15 posts tagged “god”

Cool Site From Rainn Wilson

Aug 19, 2009

http://www.soulpancake.com/

Good stuff there. Lots of good questions and answers.

I am happy to see that the two biggest tags on my page (as seen in the left column) are "God" and "love". Then of course they would be, because those are the two biggest topics on my mind at the moment.

Bluff Park - Take Two

Nov 9, 2008
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Well I went to the same church I attended last week and I think I'm starting to enjoy it. I was a little put off that the congregation was small and there didn't appear to be anyone near my age (mostly over 50 or under 18) but I do think it's a nice church and the people seem really friendly. I know fellowship is a big part of the church experience, but at this stage in my walk towards God, I kind of feel that's it's more important to talk to Him instead of looking for a place to socialize. That's not to say I won't eventually need people my own age to talk to, but I wouldn't say it's all that important at this stage in the process.

I do feel God is speaking to me again, which is a really great feeling, especially having gone so long without it. That's not to say that He wasn't speaking with me, but you can get so wrapped up in daily life that it's hard to hear what He's saying. He's still talking, it's just drowned out by the constant chatter of the rest of the world around you, or you just stop listening altogether. I'm not saying this is the rule, but it's definitely the way things have been with me.

In reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis I learned one fact that I never really put much thought into - Christianity is easy. In a lot of churches, the Truth can be muddled by a lot of rules and regulations and ceremony that is fine in and of itself, but it also helps to mask the Truth, which is God loves us and he wants to forgive us. If we make Christianity hard, it's only because we want to hold on tight to the things that He doesn't approve of - the swearing, the drinking, the drugs, the lust, the greed... You start out with the mindset that if He forgives sin and everyone sins, then you can live your life with these things and be forgiven. Different churches have different views on this topic, and the ones that say you can be an alcoholic and still a Christian are not necessarily wrong. God knows sin is in our hearts and our nature and if we pray for forgiveness for these things, maybe that is enough and you are forgiven. But if you look at it another way : If you break into your neighbor's house and steal his possessions and never ask for his forgiveness and you are caught, then you are wrong in his eyes and he will ask that you are punished by the law. If you did it and you go back to him and say "Here's your stuff back. I stole it and I was wrong." he might take his stuff back and be angry, but this also might lead to him forgiving you. But if you ask for his forgiveness without giving his stuff back and the very next night you break in again and steal more stuff, it gets harder and harder to expect his forgiveness and - very likely - he'll just go to the police and ask that you be punished for it. It's not that there is no forgiveness in this person's heart when people sincerely apologize, but how can you forgive someone for doing you wrong if they ask for your forgiveness and still do it?

To look at this another way, God has given us so much. He gave us life, he sent Jesus to accept our sins and die to cover the cost of them. Does that mean we're off the hook? Not at all. He did this as a show of good faith, that we'd see this as an example and some part of us would say "Wow. God really doesn't want us to be punished for our sin. He wants us to do away with it and stop building up a debt that He has to pay for.". If we had a huge gambling debt and someone stepped in and paid it, would you think that you should go right out and build up a new debt? No, because the first time you should have learned your lesson and the next debt you incur will be yours alone to pay.

In closing, you shouldn't give up your sin because of embarrassment or because you feel bad about it or because the preacher man says you're a sinner. You shouldn't give it up because of what people might think about it, because ultimately they're not your judge in this life. You shouldn't even give it up because you feel like you have to. Sin is something that muddles our daily lives and fills our heads and hearts with confusion and doubt, but beyond that you should give up your sin because you can. God sent His son to earth to die at the hands of man to pay the price of sin, so what a small return favor it is to give your sin up for Him?

Now please don't think I think highly of myself. This is definitely not a holier-than-thou trip. I have sin in my life that I will always have until the day I die. I am no better than anyone reading this blog - not one bit, and as a matter of fact, I'm most assuredly more sinful than some of you who don't go to church and don't really care about God's will. I offer this up only as an examination of my own new understanding of faith and you can do with it as you will. All I have to say on the topic is that if you can remove sinful things from your life, do it. Sin is our very nature, so a lot of it you will never be able to completely remove, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to fight against it. If your sin is alcoholism, don't just accept it in the hopes that He will overlook it. If your sin is internet pornography, spend more time away from the computer in the hopes that those desires will fade. If your sin is lust or greed or jealousy, work to improve those factors of your life. If you don't make it all the way before your time comes, you can at least leave this world with the knowledge that you fought sin on every front, and that which couldn't be completely removed was at least battled to the point that it lessened its grip on you. We are in debt to God for our very souls and what more can we pay in return, except for our loyalty, our love and moving ourselves into a position of real forgiveness?

Mere Christianity : A Final Reflection

Nov 6, 2008
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I just finished reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and I have to say it was a really excellent book by an author that I always loved, but that I have a newfound respect for. I've struggled recently with making myself a better person - someone that God would be proud to know and although I can't say that it is wholly because of this book, I can say that it certainly did wonders for strengthening my faith. Lewis makes his case for why religion is correct and why it should be an integral part of our lives on Earth, so much so that had I not already decided to begin my journey I'm fairly confident that it would have begun it. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone looking to strengthen their faith, or those of you wondering what all the fuss is about this religion thing. =P

May God bless you and keep you all!

Where Do I Go From Here?

Nov 5, 2008
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Sometimes life gives you what you want. Sometimes life takes what you want because that's what life does. You can't be fearful of the future and you have to accept that sometimes what you want and what you get are not always equal. But that's just the way it goes and the harder you fight against it, the worse you will feel ultimately. You just have to suck it up and take what life gives you because it's going to keep on giving you stuff and taking stuff away to suit it's own grand design. I used to see this as cruel and unusual punishment, but sometimes what you get or what you lose is exactly what you deserve and often it's the thing you need. Accept it.

That's life. I no longer fear it because you can't live with dread fighting against the inevitable. You gotta roll with the punches because, although it is extremely cliche', whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Or stranger. Depends on your point of view.

New Church

Nov 4, 2008
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Well this past Sunday the kids and I paid a visit to a local area church called Bluff Park Baptist. It was a nice enough church, but it was kind of small and there didn't seem to be a lot of excitement there. I'm not holding age against them, but everyone there seemed to have been at least in their 60s except for the row of preteens who sat and giggled in the row in front of me. Everyone seemed really nice, but I think that next Sunday I might try another church - hopefully something a little more contemporary.

Anyway, the new faith things seems to be going pretty well. I'm trying to iron out the wrinkles wherever I see them, and I hope that it moves me towards being a better person - someone that God can be proud of. I also hope that eventually it has a positive impact on the kids' lives. They were both kind of impartial to the whole experience but I kept them with me in the adult service, so I didn't really expect them to be too excited by it since it was mostly over their heads... although my daughter did get up and dance during some of the songs. haha.

The Long Road Ahead

Nov 1, 2008
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My life is changing. It has changed. Against my will I've been drug kicking and screaming in new directions and I just can't fight against it anymore. I'd like to say I'm alone in this struggle now but I don't think I am. I have found that I have friends on my side who are rooting for me in this new journey and for that I am grateful. I've lost people from my life that I never dreamed I would, but you have to take what life gives you and march ahead any way you can. I wish that I didn't have such a heavy burden on my heart, but it happens and sometimes you have to take it as it comes.

I'm starting a new church tomorrow with the kids and I pray that it's a good solid step in the right direction. I want so bad to feel God on my side for a change, and I pray that I'll find new friends and a new hope.

My Prayer

Oct 29, 2008
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God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference.

Mere Christianity

Oct 29, 2008
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I went today at lunch in the search for a book called Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I've been going through a particularly pressing situation in my life and a friend of mine could tell that I was really struggling and repeatedly raking myself over the coals. I had expressed to him my desire - no, my very need - to return to God and Christianity, and he suggested this book as a way to reignite my faith by giving me an intellectual person's guide to what it means to be a Christian. I've always been a fan of C.S. Lewis and I knew that he was himself a man of great love for Christianity, which he expressed in his writings. (It's a little debated fact that the Narnia books were a thinly veiled retelling of the story of Christ as a way to express it as a long form parable to make the underlying morals of Christianity more accessable to the common reader.)

When I went to the book store I looked all over for the book and when I finally found it, it appeared to be a massive tome of nearly 600 pages, which was a bit frightening until I opened the book and realized that it was the large print version that has like 10 MASSIVE words per page. I'm advancing in years, but I'm not quite to that point yet, so I put it back on the shelf. As I glanced over the Inspirational shelf, my eye caught another C.S. Lewis book called The Complete C.S. Lewis. I was overjoyed to see that it not only included Mere Christianity, but also six other books : The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, A Grief Observed and The Abolition of Man. In my hand I held a complete handbook that covered not only what it meant to be a Christian, but also how to deal with the nature of man, his separation from God, dealing with pain and guilt and grief, and the miracles God performs for us and through us to solidify our bond with Him. I dashed to the checkout and raced to my car where I cracked it open and immediately read to Part 3 of the first "Book" of Mere Christianity.

As expected the book is phenomenal. C.S. Lewis has an awesome way of breaking things down to their base levels and then building them up at a slow and digestible pace to reach the ultimate point of each section. For those of you unfamiliar with this book, Lewis wrote each section as a radio message to the poor, frightened young soldier who huddled around their radios in bunkers and trenches during World War II. As these brave soldiers sat in the days and hours before what could possibly be their last moments on the Earth, Lewis wished to express Christianity in it's most base formula to help ease their worry and let each man ensure that he was on the right path to God before that moment when they were to ultimately meet Him. If his words weren't humbling enough on their own, they were doubly so in the realization that at the time they were written, they were a gift to those unfortunate soldiers who were possibly on the brink of their own death. Later tonite as I read further through the book lying in the comfort of my own bed, I couldn't help but imagine a shivering grunt lying up against a dirt-faced bunker with a tiny transistor radio pressed to his head, hoping to catch every word between the sound of gunshots and explosions that peppered the field dangerously close to his hiding place - his death not assumed but ever-approaching. I also pictured the hardened and seasoned soldiers looking on and laughing - a biting case of irony, as the ones who needed the message the most were the most apt to be in opposition of it.

I have yet to complete the book, but I will say that it has really ignited a fire in my soul to grow ever-closer to God and His will. It lays out quite simply why God is real and why we can believe that our Universe - our entire reality - was fashioned by the hand of an artist, a Divine Creator, an immeasurable intelligence and a loving Father. Lewis speaks to his readers, not in riddle or complex metaphor, but in cold, hard intellectual reasoning. His methods are effective in this way and hard to debate. He never dares to seem like the all-knowing expert and his words are fashioned so that they never appear to be condescending. The book has less to do with Lewis's personal belief in something that he's trying to persuade you of, and acts more as a list of the bare facts as they exist, and you can take them for what they are or leave them as you choose. I highly recommend the book to anyone who has any desire whatsoever to learn more about the methods and practices of Christianity, and especially to the intellects of the world who desire their education to be portioned into bite sized morsels and expressed to them, well, intellectually.

So what have I gotten from the book so far? It becomes clear that in order to be a good Christian you have to worry about three main things : How do my actions affect myself? How do my actions affect those around me? How do my actions affect my Creator? It becomes clear that sin itself is not the problem, it is our acceptance and proliferation of sin that causes the turmoil. If I love to drink, the act of getting drunk is not the problem in and of itself. The continuous act of getting drunk affects me. My drunkenness leads me to be abusive which affects those around me. My habitual drinking damages the "temple" that God has given me, which in turn affects my Creator. The act of getting drunk is not the issue, and if I stumble and get drunk I am not in immediate danger of going to Hell. However if I drink in abundance, the act of drinking and its effects on me and the people around me is the problem, because then I am a purveyor of sin, causing those around me to sin in their own way (by gossiping about me, mocking my actions, taking advantage of my drunkenness, falling out of love with me and being unfaithful, etc.). So rather than spreading the joy and love of Christ and His teachings, I am spreading sin in one form or another. Also, it's hard to act effectively as a Christian if you yourself are not living as Christ did. Not to be perfect, but to strive to not promote Christianity in an unfavorable light. To never have someone looks at you and say "If that is a Christian, what's so great about that??"

The bottom line is that - within reason - we can have the things our hearts desire, so long as they are given to us by God. If we want lots of money to help us get through life, that's fine so long as we petition God and ask Him to lead us and guide us and put all the dominoes in place to make that happen for us. If we take control of the ship and fire up the engines and blow full steam ahead towards our goal in an effort to claim this prize for ourself, we are in extreme danger of running that ship up on the shore. If we focus too much on the prize itself, we run the risk of idolizing that thing (money, fame, sex, power) and making the object our focus of worship, rather than God Himself. The old saying goes "God helps those who help themselves" but we should also take into account that "God helps those who ask Him to help them". It's as simple as that.

That has really opened my heart and mind. I spent so long with distrust, fear, regret, anger and so many other terrible things and it all hinged on the fact that I wanted what *I* wanted and I was going to hang on to it and make it happen and all of Creation be damned so long as I got my way. The humbling truth is you have to just let go. You have to release control to God, ask Him for the things you need and listen intently for his operating instructions. You can't just sit idly by, but you also should not waste a single second worrying about having to hold on to the things you want. If these things are what you need God will deliver them to you and in abundance. If you want the money and require it to better your life and those around you, ask God for His guidance. If you want the job, pray for His direction and ready yourself to make your move. If you want the girl, petition the Lord and if she is in His plans for your future, He will petition her heart on your behalf.

I know this has been a long-winded post, but I'd like to close with something that I've always kind of held on to as a bottom line answer to the action of trying to micro-manage every fine detail of my own life. It's a song my grandmother used to sing to me when I was a child, and even though the song is literally about not worrying about what the future brings, to me it's always meant much more...

"Que Sera Sera" [ LISTEN TO SONG ]

by

Doris Day

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother, what will I be
Will I be pretty, will I be rich
Here's what she said to me.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

When I grew up and fell in love
I asked my sweetheart what lies ahead
Will we have rainbows, day after day
Here's what my sweetheart said.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

Now I have children of my own
They ask their mother, what will I be
Will I be handsome, will I be rich
I tell them tenderly.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

Que Sera, Sera

=========

And just to come down off the soapbox for a minute and relate my love for popular culture, I'd like to quote a passage from Star Wars that says "Be mindful of the future". The future will bring what it will, but don't just sit there waiting for it. It's the butterfly effect - the things you do right now touch the future. One things leads to another and it snowballs into infinity. Do right today to have what's right tomorrow.

May God bless you and keep you all.

In His name,

Rush

What To Say, What To Do

Oct 28, 2008
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Well my urge to blog is back in full swing. I have so much to say. I've got so much on my heart and mind at the moment that I don't know how to fully process it. I've been praying to God to give me strength and the answers I need and I feel like He's talking to me, but at this point I'm not really sure what's being said. I'm trying to strengthen the signal and tune in to the answer, but I've lived my life for so long with static and random noise in my head that I know it's going to take time to get a clear signal through. I know what I want for my life, but I defer to His decisions.

I've looked into a local area church to try to get myself back into service. I figure if I surround myself with people who are a little more in tune with God, I might be able to pirate the signal. haha. I've lived life a little reckless and been foolish more of my life than not, and I'm really excited to see what will happen when I attempt to live a better life. Maybe the peace and happiness I've been looking for will finally arrive at that time. I can't know anything for sure, but I'm willing to make that step towards Him to see what He has in store for my life.

God please answer my prayer and help me through this. I don't know if you have an internet connection in heaven, but I know that the act of me thinking this as I type it is like a blogging prayer to you. Give me hope, God. Give me strength. I want to be the person you want me to be and I want to live life in abundance that only You can give. I release control and leave it in Your hands to guide me in the new directions you want me to go. In Jesus's name I blog, amen.

Cool Site From Rainn Wilson

Tag, You're It

Bluff Park - Take Two

Mere Christianity : A Final Reflection

Where Do I Go From Here?

New Church

The Long Road Ahead

My Prayer

Mere Christianity

What To Say, What To Do

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15 posts tagged “god”

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