Weblog

Thursday, 09 July 2009

Monday, 06 July 2009

  • It's Back!!!!!!!

     Many of you, who have been with me from the beginning, know that when I am working on a big post, I tend to do a "filler" post, to give me time to work on the big one. I am currently working on my post on "the war on drugs" and I am busy working on compiling some notes I took on interviews with former drug users, and writing my final notes. To give me time to finish, I decided to bring back something I have not done in a long time. Anyone remember "guess the hymn"? I have posted a stanza from 4 different hymns below. How many can you name, without doing a search online for the answer?

    Hymn #1

    Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
    Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
    Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
    Granted in what He ordaineth?

    Hymn #2

    Let music swell the breeze,
    And ring from all the trees,
    Sweet freedom’s song;
    Let mortal tongues awake;
    Let all that breathe partake;
    Let rocks their silence break,
    The sound prolong.

    Hymn #3

    O spirit, whom the Father sent to spread abroad the firmament
    O wind of heaven, by thy might save all who dare the eagle's flight
    And keep them by thy watchful care from every peril in the air

    Hymn #4*

    Oh, thus be it ever when freeman shall stand
    Between their loved home and war’s desolation;
    Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land,
    Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
    Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
    And this be our motto, “In God is our trust.”

     

    * I had to cheat on this hymn, I took out the final 2 lines of this hymn, as they would have been a dead giveaway to the name of the hymn. I will post the final 2 lines in the comment section, once people have a chance to guess.

     

Saturday, 04 July 2009

  • Would you like some cheese with that whine?

    It is common, these days in some circles, to whine and complain about the government. Frankly I am tired of it, as Christians we should know better. In Romans 13, we are told that there is no governing authority that God did not institute. Verse 4 goes a little bit further, and says that a ruler is God's servant for good. 

    During most of the time that the New Testament was being written, the Christians were under the persecution of Nero. The Apostle Paul, was familiar with persecution, both from the ruling authorities of the Jewish religon, and those from the ruling authority of the Roman empire. Yet, Paul still said that we need to obey the ruling authority. Our only out, seems to be a verse in the book of Acts, where the Apostles, tell some Jews that they (the Apostles) needed to obey God rather than man.

    Which is true, we need to obey God, in those instances where God's commands, violate the laws of man. We see this in particular, with Daniel in the Old Testament, when he violated a law and ended up thrown in a den of lions. But there are certain things, that some Christians, seem to elevate to a spot equal to, or just slightly below the Bible. Take for instance, the 4th amendment, now the Bible does not give us a right to be free of search and seizure, so if the Government wanted to pass a law that limits, the 4th amendment, we as Christians, should not refuse to obey the new limits. 

    Under our constitution, we have the right to petition our government, but the Bible does not seem to say anywhere "you have a right not to be searched by the government" so we cannot refuse to obey the new limits. We can write to our representatives, and work to get the law changed, but until it is changed, we have to obey the law, as the Bible is silent on the issue.

    I think it is dangerous, to get into areas, where the church building, is used to house illegal aliens, so that the illegals are not deported. There is no verse in the Bible that I know of, that can be used to say, I must obey God and house these illegals, in violation of human law. I think we need to walk a fine line here in America, between exercising our constitutional rights to petition the Government for a change, and obeying the governments laws and rules.

    In conclusion, while it is true, that we have a duty, to obey God rather than man, the reverse is also true, we have a duty to obey man, where God is silent.

Thursday, 02 July 2009

  • GCFL.net

    Here is another joke, from my favorite joke of the day service. I highly recommend signing up at www.gcfl.net

     

    A local priest was being honored at his retirement dinner
    after 25 years in the parish.

    A leading local politician and member of the congregation
    was chosen to make the presentation and to give a little
    speech at the dinner.

    However, he was delayed debating the "bail-out packages," so
    the priest decided to say his own few words while they
    waited:

    "I got my first impression of the parish from the first
    confession I heard here. I thought I had been assigned to a
    terrible place. The very first person who entered my
    confessional told me he had stolen a television set and,
    when questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out
    of it. He had also stolen money from his parents, embezzled
    from his employer, had an affair with his best friend's
    wife, and taken illicit drugs. I was appalled.

    "But as the days went on, I learned that my people were not
    all like that and I had, indeed, come to a fine parish full
    of good and loving people."

    Just as the priest finished his talk, the politician arrived
    full of apologies for being late. He immediately began to
    make the presentation and said: "I'll never forget the first
    day our parish priest arrived. In fact, I had the honor of
    being the first person to go to him for confession."

    Moral: Never, never, NEVER-EVER be late.

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

  • money

    I was going to write about something else, but I decided to write this instead. It is not a real deep theological question, but it is one that has raised it's head on occasion recently. That is the question of money and christianity.

    Is it christian to be rich? I don't believe that God is going to send you to hell, if your checking account balance hits a certain point. I think God cares more about what you do with your wealth, then how much money you have. If you look at the story of the talents. Jesus did not condemn the servant who recieved 5 talents, and worked to get 5 more. Jesus did however speak poorly of the man who got one talent, and did nothing to get more.

    It is common in some circles, to object to Christians being rich or having money, by pointing to Luke 9:58 and using it as proof that Jesus didn't have a house. However, they seem to forget verses like Mark 2:1 which when used together with Matt 4:12-13 seem to suggest that Jesus had a home in capernaum. So Luke 9:58 must mean something other, than Jesus being dirt poor, please don't get me wrong. I am nut suggesting that Jesus was a rich millionaire. Only that he had more money than we might give him credit for. So if Luke 9:58 does not mean that Jesus was homeless, what does it mean?

    Let's view the whole thing in context. As always, all scriptual references are in the English Standard Version.

    Luke 9:51-58 "51When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" 55But he turned and rebuked them. 56And they went on to another village.

    The Cost of Following Jesus

     57As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

     

    Does it make a little more sense now? Jesus had gone to one village, and the people rejected him, because he was going to Jerusalem. Back then, you couldn't just go to a motel 6 and plunk down a talent or two and get a room to rent. You would instead, enter a town and someone if they had an empty room, would hang something in the door. If you saw that, you could turn in and use the room for the night. This town had rejected Jesus, He and his followers literally had no place to sleep that night. They had been tossed out on their ear, and here is someone who wants to follow Jesus. So Jesus warned him how hard it would be. It was not a general statement about being poor. It was a local statement, that talked about that particular point in time.

    As I said at the beginning, I think God cares more about what we do with the money he has given us, than he does with how much. We need to be generous and loving with what he has provided for us.

    What do you think? Is it Christian, to be rich?

Friday, 26 June 2009

Thursday, 25 June 2009

  • Popular quotes

    Many times people say things that have been passed down through the years. However, many times they say them, with no idea what the saying means, or they say it in such a way, that the listener doubts the validity or the honesty of the quote,  Here are some of my favorite worn out cliches, and stupid sayings. For most of them, I have sarcastic comments in () after the quote

    "This will hurt me, more than it does you"  (did any kid really buy it?)

    "When you point a finger, you have three more pointing back at you"

    "I want to teach you the value of a dollar." (btw the dollar is worth 13.2 Mexican pesos.) ( make sure before using this one, you hide the credit card statement, showing you owe them thousands)

    "We are all God's children" (Hate to break it to you, but we aren't)

    "Respect must be earned" (except you must show me respect, after all I am your parent)

    "It's the thought that counts" ( I was too busy to buy you something)

     

    What is your favorite cliche?

     

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

  • Sin

    Christians are sometimes asked by people, what the big deal with sin is. Why did someone have to die for us? The response is often, that God is holy and can't be around sin. But is that the most biblical response? If God can't be around sin, how do we explain Job 1:6 & 7 (ESV)

    6Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7The LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."

    If God can't be around sin, why is Satan in his presence? Because I hate to make doctrine out of just one verse, or in this case two verses, is there another part in scripture that has Satan in God's presence? How about this one?

    Job 2:1 & 2 (ESV)

    1Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2And the LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.

    This is the second time that Satan comes before God. But are there any instances, not in the Book of Job, that a sinful being is in God's presence? Try this passage.

    Revelation 12:7-9 (ESV)

    7Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world— he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

    So, if you are one of those, who takes the Book of Revelation literally, than this means that at one time, Satan was in Heaven. God seems to be spending an awful lot of time, with Satan, for someone who can't be around sin.

    Besides, if you don't like these scriptures, how about the fact that the Bible seems to refer to God being omnipresent. If God is truly omnipresent, than that means He literally has no way to escape from sin, apart from making us all sinless beings. As He has not done so, from the fall of man, until He does make us sinless beings, he has been around sin. So this brings us back to the original question. Why did someone have to die? What is the big deal about sin?

    Sin has yet to result in anything good. Sin has always had bad consequences. I think though, that we can reveal God's motives and plan for sin, if we look at his response to the fall of Adam & Eve.

    Genesis 3:22-24 (ESV)

    22Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—" 23therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

    God sent Christ to die, not because He can't be around sin. But because He does not want us to live forever with the consequence of sin. God knew, that the evilness of sin, that the consequences that sin does to us, would make us miserable, if we could live forever in a sinful state. So to break the power of sin, to make it possible to get forgiveness for our sin, someone would have to die, and pay the penalty for the sin that we have done. So it is not that God can't be in the presence of sin, but that God did not want us to have to live in the torment and pain of sin  for all of eternity.

    Does that make any sense?

Thursday, 18 June 2009

  • Open letter to pre trib futurists.

    Someone who subscribes to my site, did a post a couple days ago, where he had an open letter he wrote, to the leaders of his denomination. I am going to take the same approach, but my letter is written to those who believe the pre trib futurist viewpoint.

    I went to a church in Vermont, and the pastor, was pre-trib and the sunday school teacher for the class that I went to, was post-trib futurist. He said that he was shocked when the pastor made a pre-trib comment in a sermon. He (the sunday school teacher) could not believe that anyone would believe that a loving God, would make his children go through the tribulation. That comment, was filed away in my brain, and I would pull it out every now and then, and look at it. So the following, is a letter to the people who agree with the sunday school teacher, that a loving God, would not make his children, (christians) live through the tribulation. If this is not your particular viewpoint, then the letter is not addressed to you. the same thing applies, if you are a re trib futurist, but disagree with the sunday school teacher, that the pre trib futurist position is correct, because a loving God, would never let his children live through the tribulation. :)

    Dear Pre Trib Futurist,

    So, you believe that a loving God would simply not let his children, live through something as horrible as the tribulation. I am not a futurist myself, but if I were, I would have to be a post trib futurist, it seems to me to be against the Bible, for God to simply come down from Heaven, and take his children home, while everyone else suffers. Here is why.

    During the ten plagues on egypt, God allowed the Children Of Israel, to suffer through some of the plagues that he sent. All of the water was turned to blood, and all of the land of egypt was covered in frogs to name two. If God was in a habit of rescuing his people from tribulation, why did he not protect them from these plagues?

    Elijah, David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Elisha, Esther, Abraham, Joshua, Moses, and a few other people, went through various times of trial in the Old Testament. Some of it directly caused by God himself,  like when he asked Abraham to sacrifice the child of promise Isaac. If God is going to protect Christians from the tribulation, why did he not protect these people from trials and tribulation?

    Jesus in the book of Matthew, 5th chapter, verses 10-12 talks about how we are blessed when persecuted. The apostle John, in the 15th chapter, verse 18 of the gospel named after him, records jesus as saying that the world will hate us. Two verses later, jesus declares that Christians will be persecuted.

    Acts 5:40 records what I believe is the first recorded instance of Christians being persecuted. it says that the early apostles were beaten and told not to speak in the name of Jesus.

    In, Matthew 10:23 Jesus tells his disciples that when they are persecuted in one town, they were to flee to another.

    Let's face it, out of 15 apostles 13 of them died for the gospel.  John, died of old age, after he wrote the book of Revelation. the other apostle, not to die for the gospel was of course Judas. That is not a very good track record.

    John who as i just said, did not die for his faith, was still boiled alive in oil.

    James (brother of John) was put to death by the sword.

    Matthew according to legend, died in ethopia of a sword wound.

    Bartholomew aka Nathanael, was flayed to death by the whip

    Andrew was whipped by seven soldiers, then tied to an X shaped cross, where he proceeded to witness to his guards for two days before he died.

    Thomas was stabbed to death by a spear in India

    Matthias (judas' replacement) was stoned and then beheaded to make sure he was dead.

    Paul was tortured and then beheaded by Nero.

    Peter was crucified upside down

    James the brother of Jesus,  while not an apostle, still died for his faith, when he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, according to legend, he survived the fall, so they beat him to deaht with clubs.

    Millions of Christians, have died throughout the ages since the death of those who knew Jesus. If persecution and trial, and death were good enough for them, why should we escape what was promised to us in the New Testament? If these are the end times, why should Christians, now escape the "tribulation"? why are we so special, that Jesus would return and rescue us? The Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. If God promised us persecution, and let those who gone before us be persecuted. Why would he stop us from being persecuted? There are verses in the NT, that talk about persecution  being useful in bringing forth good virtues. Why would God, skip a tool to teach us? Persecution may not be a pleasent thing to go through at the time. But persecution does tend to lead to a deeper faith, a good demonstration of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, not to mention a good harvest of souls. I think that if God were to take us out before the tribulation, we would miss a lot of oppertunity for growth.

     

     

Monday, 15 June 2009

  • Mark 4

    1Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3"Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

     

    If you had to teach this section of scripture, what would you say the point is, that Jesus is making in this parable?

Photos

Monday, May 05, 2008

  • Child Abuse

    This lady, has been charged for child abuse, because on a dare from her boyfriend, shot her 8 year old daughter with a BB gun. What do you think her punishment should be for this crime?

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

  • baby

    Someone put an ad up on the website Craigslist where they said that they were out of meth and would sell the baby seen in the photo for $1000. Police are currently investigating the incident as the baby could be in danger. You can go here What do you think should happen if the "parents" were serious

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

  • Global Warming

    NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory dropped 3,000 robots into the ocean and discovered that in the past 5 years, which includes some of the highest above ground temps, the oceans have not actually increased in temp. Go here to read the story. Is anyone ready to say that manmade Global warming is a myth yet?

ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake

  • Visit ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake's Xanga Site
    • Name: ProudToBeAChristianFruitc
    • Birthday: 9/19/1981
    • Gender: Male
    • Member Since: 3/12/2005
    • True

About Me

  • The name for this site was taken from a conversation where someone told me that all christians were crazy and were fruitcakes. I figured if he is correct then I am proud to be a christian fruitcake.