So now everybody is in a tizzy about not having a church service on Christmas...I personally think "so what..." here's a good summary that I saw on www.firestream.net:

If a church wants to promote a more family oriented "holiday" from Sunday services, fine. What's the big deal. Christmas is a man made tradition that we could all live without. Jesus is not. Whether we are in a man-made house of worship, or with our families, Jesus is the reason for our celebration, not a church "service." I think God, would be pleased with a people who truly seek Him 364 days a year, than with a people who get all dressed up and come to "his house" once a year. I know that's not the point that people are making, but I'd rather spend time with family I haven't seen, enjoying true fellowship in Christ, then to be at church with people that are there just because it's the "right thing to do"...

Whichever you choose, be encouraged that God sees our hearts. If your heart is truly turned towards him, it doesn't matter whether you're in a church or at home with your family. Unless, he tells you something specifically to do.

- Unknown -

A question and answer I saw recently.

Q: (God)...allegedly gives us purpose, so what gives Him any purpose / meaning / value? What's the point of His existence?

A: Only the created need purpose.

I'm not sure the answer is necessarily valid in a theological sense but it is very concise and jumped off the screen at me.

So, this "older" guy at church is behind the pulpit talking about "what have you done this year for God's kingdom?" and I think "You can't do anything" and I imagine someone telling me (via pulpit) all the things I should do and should be doing.

Then I realize I'm doing to "them" just what "they" are doing to me...I'm telling them how to live for God just as much as they are telling me.

At this point God speaks to me...He says "maybe what [fill-in-the-blank's-name] is saying is what I'm telling [fill-in-the-blank's-name] to do, so you should just shut your mouth and be glad for them. My relationship to others is not yours and yours is not theirs."

I think that I have always had this idea that if it comes from the pulpit or church folk that it must be applicable to me. I'm learning that it doesn't necessarily. My walk with God is mine alone and someone else's walk with God is theirs alone...as the Master stated above...

Love this that I found on www.firestream.net:

Again, my formula...

faith --> salvation --> works

not...

faith --> salvation + works

and certainly not

faith + works --> salvation

Some others from the same poster:

We are not saved by our works. Neither are we damned by them. We are damned by our sin, and saved by the grace of God through Christ.

I believe that "sin" is "sin" - the condition. But I also believe that there are various aspects to "bad behavior" that are different. Bad behavior that results in a lie is still rooted in sin, but the bad behavior isn't as bad as bad behavior that results in murder.

Still - think about this: haven't you murdered someone? I know that I, through my sin, murdered Jesus Christ, and continue to mock His death by every breath I take. I also know that I am the recipient of His grace - undeserved and unsought... he sought me, not the other way around - and it's only by his grace and mercy that I breathe and that I will be with him for eternity.

They've been taught that salvation is an "event" that occurs in your life, instead of a state that Christ graciously chooses you for.

Going down front doesn't make you a Christian. Being a good Christian... doesn't make you a Christian. only the saving grace of Jesus Christ makes you a Christian.

More thoughts about the previous post (17-September-2005)...

If death is punishment for sin, wouldn't true believers never die? Because Christ took our punishment.

Read somewhere the following question: "Is God in hell?". The reason being because of his omnipresence. In the context of the previous post, if God is in hell, then hell wouldn't technically be "separation from God". It was said that it would rather be separation from God's mercy or it would be the full presence of his wrath.

Still not sure about all this but it is rolling around in my head still...

First a couple definitions from webster:

consequence:
2 : something produced by a cause or necessarily following from a set of conditions

- Merriam-Webster -

source: http://www.m-w.com/...

punish:
1 a : to impose a penalty on for a fault, offense, or violation b : to inflict a penalty for the commission of (an offense) in retribution or retaliation

- Merriam-Webster -

source: http://www.m-w.com/...

Anyway, the aforementioned (last month) Bible study started up again last week. It's on Genesis this year.

Anyway, I was reading the notes for the first week and something came to me that seems totally unrelated, but it came to me so what can I say?

The thought was this: "Death is not the punishment for sin it is only the consequence, the punishment for sin is separation from God."

As a true believer in Christ I am not immune to the consequences for my sin, but I am immune to the punishment for my sin, that is, eternal separation from God. Thus the difference between being punished for sin and reaping the consequence of sin.

I'll have to ponder this one more...

I just don't seem to be coming up with anything to put up here...

I do a bible study that is held from September until May and takes the summer off. Every year it is a big "well I'm gonna keep up with my Bible reading THIS year..." but so far it just hasn't happened. They say God isn't real. The Bible is just another book.

I thought of all this the other day when I realised, since May...

I just don't seem to be coming up with anything to put up here...

I liked this response to the question "escapism, is it wrong?":

taking a break from reality? fine. have fun. running away from reality? bad idea.

- Unknown -

Saw this on a message board recently:

I don't want a sexy defense. I want a defense that looks like some girl named olga who throws trees for a living.

- Unknown -

Saw this on a message board today:

Mullets make you look stupid. If you have a mullet, I assume you are stupid, because you would have to be in order to make yourself look like an idiot on purpose.

- Unknown -

Made me laugh outloud... [btw, I had one for several years...]

As stated on the intro page to these writings, I am a ridiculously deep thinker, thus I struggle with wanting the answer to questions. Unanswerable questions. or at least questions that, if I was given the answer to, I would not understand.

I understand life in the context of itself. If I look at it from a bigger picture it makes no sense to me. What I mean is that in the context of the world we live in I understand things and that God would have us live a certain way and he has direction for us. But outside of the context of what I know in this life...it doesn't make any sense.

For example: if I think about God, he is amazing and incredible and fascinating. But then I start to think about the existence of God and I just can't get ahold of that one. Why does God exist? What did God do for eternity past before he created? And what are true believers going to do forever?

And then you come back to what we know itself. It's all so strange to me. We go places, we do stuff, we eat, we...well you get the idea. And for what? It's all vanity...sounding much like Solomon I know but I often come to the same kind of conclusion when I watch the world around me.

I often find myself not wanting to go on (not in the suicide type of way but just like...I'm tired of life...) but I think that so many people enjoy life and what right do I have to ruin it for them because I think so much...

All I can do is trust the One who made it all.

Reprinted by permission.

the way i see it
by Chris Wighaman.

...i recently had a friend of mine ask me an interesting question. it was, "i ask God to help me with tempation and falling into sin everyday, so why doesn't He help me?" i answered him by telling him this old story i heard a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

day 1: a man walked down a street that had a hole in it. he didn't see it coming, because it was hard to see and took up most of the street. he really couldn't avoid it and when he came to it, fell in. he screamed and screamed for help, but no one was around. he scratched and clawed for hours and hours until he finally crawled out.

day 2: the man walked down the same street with the hole in it. he knew it was there, but forgot exactly where, and when he came to it fell in again. he screamed and screamed for help, but no one was around. he scratched and clawed for hours and hours until he finally crawled out.

day 3: the man walked down the same street with the hole in it. he knew exactly where it was and he walked right up to it and tried to go around, but lost his footing and fell in. he screamed and screamed for help, but no one was around. he scratched and clawed for hours and hours until he finally crawled out.

day 4: the man walked down the same street with a hole in it. he knew it was there, so he walked right up to it and jumped in. he screamed and screamed for help, but no one was around. he scratched and clawed for hours and hours until he finally crawled out.

day 5: the man decided to walk down a different street.

the tempation to sin isn't easy to deal with. it keeps coming at us, and there is no cure all answer for it. one thing is for sure though, if we are struggling with a particular sin and allow ourselves to be put in the same situations, with the same people, in the same places, we will continue to fall into that tempation. it's stupid to think we won't. God wants to help us, but He also wants us to realize that sometimes the only chance we stand is to walk down a different street.

- Chris Wighaman -

source: HM Magazine

Pat Tillman was a former Arizona Cardinal. He left the NFL and a large contract offer to join the army rangers. He was killed in 2004 in Iraq. He always stated that he didn't want to be called a "hero". Speaking of himself and what he had done in his life he said:

Basically, I haven't done a damn thing...

- Pat Tillman -

I found the following in an article speaking of things that people have sent to a friend of Tillman's since his death. Writing to Tillman, one kid wrote:

You said you didn't want to be a hero. Too bad. You're mine.

- Unknown -

It made me think of when the Bible speaks of the "first shall be last and the last shall be first" and so forth. Biblical principles right in our face for all to see, but yet we are so oblivious...

I heard several interesting quotes recently:

If we drank like we eat, we'd all be alcoholics.

- Unknown -

if God "shoulda" then He'd be no God at all.

- Unknown -

God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called.

- Unknown -

And just as I was typing the last one I thought of this:

God doesn't call the fixed, He fixes the called...

- crucifyd -

Just reading back on some posts on the seahawks.net board about Trent Dilfer being traded to the browns. I'm sad to see Trent leave as he was undoubtedly the classiest player to don a seahawks uniform since Steve Largent. Those two are certainly at the top of that list and, much like Largent, Dilfer didn't have superstar talent or the like. What they both had is an abundance of character.

Trent Dilfer was pure class. He displayed grace in all situations. He wasn't all about Trent. He was a total team player. Most of all, he was about God. He was a pure role model for kids to look up to.

Dilfer made sure his contract was laced with incentive clauses so that he would have to earn the big payday and later, while still desiring a starting position, he took on the backup role with class.

Dilfer lost his 5 year old son in 2003 to a heart condition. While certainly heartbroken, he wasn't bitter and still trusted God.

Trent Dilfer was not perfect. I'm sure he would be the first to tell you that. However, he lives his life in such a way that when I think of the question "what kind of life pleases God?" he is one of the people I think of...

I was watching the local new last night and the first thing they started off with was the Martha Stewart release. Well, whatever. But what got me was that they called it "breaking news". Gimme a break. It just tweaks me what they call breaking news anymore. It used to be you know, things like the president getting shot or oh, I don't know, airplanes flying into huge towers...things that affect many many people. Not this.

Come on news media, call stories for what they are.

As for you Martha, sorry, nothing personal but whether you are in prison has no affect on most of this country...

This was posted sometime ago on firestream.net:

much of the problem, imho, stems from the twisting by many of what it means to be a christian. does it means we live as better people? no. does it mean we are happier than the world? no. often, we are just as miserable and struggle with the same problems the world faces. rain falls on the just and unjust alike. what then drives the christian? the cross. the christian whose life is centered around the cross is the christian who gets it. the cross where forgiveness of sins take place, so there must be repentance. christianity, being centered around the cross, is best and most powerfully expressed through the repentant life, not the "victorious" life.

- Unknown -

Another awesome quote:

Throughout the Bible, in fact, God shows a marked preference for "real" people over "good" people.

- Philip Yancey -

source: http://www.christiancounterculture.com/...

Predistination, free will, etc...all hot buttons in the Christian world...God is still bringing me along on these issues as I haven't come to conclusions. However this is an interesting quote I came across. It casued me to pause and think about it more...

RC Sproul, in his book "Chosen By God", quotes The Westminster Confession of Faith...

God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass;...

- The Westminster Confession of Faith, III: I -

source: https://www.reformed.org/...

So it is with sovereignty and autonomy. If God is sovereign, man cannot possibly be autonomous. If man is autonomous, God cannot possibly be sovereign. These would be contradictions.

One does not have to be autonomous to be free. Autonomy implies absolute freedom. We are free, but there are limits to our freedom. The ultimate limit is the sovereigny of God.

- R.C. Sproul, Chosen By God -

Really liked this quote that my pastor read a couple weeks ago:

God is less interested in fruitfulness than faithfulness.

- Unknown -

It used to be whenever I would talk to God just before bed or in bed I would usually fall asleep mid-sentence. Usually very soon after I had begun and much quicker than if I just laid down to go to sleep. I would then have a guilt trip, thinking to myself what a jerk or a loser I am.

I used to think this was at worst a sin and at best a problem, or sign of disrespect. The basis for my thinking was when, at gethsemane, Jesus asked the disciples to "keep watch and pray" and they kept falling asleep.

This morning I believe God was telling me "what better way could there be to fall asleep?" Much like a father stroking his child's face and talking to them as they fall asleep. I believe God enjoys it...

I believe that most guys that might be reading this can identify with the lyrics I am posting here today. I don't mean this to sound condescending at all, but I also believe that most, especially those who are true believers, would never admit it. that is a huge problem for the body of Christ.

My personal struggle with pornography and the battle in my mind started long before the internet exploded onto the scene. However, because of the ease of access and relative anonymity, it got all the more intense ever since. I have just had a bout with internet porn this past week. This time I lost. However, in the last two years, I have gone from giving in to it being the rule in my life, to giving in to it being the exception. this is utterly not of my doing. I have gained victory through the one true and living God of the Bible, Jesus Christ, and you can too. He died for it...

Blue by Sometime Sunday

When I see her walking slowly my way...
I cannot help but to notice...
Those legs that kill eyes that stare...
My mind works it's wonders and all I can feel

Shame

I'm so ashamed

One more look won't hurt no one will ever know...
As I slowly rape her with my eyes...
Forgive me God forgive me wife...
I lay down my head to this whole lie

Shame

I'm so ashamed

Why do I do those things which I do not want to do...
What I do behind the door in my feeble mind is the same as if done in the flesh...
I sometimes wish when I was born I would have been born blind...
But I caused the shame it's my eyes that wander I am so ashamed

Another Year, Sheesh!