Love your neighbor, DOES include your president.

Today will probably be a short one, but one that is close to my heart and one I have been convicted of myself. Now whether you are Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, Tea Party, Green Party, Short, Tall, Fat, Small, etc etc etc it does not matter to me, all that matters is that you believe in the saving faith that only comes through Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. I'll start off with a bible verse.

Mark 12:30-31

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

As always context will be added, in that Jesus at this point was in full swing ministry, and the 12th chapter of Mark discusses the questioning that Jesus had to always endure from the Pharisees. It's a teaching chapter, as most of it is strictly teachings straight from the mouth of God. In this specific part of the chapter, a teacher of the law (most likely a Pharisee or something of the like) came up to Jesus and thought he had a witty question, he asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. And this is the answer Jesus gave. Which is an absolute perfect answer, in that "Love your God" encapsulates the first four commandments, "Love your Neighbor" encapsulates 5-10.

So in short, love your neighbor, does include your President. There are an awful lot of things that I disagree with Barak Obama on, but you know what? God has placed him there for a reason and if God did not want him in office, he wouldn't be there. As Christians we always say this, but in practice we only accomplish this act when our leaders are who we want them to be. If you truly believe that God put them there for a reason. So you know what? You need to love them. Loving them does not include any of the following; hating them, speaking badly of them, associating them with everything that is wrong in the country (blame congress....just kidding haha). How about, instead of making your president out to be the devil, to pray for them. Pray for good leadership, and that they would act in accordance to God's will (note: i did not say YOUR will, God's will). Pray that God would bring revival to this country, and that your grandchildren will be able to live in a country that is free to speak as they wish, free to practice religion as they wish, and know Jesus Christ personally.

That being said, this does not mean voicing your political opinion is wrong, but there are two things with that and I'm guilty of not doing these myself. First off, be tolerant of other views. Tolerant does not equal acceptance, i'm not saying everybody is right. I'm just saying your opinion is yours, tolerate the fact that other opinions exist. Second, be positive in your language, actions, and lifestyle. Don't bash people, or ideas, or opinions. Voice yours with positive language. And if someone starts to argue or disagree, leave it at that.

Life's too short to make everyone mad about political opinions that in all honestly, matter little to nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Jesus also discusses a political tax in Mark 12.

13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians(I) to Jesus to catch him(J) in his words.14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax[b] to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
And they were amazed at him.

Now, let's dive into this. Basically, Jesus is given a question. The Pharisee's know that Jesus lives pretty independent of the Government (which is a whole other blog post in itself, seriously, look at last year August on my blog, talked about it), so they think that they can trap him with this question. But Jesus has a very laid back answer "Give what to Caesars what is Caesars and to God what is God's."

Jesus had bigger worries than politics. So should we.

Living life to the fullest by giving to God what is God's, our absolute whole self and devotion and ultimately our lives.

I'll stop there.

I BELIEVE in the Church

I was re-watching the movie "The Dark Knight" in preparation for the new Batman movie to come out. And one line really stuck with me. Bruce Wayne throws a big fundraiser for Harvey Dent. Whenever Bruce arrives, he gives a big speech about Dent, and right when you think Wayne is going to give a fatal blow to the Dent camp, he looks at Harvey and says, "I believe in Harvey Dent."

I didn't notice it as much the first time, but it really stuck with me this time, how sincere that statement seems. There is almost nothing better you can tell a person to make themselves feel good. Telling them that you personally believe that they can do the task set before them, and not only do it, but do it well and the best of all alternative options. Well I would personally like to say that I believe in the Church. I believe in the Church of Jesus Christ. I believe that they can heal the broken, make the blind see, and move mountains with their faith.

Going to a public college, I hear a lot of people say, "Yeah, I'm a christian. But I can't find a church that I fit into." or "I follow Christ, I just don't think that Church is what it's supposed to be".

I think both of these statements are flawed and more of a cowardice statement rather than a statement of fact. A church you fit into? Fair enough. I will give a little wiggle room to that one. But I refuse to believe with 5 or 6 churches available right around campus, and about 30 within a 10 minute drive, that someone can't find a church they "fit into". Well let's reword the original statement to put the focus back on Christ, because, sorry to tell you, the Church doesn't revolve around you. Church isn't always for your benefit. Church is for the benefit of other, to encourage others, to help others, to give back to the world.

The second one I will give no merit. The church isn't what it's supposed to be? Well, the church is not perfect. and you are definitely correct in that statement. But God uses this broken vessel in many ways and for many purposes. Yes, if you look at the book of Acts, you will find that the Church used to be a lot better in ways than it is now. But the only way you can impact the Church in the ways that you think you should, is to show up to Church in the first place.

I've seen the church fix broken hearts. I've seen the church come together when somebody dies, or to help someone out when they have had surgery, or to visit someone when they can't get to a service. You see, the Church is a community, a family, and as a family they do things that seem impossible.

I believe in the Church

So I guess the real question, is not what can church do, but what can you do for the church?

-Joe

Religion that's OUT OF THIS WORLD

We live in a giant universe. Giant. Physicists guess that there is an end to the universe, and basically that there are more stars than you can ever count. But there are also a lot of questions that I think arise in my mind.

First off, I believe that there is no guarantee that we are the only universe. There is also no guarantee that we are not the only universe. But could God have created another universe, or multiple other universe? Are we the only creation of a magnificent being? Because I think it would be ignorant to say that we are the only creation that God has ever made. What would have caused him to do this? THere could be millions of other creations and we don't know. I was reading about string theory today and that's what got me on this track. What if there are a infinite alternate universerses (sorry, i'm not sure what the plural of universe is).

But this also begs the question of whether or not there is more intelligent life out there? What if God created us, but then decided to create other beings. I think it's not totally out of the question. There have been so many isolated incidents over the years, I think extraterrestrial life is definitely possible, although they may not look exactly as Hollywood projects. Angels are definitely another creation of God, I won't be as naive to say that there are not aliens out there.

We claim that God lives outside the confines of time, whereas we are creatures that do have to live within the confines of time. God could have already carried out all of this actions for the next millenia and not even have to be present right now to even do those actions. He could be here now without actually being here now. He could be planning a new creation while we still live out the first.

I think though, Revelation talks about a new kingdom, and one that God would forever dwell in. If we are to believe that this kingdom will forever be the dwelling place of God, that would infer that he would not be with other creations, or that we are the only ones. I think Revelation and how it plays out shows me that we are the only ones. We are it. If we are to forever live with the creator of the Universe it tells me that he has no such plans to recreate as he will have reconciled with his creation. So the only question that lingers in my mind in no way deals with the future, but rather with the past.

Angels are obviously a previous creation of the God. Meaning that he did in fact create something before he created man. this means that other creations are not out of the question. but I think we would have to assume if there are other creatures out there that they are not in the image of God, but that thought comes out inherently selfish. Why  us? Why do we get to be the chosen image bearers of the greatest being in all of time?


Are there any biblical passages that point to life other than our own? I think angels are definitely something that could qualify. But what about ET's?

Do you think God, not only created this universe, but also multiple ones? Physics claims to have the ability to explain and quantify other universe's but science has been wrong before.

Anyways. Just what I've been thinking about today. Writing these things out actually are quite beneficial to thought.

-Joe

The Driving Force for Humanity: Why Having Hope is Our Only Hope.

This will probably turn out to be a long one, so I apologize right on the front end of the post. 


I want to start by talking about how this post is targeted to both religious and non religious people, so don't get turned off too quick. I was driving home from a funeral today, not to be morbid, but all I could think of the whole time was hope. The minister of the service kept saying the sentence "....and hope for the future." And it got me to thinking:


Hope is the only reason we do anything at all. 


List one activity, any single activity you do in your life and a reflection of hope can be seen in the intentions. Want to lose weight? Hope for a healthier future. Spend all day at work? Hope to make a easier future for yourself. Spend 30 years in college? Hope to change the world. Buying a cheeseburger? Hope for fulfillment. I think anyone of anyside of any issue could at least relate to this fact. 


Now, let me say this, I personally believe that Jesus Christ was God himself and came to earth to seek and to save. But I think whenever I hear someone say that it is stupid to believe in any religion, I just can't rap my mind around it. I don't care is you are muslim, christian, jewish, buddhist, etc etc. Even if you do not believe in these things, one thing you must realize is that they are vessels of hope.  Religion gives to the human existence what nothing else can, a hope of accomplishment, purpose, and something greater.


Look at the teachings of Jesus, he talked of the rich receiving very little, and the poor receiving much. He talked of the first being last and the last being first. What these statements accomplish is that they take hope from those who have everything they want now, but deliver hope to those who would seemingly have little to none otherwise. This type of teaching can not only be seen in Christianity but in other religious sects as well. 


Without religion, what is the meaning of our existence? We are born, we live, we die, and no effect of anything we do can be heard of. Remember the guy who cured polio? Me neither. You know why? Because other crap came up. Same thing with cancer and AIDS, etc. They will get cured, and the people behind it will be forgotten. There is no hope without religion. None. 


Now, I'm not saying that you are stupid for not believing in Christianity or any type of religion. People work through things in different ways and at different rates. But I will say that anyone who says that a person who does believe in something greater is in some way less intelligent than them or easily fooled, or something else, is not only inherently disrespectful to the parties involved. But also does not intuitively make sense. 


Your telling them that a believe in a greater good, a everlasting purpose in life, and a hope for the future in a bad idea? Well, I'll take that trade off. 


Hope is the driving force for Humanity. And Hope is the absolute only hope for the future of the Human Race. 


Romans 5:2-5 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us
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Well then, should we keep on sinning?

One of the passages I came across in my Bible reading this morning was a very very popular passage:

Romans 6:1-23

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? ² Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? ³ Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? ⁴ For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Reading it, and actually reading it, it can be realized that this is actually quite a profound statement. Paul is addressing a very common question, even up until this day. If forgiveness is as easy as just asking for it, doesn't it make sense that we can just continue to sin and do whatever we want whenever we want? There are multiple responses that I have to this question but I can try to keep it brief.

First off, let's picture a scenario. Imagine you're mom has asked to to do something important, and the very first thing you do is completely go against her will. Well, you ask for forgiveness, and then the next day you do the exact same thing and go against her will again. First off, I think it can be assumed that that is in no way a functional relationship. Second off, the will of your mother is not aligned with the will of you. Which is really where the root of the problem is. Paul is saying that not only are you asking the wrong question, but if your desire is to continually sin than you have not begun to live life to the fullest as Jesus promised and talked of.

We need to die to our sin and come to terms with it. We can never fully purge ourselves of it and will always have some level of human desire. But with the help of Christ we can harness our desires and refocus them on helping further the kingdom of Christ, the goodness, love filled, joyful, life alterint presence of Christ on earth.

But sometimes I don't see that all the time. Whenever I see giant groups of "Christians" holding anti-gay rallies, with hateful terms held up on signs, or people judging anybody who walks through the door of the church solely based on their appearance, I see a Church that Jesus would most likely not want to attend. Keep in mind, if Jesus walked through the doors of the Church you would find a man in rags, probably slept outside that night, had no car to drive in. Jesus spend a lot of time with people who were social outcasts.

A lot of random thoughts there.

-Joe

A fine line that we MUST find.

So last night I was watching one of my all time favorite movies, "The Shawshank Redemption". At one point in the movie, the main character Andy, makes a statement, "You either get busy living, or you get busy dying." I think that is very much true, maybe just not in the way that Andy may have been implying.

Christ talked a lot about dying to your old self and this rebirthing process of an individual into a new creature. About the old being gone and the new coming. Christ points to us that we need to get busy living! Because right now, without Christ, all of us are on our way to the get busy dying part. I wanted to throw that in on the top of the blog because that had been on my mind.

At Church this morning we talked about Daniel and the type of quiet strength he had. And in the midst of the Colorado theatre shootings it just got me thinking about what if somebody in the theatre had a gun. Would it have been right to stand up and kill the betrayer? Is that something that Christ would have done? It's just been something I'm wrestling with. I was talking to friend of mine about it and he said something along the lines of protecting your family first. And that got me to thinking even more. Maybe that's what Christ was talking about when he said to "Hate your mother and your father." He wasn't implying to have anger towards them in your heart, but rather to distance your emotions from them to avoid a conflict of interest in your heart. Because if I'm in a theatre with my family and I have a gun, my number one desire is to protect my family. Hands down.

The Christian life isn't intended to be easy. Hard decisions are going to have to be made. But all I know is at the end of the day, a handgun never completely solves the problem. It only complicates it. I believe that love needs to prevail and win if we ever want to fix this planet that we call home.

Am I saying that it is wrong to have a gun? No. Am I saying that protecting your family is a bad thing? Absolutely not. What I'm saying is that Christ calls us to live only to bring him Glory. that is the end of the story. These are hard questions in my mind, because Jesus was a rebel, but a very peaceful one. Jesus didn't have a worldly family, but in the end, every single one of his closest friends, his bro's, died to bring Him glory. They didn't fight back.

When Jesus was going up before Pontius  Pilate, he didn't say a word. Not a word. Neither did Daniel  when he was being thrown into the Lion's den. They showed trust and peace in the midst of triumph. There are a lot of sick people out there. When somebody pulls out a gun they are taking matters into their own hands many times. Is God's plan for you really to kill someone who is as skrewed up a sinner as you and I once were? It's a real question. I'm not sure. God seemed to kill many people in the old testament, and Jesus seemed really peacful in the new one. And I believe that God never changes. So where is the line? Where is the line? I'm not sure.

Just my thoughts for the day :) Sorry it was so long!

-Joe

The Devil is DEFINITELY capable of creativity, watch out!

You know. I think that Satan must be just the most creative being out there. It seems like whenever you may be struggling with anything, and you seem to be nipping the sin in the bud, he throws a brand new and creative way to try to get a foothold. I'm directed to that particular verse about anger:

"In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." - Ephesians 4:26-27


Both Jesus, and here Paul warned about the creativity the devil might have, and to avoid giving him any opportunity in your life to cause you to stumble. Because we are a very gullible, easily temptable people. Just a quick thought I had running through my head. 


Also, be in prayer for my family.


-Joe