The Lies We Tell

Christianity always does itself a disservice when they tell each other lies about how life "should" be.  "You should be joyful" "Believe that you are at peace and you will be" "You should be forgiving" "Just have faith that you are well and you will be well" .  Our emotions are God-given and they teach us things about ourselves.  God is not there to teach us about how we should be but to help us recognize our weaknesses, sorrows and poverty and to offer real salvation from them.  


Let's not invent our salvation in our own minds.

Government v. Private Sector

There are some things a national government does better than a private source and some that they do worse.  Which are which?  That is the debate.

My List:
Government does better at:
                    Basic welfare
                    Health care
                    Security issues (necessary violence)
                    Creating bureaucracy
                    Making enormous budgets
                    Spending lots of money
                 
The Private Sector does better at: 
                        Innovation
                        Cool looking things that don't mean anything
                        Making the rich richer
                        Complaining about the government
                        Spending lots of money


First posted on the Filmspotting Forum, Politics thread

Jesus v. Christianity

Here's what I see are some differences between Jesus' teaching/example and a good portion of the Christian church. Jesus was a revivalist, in a sense, trying to get monotheists back to a basic core, and Christianity still has the need of Jesus calling them back to the basics:

-Instead of promoting war, we should be promoting peacemaking

-Instead of judging, we should be compassionate to sinners

-Instead of punishing sin, we should be seeking forgiveness

-We should never establish a ritual, law or policy that harms others or limits the needy from meeting their needs

-We should be freely giving to the poor, not making increasing demands of them

-We should never promote any kind of prejudice

-Our churches should be full of the outcast, rejected and hated, especially due to sin and suffering

-Instead of displays of wealth, we should use our wealth for the needy

-Instead of our leaders having grand titles and signs of respect, they should be serving all, including doing dishes and cleaning toilets


Father, I pray that we can all learn to be more like Jesus and less like the world.  Let us be full of grace instead of rejection.


First posted on the Facebook group, Inter-Faith/Denomination Discussion.

What Is Salvation?

So often in Christian circles salvation is seen as deliverance from the wrath of God, from hell.  Or it is deliverance from the world, an escape route to heaven.

Jesus said "The kingdom is near." The kingdom IS salvation-- we are not to be saved from something but to something. Salvation is a world that is changed into God's order.  Jesus' kingdom is a world that is without oppression, a world without death, a word without fear. It is also a world that ends poverty, that gives justice to everyone and all know and receive all they need from the one God.  It is a world that is lead by a community of the poor who know how to practice merciful and compassion to all.  It is a world in which we see each other as one family under one Father, God.


We will not see this complete salvation until Jesus returns.  But we need to practice.  We need to figure out how to accomplish this in our churches, now.  Salvation isn't something to wait for, it is something that we create through the Holy Spirit and the word and power of Jesus. 

Position on Abortion

I believe that human life is precious and should be protected. And if there is a conflict between two lives, the best should be done for both lives, not just one.

The question in abortion is is the fetus truly a human life? This question is not specifically answered by the Bible. Thus people must make a philosophic and idealist choice as to whether to treat the fetus as equal or less than her mother.

I have made the philosophic decision that the fetus is an individual human at conception and thus must be protected from that point. That fetus is a human life and to kill it is murder. I will not harm others for the sake of this human, nor should anyone else. However, the fetus is precious, as is the mother.

It has been discovered that most abortions do not occur if the mother is not in poverty. Thus, whether abortion is legal or not, if we reduce poverty and support mothers in their time of need, then there will not be as many abortions. If everyone on all sides would agree to work on reducing poverty and to support pregnant women, then the abortion rate would go down on its own.