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Humble Death and Love

[Context: Philippians 2]

There is great encouragement in Christ. There is comfort of love in Christ. There is affection and sympathy in Christ. There is humility in Christ. There participation in the Spirit in Christ. There is complete joy in Christ. With all of us this, Paul tells us to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but to rather put others as more significant than myself. And then I suppose Paul thinks we didn't hear him clearly because in verse 4 he reiterates: "Let each of you look not only to the interests of others." This unselfishness is the radical love of which most lack.

 Paul then gives an example of humility of Christ in verses 5-11. According to the scripture notes in my ESV Bible, some refer to this passage as the "Hymn for Christ" because Paul goes into such detail of the life of Jesus. And as I read Philippians 2, I noticed that the overall intensity of humility rose up higher and higher the further I read the chapter. 

 I want to focus on some verses individually. In verse 6, it reads "who [Christ Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped". Other translations say that Jesus did not take advantage of the fact that He was equal to God. One translation said that He was not equal with God, which I believe is an incorrect translation because the Bible so consistently claims Jesus is God. Regardless, the point of the verse is to dictate that Jesus was the most powerful man in the world and ever to live, yet He never used it for his personal human gain. He used this power for His glory. He never used his power to be a king of a nation but rather prove that He is the King of all Kings! Through this, being a human, He humbled himself. He never sought personal wealth or higher privilege but instead Christ died for all of us. Why? Verse 10 answers so that every knee will bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth...so that every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord! Jesus is so good, He used His power and equality with God for acts of service, not for personal privilege. That is humility! 

 Verse 7 says that he "emptied himself". This is not saying He no longer has the qualities of God but rather that He came as a baby, just like us, in a manger in Bethlehem. Christ came as a nobody when He could have arrived as a god with a big entrance. He emptied himself by working as a mere carpenter instead of being a ruler of a nation. This emptiness represents Jesus becoming flesh, a human, and at the same time not giving up his deity or glory.  

How did Jesus take the form of human flesh? He took it by dying for us in an excruciatingly painful and humiliating way. Christ was crucified; and crucifixion took a physical toll on a person's body but it was also a very humiliating event for anyone, especially in this culture and era. Crucifixion was done on the evildoer, such as murderers, rapists, thieves. Yet through humility our blameless and innocent Lord Jesus underwent the crucifixion for us because He loves us. On top of that, this experience Jesus went through also showed the ultimate obedience to the Father.

 In verses 12-17, Paul proceeds to encourage Christians to live the same faith, obedience, love and humility as Christ did. That is tough... Verses 14-15 tell us to do everything without grumbling or disputing so that we may be blameless and innocent children of God in the midst of our crooked generation. I don't think Paul miswrote when he said "everything". We are taught to emulate Christ and Jesus did everything with a good heart so we therefore must also do everything with a good heart. Verse 16 we are told to "hold fast" to the Word of Life, and according to to my scripture notes, this means to believe in God's Word (the Bible) and to follow it. 

 The remaining verses of the chapter is Paul speaking highly of two righteous men he knew personally. These men were going to Philippi to meet with the Philippians. Paul merely tells them to welcome Timothy and Epaphroditus. I am unsure what God wants me to take from this. Maybe God wants me to look at the men as another example. Paul describes why they are righteous men, so perhaps they are just an example.

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Walk in Love, Love Your Spouse

Walking in love is easier said than done. This is especially true when the apostle Paul outlines how to walk in love in Ephesians 5. God did not make it easy, rather he made it difficult. I must say, though, God wants me to do hard things because tasks that take time and hard work reap great rewards.

 It is important for me to honor God and one way to do this is to become more righteous; and this is done by walking in love. This love is described as the love Christ had for us (verse 2). This implies there are many ways to walk in love that are not included in this passage but definitely in other passages.

 Right off the bat, Paul says to abstain sexual immorality and impurity. This includes anything that opposes God's intention. Paul proceeds and states to not use crude or filthy language (verse 4). Again, this is all about intention. God knows the intention, others simply have an interpretation. It is still good to keep in mind of others' interpretations, though, as we ought not to cause others to stumble in their faith (Romans 14:13-24, 1 Corinthians 8:9). Just because the world is committing a sin, that does not mean God will allow me to sin (verse 7). This is obvious but a good reminder as sometimes we can try to justify ourselves in the silliest ways. 

 As Christians, we ought to walk as children of light. This probably means that because I have woken up from my sinful life, living in darkness, now I act in opposition to sin. Through the "fruit of light", I may discern what is right and what is wrong (verses 9-10). I believe the fruit of delight here represents the fruit of the spirit, as light is typically a symbol or metaphor for God. 

 Paul proceeds and encourages me to expose unfruitful works of darkness. Does this mean within context of Christians or of the world? I will answer this shortly. 

 Verse 11 states to not be a part of "unfruitful works of darkness", and darkness typically is a symbol for Satan / evildoing. It's a lifestyle WITHOUT God. The extended metaphor of light and darkness is great. Without light, we cannot see what we are doing or where we are going, as we are in darkness. But with light, we can see what is in front of us. So with God (the Light), it is revealed to me what my wrongdoings (darkness) are; and I now can walk confidently and know where I am going and what I am doing. 

 So who do I expose? I believe there is a technique as to how to expose, and when to expose. It's anyone. There's a catch, exposing must not be through shame. That's not what Christ did. He exposed everyone to the sins they were committing, but he never put the spotlight on anyone and publicly shamed them. It is about giving insight to one's life. I believe it is important to spread the Good News and correct people's ways, which means anyone. However, in doing this it is also important to not correct people forcefully. 

 For example, passing a law that disallows homosexual marriage. Although it is against God's will for marriage, it is not my responsibility to prohibit nonbelievers to follow my God's laws. I may encourage the couple to pursue Godly life choices but under no circumstances am I to force people to follow God's law. It is also important to note that I ought to love everyone no mattwe what. The goal is to create a relationship with people and to save them if they are nonbelievers, but even if I have any differences with anyone I ought to love them. The best way to convince someone is to speak and act like Christ. For it is unlikely to debate a person to Christ but it is likely to love that person to Him. 

 The first bit of the passage concludes with a theme of living in the Holy Spirit and giving thanks to God. I don't know this enough. I am so blessed yet when do I thank God? I ought to use my blessings to glorify Him. It is imperative to thank God and one way to do this is by living in the Spirit and and being obedient to God's law. This includes submitting to one another (verse 21). This submission is directly related to authorities established by God. An example of this is explained by Paul. 

 This example is of marriage. I believe it to be very biblical to insist that wives submit to husbands. It is clear, throughout the Bible, that we are designed by God to live in a patriarchy. However, this is not a damaging patriarchy. This patriarchy is God-inspired. I believe this to be very important, not because I am selfish or because I am a man, but rather because this theme is mentioned numerously around the Bible; for this narrative is reiterated many times. 

 In this chapter, Paul juxtaposes marriage with Christ's relationship to the Church. Jesus is the Head of the Church, and as the Church submits to Christ so does Christ love the Church (verse 24). Likewise, wives submit to the husband and the husband loves the wife. This love is to be a sacrificial love. As Christ gave Himself up for the Church because of His love, so should a husband be a leader & be willing to give up his life for his wife (verse 25). The Bible really nails it in verse 28: "He who loves his wife loves himself." Why? Verse 29 answers this: "For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourished and cherished it." 

 It is important to end on a very good note. Marriage is profound and has a purpose: to glorify God. Man and woman together become one flesh (verse 31). This is an allusion to Genesis 2:24, when God created man and and woman. The reason it was brought up was because it was how God created us. Marriage is the joining of two members and forming to become one stronger member. Likewise, man and woman come together, both with different strengths and weaknesses, and come together like a puzzle piece to complement each other in life.

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By Grace... Through Faith...

[Context: Ephesians 2]

By grace and through faith... the first half of this chapter is about how much we need Jesus. The first 3 verses rant on all about the wicked and evil things we do that make us unrighteousness and unworthy of being with God. However, verses 4-7 takes a sharp turn and begins ranting about how great God's love is and how great His mercy is. This is fantastic news because in verse 8, the apostle Paul hits us with the greatest line in the whole chapter: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift from God." Like wow! 

 I mean first off, I'm so wicked and an evildoer. Of course, me personally, I am a decent human being. I still have flaws, though, from time to time. Some of these are flaws, I might add, are very trivial and do no harm to anyone but perhaps myself or to my relationship with God. Nonetheless, I am wicked. And even though i could never work for my salvation, through God's infinite grace He grants me salvation for free through His son Jesus Christ. I'm so unworthy and undeserving yet I am granted with this special gift from the most powerful entity in the universes. The best part, so are you. So is your neighbor. Everyone has this opportunity. This is the good news! 

  Let's do a quick little dissection of verse 8. "For by grace", as I just explained is out of our control. No human can work for this salvation. In fact, the verse does a big circle of salvation. It begins with grace and it also ends with grace (the gift from God). 

 Next let's mention "you are saved through faith". This is faith through Jesus Christ, God's only son, dying for our sins; but 3 days after which He rose to life then resurrected to Heaven. And having faith in this and believing this to be true, gives us salvation. That is it. It's so simple. The inner-engineer in me wants to say "what's the catch? Surely there is something more to it. It must be more complicated than that." But the incredible thing to note is that it is just that simple. We serve a complex God through simple ways. 

 Lastly let's mention "And this is not your own doing; it is a gift from God". This circles back to the salvation circle. We as humans cannot do a thing to make ourselves worthy in God's eyes. Yet through the grace and mercy of God, we are granted salvation by simply believing in Christ. 

 I should note that the next verse mentions part of this "no-works salvation" is because then no one may boast. And this is because we were created for good works anyway (verses 9-10). 

 God is love, mercy, and grace. 

 The second part of the chapter ends with being one in Christ. And of course, if we all have fallen short of God, and we all have this opportunity to be saved, then yes we are one in Christ. But it also may be mentioning the Trinity. Jesus brings peace and breaks hostility & division. And through Jesus I have access in one Spirit to the Father. 

 But Paul uses a metaphor throughout this section regarding strangers & aliens in the house of God (uncircumcised). Then through Christ we have become residents or members of the house of God (circumcised). Within this house, Jesus is the cornerstone- joining the whole structure together and thusly forming it into a holy temple. A cornerstone mends two structures together. So this makes sense. And I believe the house to be either heaven or other fellow believers. 

This was a mind-blowing and simple read. What are you doing to share the good news? What do you think the house represents?

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Is Wisdom Tongue in Cheek?

Today I read James 3. It was all about wisdom and the importance of self control in regards to our tongue. James compares the tongue to a ship that is large and driven through great winds and a horse that guides us everywhere. You feed the horse bits into its mouth and ships have rudders, which are an example of small things that control large objects. I see this as a metaphor to be careful what we put in our mind, for our words, actions and thoughts and will yield to what we put in. 

 James talks about forest fires and how great in magnitude they are. Then he points to our tongues saying they are the fire. This means that when we boast and let our pride get the best of us, it will bring great turmoil. Why? Because every forest fire starts with a little fire. And if that forest is dry and dead (like our faith) then it is only easier for it to burst into flames. 

 But if we can tame our tongues, in other words, control our speech, we would be perfect. Sadly, it is impossible (verse 7). Rather through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we can do the best we can as if we have tamed our tongues. I believe the tongue refers to speech, actions, and thoughts. Pride can turn into a silent ego which can be just as destructive. 

 James ends the chapter talking about wisdom. Verse 14 says we ought not to boast and be false to the truth. It is not wisdom but "earthly, unspiritual, as demonic". Vile behavior and chaos will come from jealousy and selfish ambition. But what does wisdom look like? 

 Wisdom looks like this, according to verse 17: pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere. I have trouble sometimes not having selfish ambition and I think about what is best for me. But if I strive for this Godly wisdom, I will be happier and it will be easier to follow His word.

 I also love that James outlined Godly wisdom for me in an order. I believe the order is important and significant. I am not sure how exactly but a theory I have is very simple. It starts with being calm and righteous and moves to problem-solving, and back to genuineness and purity. It is a sandwich of love designed to problem-solve. Through these traits it is easy to see what wisdom looks like. But now I must act it out. I must ask God for it. Wisdom is not tongue in cheek. It is clear and evident what true wisdom is and where it comes from. There is no dispute as to where it comes from, who it comes from and how to get it. It is completely meaningful. From prayer, I'll receive His wisdom. 

 I challenge you today with this question: How will you use your tongue to glorify God?

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Mere Hearers and Listeners

(Context: James 1)

Test your faith. This equates to a simpler command: Do what God asks. When I am faced with trials, I am told to count it as a joy because it is an opportunity to produce steadfastness. With steadfastness comes completeness and perfection, by God (verse 4). God tells me to ask for wisdom if I lack it. I must ask in faith, however. If I ask in doubt, I will receive nothing (verse 7). Why? It makes me double minded. Overall, the first part wants me to stay on top of things. If I remain faithful, ask for wisdom, and remain steadfast under trials, I will be blessed. 

 God cannot tempt me either. Rather I am tempted by my own sinful desires. Verse 15 gives a clear picture of sin, too: birth. What is so backwards is that this metaphor is that the life brings death. It's like a graph of y = 1/x^2    (Figure 1), where x is the sin and y is faith, and the 0 acts as death of faith. Faith = 1/(sin)^2, and so as you get further and further into sin, the closer your faith arrives to death. 

And just as a side note to go into further detail. If you are not strong in mathematics, I suggest not reading this. This segment is only intended to further explain the metaphor regarding the function and graph. Notice how the graph starts really high (and imagine it starts at infinity). But then the graph gets really close to 0 (and imagine it eventually does). In mathematics, infinity is nothing but an idea and you cannot divide by infinity nor zero either. But this is okay because since that is a mathematical truth, we can pair the truths with this example. When faith is at infinity, it is the highest possible. There is no sin (sin = 0) and thus we divide 1/0. In mathematics, we call this limit equal to infinity. So in a sense, when sin = 0, faith = infinity. Likewise, when sin = infinity, faith = 0. In this case, we are living in sin and we are so far into sin that we have no faith. If you think about it, 1 divided BIG is essentially 0. So when you divide 1 by BIG SIN, you get an output of 0. Thankfully, we can never obtain either of these values while on earth. We can either get VERY close to big faith or VERY close to big sin. However, once we are living in Heaven, we live without sin. In other words, sin = 0. What did we say happened when sin = 0? Faith = infinity. That is, our faith is infinitely big. This is our ultimate goal as humans. The point here is not to demoralize you, but to rather encourage you for what will come. Another side note, please note the sin in this graph is not representing a sine function; for it only acts as a single variable, like x. 

Figure 1

Anyway, the more we live in sin, the faster we die in our faith. I speak to this as an example. I was rather lazy in my faith once I left high school, so as you can imagine the toll it took onto my soul for living in sin for 3 years was a great wound. But James finished the paragraph with the fact that all good comes from God. Therefore we must give praise to God when good things happen to us.

 The last part speaks to me a lot: Doing vs. Hearing. Verse 19 states that I must be quick to hear (listen), slow to speak, and slow to anger. I don't do this though, and thus I am not righteous (verse 20). Instead, I ought to be meek and rid of myself of all filthiness and wickedness.

 Doers of the word do not deceive themselves like mere hearers (verse 22). The simile in verse 23 is great: If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who intently looks at the mirror and when he goes away he forgets what he looks like. So ridiculous, right? Like who would do that? Oh, wait... me! If I am a doer instead of a mere heater, then I will be blessed by God (verse 25). So this is some incentive to actually listen, and be slow to speak & anger. 

 The chapter ends with James, the brother of Jesus, with a quick descriptions  of worthless faith. An example of pure religion he gives is visiting orphans and widows, and keeping oneself unstained. The latter is simple, yet I believe the former to bring up a very important question: Must I really spend my time with orphans and widows to be righteous? My interpretation is not necessarily, and here is why. Widows and orphans are people in need. I believe the chapter is calling us to help ANYONE in need. Back then when James was writing this, these types of people were in great need because society did not care about them as much. Today, we as a society seem to not care about orphans more. But there are many people in need... so we are called to create relationships and help when we can. In doing this, we do this in the name of God. 

 Why do we as a group typically care more about abortion when we have orphanages overfilling? Both are important, but I believe the orphanages are more important, as these are children in the flesh. I am not condoning the horrid act of abortion, but rather putting focus on the more important and tangible issue. But even on the issue of helping, not everyone wants help. Some just want to be visited or listened to. I think this is a great example of circling back to how to be righteous: quick to hear (and listen), slow to speak, slow to anger. Some people would rather just have someone there in company.

 Overall, we must help/listen to those in need. Widows and orphans are an example, but there are plenty of other out there in need. Homeless people, loners, the lost-in-faith, the nonbelievers, folks in third-world countries, you name it. We all have a calling to help and visit. So who are you going to visit?

 Act. Do. Love.

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John 15

 The first part is about Jesus being the true vine. And it paints such a good picture! Jesus is the vine, God is the vinedresser, and we are the branches. But there are two types of branches: those that bear fruit and those that do not. This is obviously the fruit of the spirit, but what is mentioned next is so simple and important. Verse 5 states that the Vinedresser takes the branches that do not produce any fruit and removes them and the branches that do bear fruit, He prunes them. So I kept asking myself "Which one am I?" I came to the conclusion that I was the dead branch, but now I am alive and bearing fruit!

 It is good that I am the live branch now, too. I am happy I realized it because in verse 7 we are told that the branches that do not bear fruit are gathered up and thrown into a fire. However the branch that does bear fruit will bear more fruit, courtesy of God.

 I am not sure what the fire means metaphorically. It could mean eternal damnation in hell, otherwise I have no idea. In fact, I plan on asking John Mark what he thinks. The argument behind this theory is this: If a person believes that Christ was sent as the Son of God to die for our sins and resurrected back to Heaven, yet this person does not bear any fruit, does this person truly believe the prior statement? The answer is most likely no. 

 Another interpretation that was brought to me from someone who I admire a lot is that instead of it being a metaphor to Hell it is actually simply a farming metaphor. Think of any plant and think about what helps it nourish and grow. Plants need good soil (also known as a solid foundation), they need to be watered, they need to be fed. they need to be nourished, and they need some form of sunlight. Without these things, the plant will dry up and ultimately die because it is not being taken care of. Now imagine you are the plant. Are you being nourished? Are you being taken care of? Are you feeding your soul and quenching your thirst? Is there a solid foundation of some sort or a church? Back to the plant. If the plant is dead or dry, the farmer will cut off the dry parts and burn or discard it somehow. So if we as plants are not being nourished by the Word, then we will can easily fall off of the path of righteousness and therefore become dry. The beauty of this, though, is sometimes on a tree when a branch is ripped off or detached, a person can later attach the branch back and it will grow from the tree. If you are curious, the technique is called “grafting” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grafting). But just as this is done with branches and trees, so can this be done to us if we have become dry or dead and thus be reattached to the Tree of Life. 

 I personally enjoy the second interpretation and I believe it to be truer. 

 John 15 goes on to talk about love, joy, and hatred, too. With love, Jesus states as His father has loved Him, so does Christ love us. If we obey His commandments, we are abiding in his love. And through Christ, we find pure joy (verse 11). Jesus even states the greatest commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you." (Verse 12). He took it a step further than in Matthew 6 because He has loved us always...so we must love others always.

 Jesus says the greatest love for a person is to die for a friend; and since Jesus died for us, He is thusly our friend. He then said we did not choose Him, but that He chose us. Now in the passage He is specifically speaking to the disciples, BUT I believe this to be in general, too. And the question arises, how might we repay Jesus for this deed? Love. We do not owe Him, but we have the opportunity to return the favor: by loving Him and others.

 Lastly, hatred. Verses 18-19 states "If the world hates you, know that before it has hated me. If you were of the world, the world would love you;". This juxtaposes that Christ is not of this world and if I follow Him, I will receive hate. Thankfully, I know I am blessed because of that in Matthew 5 (The Beatitudes). I will be persecuted because Jesus was persecuted (verse 20) but the joy of this is we also have the Holy Spirit given to us to help us bear fruit- since the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father (verse 26). 

 This chapter has a lot to it and I'm sure I'm missing much. But this was a great read. So I challenge you with a couple questions: Which branch are you? How can you bear more fruit today?

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The Hungry Man

This afternoon I went on a 23 mile bike ride with a friend from high school. We caught up on a lot of things. He told me how his freshman year of college went and as did I. It was a great time, really. 

We made it to downtown Portland in about an hour and things were great. We were quite hungry and we heaved and ho’d up a hill. We stopped at Chipotle and he said he was hungry for McDonald’s instead. I told him I would get Chipotle and meet him at the McDonald’s just down the street (and down the hill, thank you Lord). 

I arrived to McDonald’s and I see a man sitting on the ground holding a sign that read “Food Helps”. Seeing this sight is not abnormal for me. I smiled at him and walked inside McDonald’s and found my friend seated. 

Lunch was great as we talked more about food. You could say we love food. Anyway, I kept feeling  this divine urge, or encouragement so-to-speak, to buy the man outside lunch. In fact, I asked if the man was still there 3 or 4 times! God really must have been burning the hungry man. 

We finished our meal and I said to my friend, “I’m going to buy that man some food. I don't want to give him money since I do not know what he will do with it, nor did I feel God tell me to give him money. But I will buy him a meal.” 

I wait in line. 

“Sir, I can help you right over here.” cried one of the cashiers. He was new. I could tell. I am a cashier at a fast-food restaurant too.  

“Hi, yes, I would like 2 McDoubles, please. And could I get medium drink and fry, please?” 

“Certainly, sir. Is that all for you?”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

I exchange money as he hands me a cup. The total rang up to four dollars. FOUR DOLLARS. That is less than some people pay at Starbucks on the daily! Realistically, four dollars is nothing but mere change to most of us if we look at what we spend on the daily without even batting an eye. Granted, I used the McD App to get the free drink and fries. So let’s add a dollar for the drink and 2 dollars for the fries. That’s a total of 7 dollars. Now that is something that we would spend on ourselves. But why not spend it on someone who is in need?

I did not know the man personally but I felt as if God wanted me to give him some food. 

I walk outside and he is still there. I am so happy and timid and scared. I just walk up to him and say “Excuse me, sir, I saw your sign and wanted to give you this. It’s 2 McDoubles, some fries and Dr. Pepper. Enjoy.”

The look on his face. The look on his face that made it worth every cent, every second, every emotion. He gave me a smile and a look of relief and peace. That’s what made me smile, too. 

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God gives us opportunities. Sometimes it is a matter of seeing them and acting upon them; both of which are often difficult to translate or read. I encourage  you all to intentionally look more of where God can use you. Where Jesus’ love can be shown. I do not want to be cliché, but I would love to rejuvenate a trend of “Random Acts of Kindness” or “RAK” as an abbreviation. Step out of your comfort zone and let God lead you to your destination. Once you’ve reached that destination, be His tool and work in that destination until He calls you to move to the next destination. 

As Bob Goff so impeccably says, 

Love Does

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Pressured to Collapse

One day I am on top. One day I am on the bottom - a low life. I am nothing more but the scum on somebody’s shoe. What is it about human nature to flaw? Is it the inherent sinful nature we have? This sinful nature makes me feel more apart from God than I ever have. Who have I become today? Do I represent someone who claims to follow Jesus? 

No! The more I sin the more distant I feel from God. I want things to break my heart that breaks His heart. How do I continue to sin when I know the Creator of the universe is watching me? Do I forget? How could Christ die for me? How could He die for my repetitive sins? I am unworthy. 

So much is going on in my head that sometimes I forget my own thoughts. I feel a whirlwind of stress overcome me; the competitive nature I possess is only so visible to everyone. I want to be the best; I give off this facade that I am the best. Am I the best?

No! The more I mess up before the LORD is the more I feel unworthy. My addictions are so powerful yet they seem to overcome my discipline. I am bound by chains of sin and lust and only Christ obtains the keys to unlock me and set me free. He is only waiting for my request. . . yet dare I take this feat?

The pressure and stress I already have along with the added stress of fighting my deadly vice makes me collapse. Mustn’t I collapse before the LORD? I try different things to escape my stress and lust seems to be so easy. What can I replace my stress-reliever? What is there to do? Could I hike? Could I bike? Could I lift? Perhaps all I need is distraction from reality. 

I will be more active. . . I will exercise in two areas: my body and my soul. God, I need baby steps with lust. Help me abstain from these evil thoughts. Give me psychological freedom. Let me find You in my greatest despair. 

Often times I lose focus of You. I get on track then become numb to You. I want to become addicted to You! I want You to be my drug, my drive, my dopamine release. 

What will it take?  Some days of just You and me. . . with fellowship? Place people in my life who can help me. . . no! Place people in my life who I can bless without expecting a blessing in return.

I need guidance. I need that 33%. 33% of my time spent teaching, 33% of my time spent with my peers, and 33% of my time spent with mentors. The rest of my time be spent with You, God. Through all of that time, I want to praise You.

Lead me astray from porn. Lead me astray from the seductive and enticing women. Lead me astray from my addictive nature and tendencies of lust. LORD, lead me to You! LORD, have mercy on my wretched soul. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me. Build me back up after I collapse. 

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This is a letter I wrote to God. After 8 years of being addicted and desensitized by lust, I decided enough was enough. I wrote this in sincere pain and guilt. I didn’t think I would post this on the Internet (considering I wrote with with pen and paper at 3:00 A.M.) but I believe I should post it because these are my true feelings and emotions that I am battling with and therefore want to be honest on this account. 

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I see where you are coming from. But it's not just about learning religion. You can read that. It is the actual understanding from a person who is passionate and devoted to the religion. A guest speaker who is actively participated in the religion. You learn best through experience and connection. I am not saying every class everyone needs to conform to, let's say, Buddhism then Hinduism the next class! But what I am saying is learning through someone who is passionate about his or her certain religion. Through this, we can understand more accurately how people around the world think. It could even help benefit foreign policy among other countries. 

Now, the process of deciding which religions to learn, the denominations, etc. would be a long process. But I think it would be worth it in the grand scheme of things. Instead of one state of mind teaching others about notions that he/she may not believe in, others who do believe this stuff could give their perspective on their religion. Therefore, we understand better. This then lead students to not only formulate questions, but also seek the answer, find who they are, and develop their own beliefs. 

I appreciate your feedback. Thank you.

Theology & the study of other religions should be taught in school by a devout follower of each religion. That way each is taught correctly.

If religion is so popular in the world, why should it be disallowed in our school system? We need to know how most of the world operates.

And the devout…

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If Your Mind is Hungry, Here's Some Food

Theology & the study of other religions should be taught in school by a devout follower of each religion. That way each is taught correctly.

If religion is so popular in the world, why should it be disallowed in our school system? We need to know how most of the world operates.

And the devout follower teaching the certain religion exposes students to the true beliefs in that religion. Having a Mormon teacher teach Hinduism would not be fully accurate as what a Hindu teacher would teach.

I think atheism/evolutionism should also be taught in the class, even though it is heavily expressed in science class. The notion still deserves awareness.

It's imperative to be aware of them, and although as a Christian I should be preaching Christianity, it's important to include all religion as a choice for someone. However, Christianity is the only religion where merely faith gets you to Heaven, rather than the others that include works or faith + works. So I think Christianity would be most appealing to the eye of a nonbeliever.

Nonetheless, equality is fair and I still think students in high school should have to learn about all religions.

I dunno, food for thought? Any feedback? Am I crazy?

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Just as a dog returns to its vomit so does a fool to his folly.

Proverbs 26:11

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Phonies

I recently have been into reading. Weird, for a person my age, I know. Nonetheless, I have been reading J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and it is better now that it was when I read it the summer of incoming sophomore year. The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is not the best student, but what I like about him is he does not put himself around fake people, or as he calls them "phonies". It's interesting, the older I grow the more I think about genuine, down-to-earth people as a necessity. 

I've learned to not judge right off the bat, but judge people's character. There's nothing wrong with that if you see the true colors of people's character. A person can preach one thing about himself but the test of that word comes in person. If someone does not hold to his or her word over and over again, then that person is a phony, generally. It really just comes down to getting to know the person!

If someone is a flaky friend to you, though, sooner or later it would be best to first address the problem with your friend and if nothing change, cut the negative relationship off. The same goes for a flaky acquaintance, but it is best to really get to know that person before making such a rash decision like that. 

Lately, I have been thinking about phonies. People in my life who are not quite worth my time. I am in no way going to have beef with that person or have a grudge, but more so not put myself in a situation with phonies by choice. Jesus said to love your enemies. Though the phonies are not necessarily enemies, the message He was trying to get across was LOVE EVERYONE. So love the phonies, but I can go to sleep at night knowing full well I am not going to purposely make plans with phonies. 

Despite Holden Caulfield's terrible work ethic negative attitude, he did have one thing right: Be mindful of phonies. 

~Enots

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Life: Why, Where, When, and Who

I love science when I personally look into it. Who doesn't? A person naturally will enjoy something when he or she willingly begins doing it or researching it. I have a problem with some things scientists are saying. 

If you are an atheist, I am sure you are thinking "Oh, great, another low-life Christian trying to disprove evolution or natural selection." That is not what I am doing in this article. What I am doing is purely my notion that which is questioning scientists and calling them as studiers of the science to go a step further. 

One thing that a Creationist will do and a scientist won't do is explain why, when or where it happened and even go so far as to who made it happen. Who made it is a completely different argument because some people believe in a Creator or an intelligent designer and some don't. 

I do have a problem with scientists, though, only explaining how something works or how something came to be. For example, a scientist will explain how life came to be, which is essentially through the Big Bang and evolution. But seldom will a scientist tell society why, when, and where it happened. The question of where it is is not as important as why and when but it is still a piece of knowledge not often released. Yes, the Big Bang is said to be from space but that's about all we know. 

With regards to why life came to be, the simple question is in fact why. Scientists give no explanation. In fact, Richard Dawkins and other famous atheists say there is no reason why we are here, it is just a product of chance. Humans are inherently not here for a purpose. Dawkins backs this up by the art of natural selection, for intelligent design is impossible. However, with intelligent design humans have value, worth, and a purpose whereas natural selections gives the antithesis of that making us as valuable as a rock or a flower. Ultimately, though, a scientist will say there is no reason why life began, which I believe is a big hole in evolution. 

With regards to when it happened, scientists estimate life began millions of years ago due to the carbon-dating found in trees and other organisms. But what I don't understand is how can they make that argument? After the volcanic explosion on Mt. St. Helens, the trees had given off carbon-dating results which went far back before they were planted. This means the scale to measure the carbon-dating was off. Who's to say the tests on other organisms are not off as well? How can we really know they are fact? Scientific process, I suppose. But in the end, neither a Creationists or an Evolutionists can pinpoint the amount of years from now to the beginning. It would require a scientific method, which includes a numerous amount of tests with the same result occurring in order to make a statement. Since we cannot reproduce creation of life (except in sexual terms), we cannot test it over and over again. Essentially, it is faith vs. faith. But still, when did it occur? Scientists typically leave this blank. 

With regards to where, one must look at creation and wonder where it came from. Where did it come from? Something exists and something cannot come from nothing. Therefore, something had to have created this something. What or who, though? 

This question of where did life come from funnels down towards the argument for the existence of God. Now, neither a Creationist nor an atheist/evolutionists can prove or disprove the existence of a god tangibly, but through arguments one can prove a better case for his or her side. Since nothing cannot form something, who or what made this? Aliens? God? Aliens sounds absurd to the average person. But there are many arguments for God. If we pinpoint God as the Creator, then we also have answered the who question.

Think of these questions like a house. Each question is a wall. The wall of "how" is up, but the foundation and the other walls are left where? No where. Intelligent design puts up these walls of "where", "when", and "why" and essentially "who" is the foundation. Evolution, however, only has one wall up making the house incomplete and looking bare. Hmm…

All I ask, scientists, is to give me some answers to these mere questions. Only then can we have a discussion of which notion makes more sense logically. 

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Dealing With Sin

Life is a roller coaster for it is filled with ups and downs. We have highs and we have lows. One thing that definitely manages to put us into the low and down zone is sin. Unfortunately, every human has a sinful nature, but thanks to Jesus we are redeemed. Nonetheless, we must learn how to deal with sin. 

When thinking about how to deal with sin, one must first look towards the approach of sin. What is sin? Why do we have it? Is a sin worse than another? Sin is rudimentarily the act of disobeying God or an immoral act that which is to be considered a transgression against the divine law or lawmaker. We unfortunately have a sinful nature because God's first creations of man (Adam and Eve) sinned in the impeccable Garden of Eden. It is merely part of human nature to rebel, though. When it comes to sins, not one is far worse than the other; in the Lord's eyes, they are all the same (James 2:10,  Galatians 5:19-21). The best guess I have as to why all sin is equal to God is because all sin is rebelling against what God wants from us.

But what happens if we are tempted? Is that wrong? No. Temptation is not wrong but giving into the temptation and committing the act is the sin, which is wrong. For instance, let's say you are going on a diet (comparably this could be your faith and journey to growing in Christ) and you know you must eat healthy. You must watch your carbs, your protein, eat salad regularly, and most definitely stay away from sweets and soda. After lunch one day you come upon a cookie in a cookie jar. This cookie is a tantalizing chocolate chip cookie but you know you must stay away from it. This is the temptation, because you are faced with a choice of either going through with it or abstaining. In this illustration, you proceed to get the cookie and you eat it. Just like sin, there is a twist in this short time of goodness. You not only broke your oath of not eating any sweets (comparably disobeying God) but you also find yourself eating a cookie with hot sauce in it. The cookie (the sin) came back to bite you and it is too late. Of course, though, there is redemption and you can strive hard again to not do it again. 

Although, I believe we as Christians are capable of going one step further. Instead of attempting to eradicate the sin everyday, simply replace your sins and vices with Jesus and other things that are more healthy. There is a sense of perseverance a person must endure during his or her walk with God. However, the whole purpose of being a Christ-follower is living like Him and being an example of Christ to the world. This means not focusing solely on the sin, but instead focusing on the people and getting the good news out to them. Will you never sin again?No, you surely will! But do not feel discouraged about sinning because Jesus died for you so you can make the mistakes and be forgiven. Let it be known He did not die for us to abuse this. 

Perseverance is key because everyday is a battle with the enemy. Temptations arise and sin appears beautiful to our mortal eyes and hearts. Thankfully, God always gives us a way out of our temptations (1 Corinthians 10:13). That being said, when we do fail Him, we must not feel discouraged, for we are redeemed; but we must also feel encouraged to fight the battles harder. Sin gives happiness, Jesus gives joy. Happiness is short but joy is in fact endless. Because of this, we must be disciples of Jesus and spread the Gospel. 

Sin is the distraction, spreading the Gospel is the goal. 

~Enots

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Is Cursing Really Bad?

Throughout my life I have been told there are certain words to not say. These words are known as "curse words". But one big question I finally asked myself was "Is cursing really bad?"

Personally, I have used some curse words. Who hasn't, right? But one of the common notions of society, especially in the Christian society, is these words labeled as curse words are forbidden and should never be uttered out of one's mouth. In fact, it is disgusting for these words to be used. But why? God never really addresses certain words, although He does constantly say to have a clean tongue (Exodus 20:7; Ephesians 4:29, 5:4; Matthew 15:11), the curse words today are manmade. That being said, they are from the world. I do not know of a single reference to the Christian church saying these words are bad (although, I am open to any evidence). 

I believe cursing is relative. For example, the s-word is a common and popular word used amongst society. Some people shutter at that word being used, yet the same person who shutters uses the word "crap". If they both have the same definitions (1. poop, 2. filler word of shock, 3. bad stuff), then what is the difference between them? One is viewed as a curse word and the other is not. But why? They both literally mean the same yet one is said to be a curse word by society. This belief of the s-word being wrong is merely a logical fallacy of ad populum, which the belief in something because everyone else believes in it. 

Someone may ask, though, what God means by cursing in verses like Ephesians 5:4 or James 3:6. I believe cursing is any form of insulting God or putting His name in vain; for that is clearly stated in Exodus 20:7. I also believe cursing can be putting any person down in general. It could be a simple as calling someone stupid or calling that person a "piece of s---" but regardless of how it is said there is a negative connotation involved. This even includes a perversion in the context, such as a sexual or impure word or phrase. God would not condone negative words or phrases said about His creation. Therefore, cursing can also be putting someone down in any way.

So because words are merely just words, the popular curse words of today should be able to be said and not looked down upon but only in the correct context. There is an absolute difference from a person identifying a butt as an ass and calling someone an ass. See how the context is key? In the first description, the a-word is used as a synonym for butt and not a person; but in the second description, the a-word is used as a synonym for a fool or idiot, which inevitably has a negative connotation and intended to offend the so-called fool. 

Although I firmly believe in what has been stated, society will believe there are certain bad words, so I personally attempt to not use these so-called "curse words" as often as some do. I will however address what I have said above to any person who tries calling me out on it. 

I would like to end with the thought that this cursing issue should make us as Christians think about what we say. The old cliche phrase "Think before you speak" is cheesy yet so true. Before we say something, we should think "Is this honoring to God or His creation?" Only then, we can determine whether our tongues are foul or righteous.

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God Loves Pornstars

This is not the average first post, however I must say one thing: it needs to be addressed. 

I recently watched a film on Netflix; it was one of those stay-up-late type of nights. The documentary was titled "After Porn Ends" and it was basically about the history of famous ex-pornstars and their story. The main point did not have one pinpoint; for each person had a different testimony. Some ended up finding Christ, some ended up finding a soulmate, some ended up living alone. Although all of them were happy, they all still had pain. It was interesting in that some people were glad they went into the porn industry and some regretted it. 

One thing I noticed, though, was that every pornstar was inevitably rejected and ostracized as a human being. Part of being a pornstar was the attention and not being rejected, according to the many ex-pornstars that were giving their testimony. The thing that ticked me off is pornstars are dehumanized. Even certain organizations would reject donation money from an ex-pornstar because of his or her past. They are people too. Sure, their lifestyle is surrounded by premarital and perversed sex, but Christians especially would treat these people differently. Christians? Why? No. 

Christians should, if anything, be accepting these people. This does not necessarily mean the Christians would accept the acts committed by the people, but a pornstar's sexual sin is no different from a Christians struggle to lust. Sin is rebelling against God and rebelling against God is all the same to Him; therefore any type of sin is the same in God's eyes. We as Christians, though, should love pornstars and ex-pornstars just as Jesus does.

It is also interesting how society, which uses the porn industry for their own greedy and personal benefit, treats the actors and actresses as outcasts and rejects. Although I do not support pornography in any shape or form, I must say I am disappointed to hear Christians don't typically accept pornstars and ex-pornstars, for they are people too. What would Jesus do? He would simply love them. 

As Bob Goff always says,

"Love Does"