our device was compatible with the phone service (it was). My grandmother visited today; she was here when the ADT guy got here. It was about noon and she was watching the news while I was on my laptop. Something happened about Duke Lacrosse team and the War in Iraq, and something, and the man said that the media can be so deceptive at times. He shared a few anecdotes with us about his military experience and his friends', who are in the military, experience in Iraq. As a "fellow" South Carolinian, it's needless to say he was a conservative :-). It was really enlightening to hear him speak. I inserted a few thoughts and ideas into, but for the most part it was a one way conversation. It was great just to sit and listen for a while instead of rambling about something stupid. He brought in a few religious incidents into the conversation and I began to realize a few things. Through this realization I came up with the title spring cleaning.

I flashed back to the Old Testament again today. I want to study about a man called Elijah, but I want to read about his predecessors first. I started from the beginning of the book of Leviticus. I pried through 4 chapters today and wrote down the different offering procedures. I have no comment on the procedures. All I'm going to say is I'm glad we don't have to do that stuff anymore. Thank You Jesus! There was so much that you had to do in order to gain forgiveness and animals had to atone for you sins. It brings up the question that I asked about last night. I had a conversation with a friend that kinda answered it. Here's the conversation:

Friend1 (12:35:34 AM): I think its cause [the error] the action doesn’t tear u away from God
Friend1 (12:35:37 AM): its the lie
Friend1 (12:35:45 AM): and its the lie that hurts him
Me (12:35:50 AM): I think that actions still tear you awak
Me (12:35:51 AM): away*
Me (12:35:58 AM): but I guess you cannot fix a tear
Friend1 (12:35:59 AM): doesnt have to
Me (12:36:03 AM): if you dont' recognize it
Me (12:36:24 AM): if you pretend like you are not tearing a sheet of paper [that's falling apart], it will continue to rip
Friend1 (12:36:32 AM): uh huh
Me (12:36:42 AM): but if you admit and confront the fact that it's happening then you have to do something abou tit
Friend1 (12:37:02 AM): very good point
Me (12:37:04 AM): it's harder to continue to do something you truely believe is wrong if you admit [it] to yourself and others that it's wrong whole heartedly
Friend1 (12:37:18 AM): yeah

This brings me to one of the great scriptures I like in Jeremiah.

"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, “declares the LORD. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
Jeremiah 31:31-34

Let's put this into context. God has just given the land of Judah and Israel many opportunities to return to him and warned them of their wrath. He displays his wrath upon them. As a result of them breaking the first covenant established under Moses, he asserts he will create a new covenant that will allow each man to have a relationship with him. He says that the law will be written in our "hearts". Essentially, we broke the contract so God gave a new one that was better for us and gave us much more of his grace and mercy. Come one...you must admit that's love. Instead of killing us all, he gives us a new better contract. NO one else will ever do that for us. The joy that received from this made me chose Psalms 40 as the scripture for today.

Psalms 40:1-3
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

Song of the Day: Newsong by Newsong

Ending the Weekend

I definitely enjoyed this weekend! I've had better weekends, but I can't really complain about this one. Uhmm. I didn't post yesterday because everything kinda happened spontaneously. I didn't get home until 11:20 pm or so. I think I went straight to bed. Today was a better day as far as time goes. I had time to simply stop and think. I had breakfast with the family this morning. For some reason I didn't go to church. I'm not sure why...I suppose I just decided not to go. I can't say I regret the decision, but I think I would make a different decision right now. Oh well, no good comes from lamenting the past.

Right now it's about 11:30 pm and I haven't decided what I'll do for the rest of the night. I had a chance to read a few chapters out of my bible tonight. I was reading the book of Jeremiah from the Old Testament and it sorta depressed me so I stopped reading it. I think I would like to revisit the book in the future; perhaps, I read it a little slower the next time. Maybe I’ll only read a one or two chapters a day the next time. I read about three or four chapter a day, if not more, this time. I found the whole thing a little disturbing. Faithless Israel and sinful Judah! God passed judgment on both places because they would not turn from their ways.

Jeremiah scares me. I think it can be really misleading as well. If I read this book a few years ago, I would have only concentrated on the judgment God passed on the two cities. Now when I look at the verses I see the reasoning involved. In context, God gave the "children of Israel" ample time to confess their sins, repent, but they chose not to do so. I think it interesting that God would punish Israel and Judah because they would not admit to sinning. It seems as if God should be more upset about the errors of his children, than their failure to acknowledge their sins. That concept puzzles me. If you think you know why, tell me! It seems like the activity itself would be the upsetting factor. The second thing I notices is that God always talked about how the people of Israel and Judah left him to serve other gods. God says that the gods his people serve aren't real gods; he thinks they are just being foolish. You can start to see the appearance of New Testament ideals from the Old Testament, such as the confession of sins and a relationship with God. Christ did say that if any man come after me he must deny himself daily pick up his cross and follow me (Luke 9:23 I think). It still requires us to forget our other gods (things that we idolize and put on a pedestal in our lives) and allow God to be the pilot.

I decided I would flip back to the New Testament for a while. The story about Israel and Judah did depress me. I read the first 5 and 1/2 chapters of John before calling it quits. It's a great book in the bible but it confuses me. One of the biggest debates in Christianity is over the Holy Trinity. I have to confess, I understand the ability for one entity to have three separate personalities and responsibilities 3 distinct persons, but it seems like the bible supports this concept in some places and negates it in others. Jesus always calls "God the Father" Father. I realized that Jesus never calls him Lord or God. There are a few things that I find really interesting. First, Jesus claims in the book of Matthew that no one knows when the end will be. Only the father knows, but not he son. That's crazy...it's hard to believe the Son and the Father can be the same essence if they don't have equal knowledge, especially if both are suppose to be omniscient. I'll probably shoot an e-mail to a friend's dad who will probably know the answer. The second thing that driving me crazy I found today. In John 14:28, Jesus says something to the effect of I'm going away now my father who is greater than I. We all know the father is a separate person or persona, but how is he supposed to be greater than Jesus. I know in Hebrews it says that Jesus had the form of God, but emptied himself, and thereby humbled himself to death. It just confuses me a bit. I personally believe in the Trinity. This doesn't really shake my faith, but it's kinda hard to justify something seemly conflicts with the "Holy Scriptures."

On a lighter note, I googled Trinity and John 14:28. Somehow I came to this site for a guy who tried to explain the scripture, but it failed to elucidate the statement. I started flipping through the articles, and I came to a few interesting ones about the vacillation of the watchtower. Then I came to an article about a man who wrote his dissertation on Jesus Christ being gay. Wow, I think that's kinda crazy. The "world" cannot seem to agree, was he married or was he gay. I suppose will eventually write about the homosexuality of Christ, and then everyone will believe and someone will make a movie about it and it will make it to the top of the box office. Apparently, astrologers can tell if someone is gay based on their date of birth. I think that's a little laughable statement, but that's just me. It's midnight now so I think I’ll wrap this up. Have a blessed day, night, and life. I think that covers it. Thanks for reading my blog. Be well:

Scripture of the day:
Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
John 4:21-24

Song I'm Listening to: What If His Poeple Prayed by Casting Crowns (GREAT SONG, prayer is amazing).

New Day, New Blog

Sorry Guys if there are a lot of typoes, i'm typing this really late and i'm not going to proof because i want to go to bed.

I'm finally starting a new blog. I have a live journal, but i don't really like it. I suppose the live journal reflects much of my old thoughts and actions. It's not really suitable for many of my new thoughts and feelings. That, I suppose, was my motivation for finding a new blogger. I want this space to be an acurrate reflection of my thoughts and feelings, which means that God will inevitably be all over the place. I didn't really feel like it was appropriate to put God on my live journal. Something just felt wrong about it. I'm glad i have a new blog, on which I can put great things about me, my friends, family, and God.

It's almost 1 o'clock in the morning and I'm toying with that thought of going to sleep. I just wrong my sister this long e-mail that covers, what i consider the five most important things to consider when growing in christ. I can't really say I'm an expert. I've heard about Jesus all my life, and I've been saved for several years now, but you never feel like an expert. I just thought i would share a few things that helped me a lot of the past few years. Things that i wish I knew when i was her age. Perhaps she'll take my advice, maybe she won't. Either way, she's still an amazing person to me.

The five topics I posted on were called: 1.) No one is good, 2.) By faith, we are all made perfect and righteous through Jesus Christ, 3.) God doesn’t need your stuff, and he doesn’t need you to do a lot, he just needs your heart, 4.) Every moment counts, 5.)THERE ARE NO RULES ABOUT HOW TO SERVE GOD; THE CHURCH AND OTHER PEOPLE HAVE LIED TO YOU. Maybe I'll post on these thigns later. I suppose each title can be a bit misleading, especially the last one. I am a huge pro-church person. I'm not really self-righteous and am very thankful that God loves me for who I am. Overall, these are the concepts that I felt she needed to share.

Overall, i'm happy that i started this. Maybe tomorrow I will explian the title House of David. If anyone knows what it means, you should post it as a comment. I always think it's really cool when people can figure out your thought process behind something. Until later, have a blessed life: filled with joy, happiness, and God.

Song I'm listenig to right now: Heart of Worship by Matt Redman