8 years and counting!!!

Well, as of yesterday I have been married 8 years to my beautiful wife. It has been an awesome 8 year ride that will continue for decades more.  To those who have been married 50 years or even only 20 years, 8 may not seem like such a great accomplishment. Unfortunately, in our instant gratification seeking, relativistic culture, marriages that last more than a few years are harder and harder to find.  I could accuse the secular thinking people in the world only; however, the church is experiencing this epidemic also.  The marriage is under attack at every corner of our culture- homosexuals attack the definition, TV shows attack the necessity (Dan Quayle tried to call out Murphy Brown on this), and Hollywood stars very publicly attack the lifetime commitment aspect.

The Bible is clear on all three fronts: Marriage is between a man and woman, a significant purpose of marriage is to procreate, and it is for life.  While the Bible speaks clearly on each of these issues, many today ignore what it has to say. This is truly unfortunate, not just for our culture as a whole, but for the countless individuals who pass up the opportunity to share their lives completely with another in the ways God intended.

Today’s Moment of Irony

Anarchists have to be some of the least intelligent people around. This week while Republicans are trying to have a convention, several thousand miscreants have taken to the streets.  They wear masks and break other peoples things.  The get pepper sprayed and arrested.  I think their message is that the war is bad and government should not interfere with people.

Now, for the irony.  These jobless, domestic terrorists are protesting the party that believes in less government interference in our lives.  I am not aware that they protested the Democrat convention last week, at least not as visibly and violently.  In the end these hypocritical anarchists likely will support Obama, Obama who through universal healthcare and higher taxes, etc… will take control of all of our lives.

Jimmy Carter has a running mate.

So Barack O’ Bama (I never realized till now he is Irish) has chosen Joe Biden as his running mate. You know, Jimmy Carter had a vice president and I can’t tell you who he was. In spite of having a teammate in the White House, Jim Carter still almost single handedly drove this country into economic ruin.  Obama, with or without the help of Biden will do the same, all the while taking every opportunity to promote abortion.

So why this post? Well, for weeks the talking heads have guessed who the lucky VP choice would be. Now we know, and the truth still remains – As a Christian, there is only one way to vote this fall.  Please don’t make the mistake so many appear to be leaning towards making.

Family Man

Here is a song by Andrew Peterson about the rewards of Fatherhood or Motherhood. The song has been around awhile, but I think this video was done recently.  Unfortunately, the only version on YouTube has captions in Portuguese. Oh well, there is no better time than now to start learning another language.

Comma Drama

In writing for this blog, my poor grasp of grammar has been put out there for the whole world to experience. I realized the other day that I generally am a poor user of the comma.  I generally tend to overcommasate. What is ‘overcommasate’? To overcommasate is to insert, commas, over-abundantly, in an attempt, to make up for, a lack of, good grammar, skills. It was the realization that I overcommasate that led me to develop other words surrounding the comma. Enjoy!

CommaSense - The personal quality of correct comma usage.

Commakaze – One who is so committed to world domination via commasense, he will pay the ultimate price.

CommaChameleon – An 80’s song about commas that blend in with their surroundings.

Commasutra – I probably should not have put this one on here. Come up with your own definition.

Dalicomma – The far-eastern spiritual leader of those seeking to gain a deeper insight into the nirvana that is the comma.

We Be Jammin, Spiritually Speaking

A few days ago some friends (yes, I have a few) came over to the house and we jammed on our respective instruments. We had a guitar, a mandolin, my concertina, recorder and tin whistle. None of us are very accomplished on said instruments, but rather quickly we were able to produce music. Each one of us has spent much time on our own practicing tunes and songs, but as a group we seemed able to do so much more. Had any of us not practiced ahead of time, our contribution to the group would have been minimal, maybe even detrimental to the group (more so than my whistle playing was). Interestingly, no matter how much one of us wanted to play better, we could only play within the limits of our practice. Practice is important, but while playing tunes and practicing alone is enjoyable, I found great satisfaction in being able to create music with others.

 

Our spiritual relationships and communities operate in the same way. Our time spent alone with Jesus and nurturing our relationship to God is vital for us to be able to positively affect our community of believers. We must daily dwell on the things of God through prayer and the reading of His word. If we show up at church having not “practiced” our spiritual walk daily, we will have nothing of value to offer. We can want to benefit the body of believers with all the sincerity in the world, yet our music will not be music at all.

 

Maybe this is why church is so unfulfilling to so many. We try to fill the void with more, more, more church, but the root cause of the need is that we haven’t had enough spiritual “practice”.  I am not implying that you must be a mature, seminary graduate in order to positively influence your community of believers.  My friends and I are but infants at playing our instruments, but we were able to create harmonious music. However, we did have to learn how our respective instruments work, train our fingers where to go and learn some of the same tunes.

 

The Christian life doesn’t just happen. Our relationship with Christ requires effort, nurturing and practice. While some of the most fulfilling times of your life may come through jamming with your community, you can’t jam every day.

Does Your Church have a Pharisite?

Pharisite – An outwardly spiritual person who sucks the life out of a church.

 

In my last post, I made the statement that the church today is full of Pharisees. Could it truly be that even 2000 years later the Pharisee still exists, lurking in the very churches we attend. Unfortunately, I would have to say they do, they always have, and they always will. Well then, if they exist, how can we identify them? What do they look like? I think we can all easily visualize the Pharisees of Bible- Clean robes, finely tailored. Also, we would characterize the Pharisees Jesus encountered by a strict outward adherence to laws and traditions. Obviously, in our day and age of casual church experiences marked by relaxed atmospheres, clothing and content, our modern day Pharisees are not as those of days of old (not that I am against relaxed clothing and atmospheres).

 

Today’s Pharisees are quite different from those in the Bible. The modern day Pharisee is not much concerned with living a certain way or even following a set of Biblically based standards. Regarding standards, we as Christians tend to lay the term legalistic on anything resembling standards these days. Many times, we casually indict others of legalism, while not truly understanding the characteristics or dangers of a legalistic environment. What is the danger you ask? The problem comes, not from living according to standards, but from emphasizing those standards or laws above the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. However, living a changed and holy life is vital and is what will outwardly set us apart from the world. While I may have just strayed a bit off topic, the point remains that the Pharisees of today must be living a new form of Pharisaicalness (I made this word up, just like my blog’s name and Pharisite) and not realizing it.

 

Alright, so since you have waited, here is my description of modern day Pharisees. Understanding that the Pharisees relied on their works, as opposed to faith and belief for salvation, today’s Pharisees likely focus on getting all they can from church. They may be very involved, or they may be marginally involved.  They may know the Word inside and out and have it memorized. They may give a lot financially to their church and they may sing in the praise band (I wanted to say choir, but how irrelevant is that). They may attend church Sunday, and live no different from the world the rest of the week. The problem arises when you look for true change in their life, you won’t find it. For true change only comes through the Son, not through a community loosely based on common interests. Unfortunately though, too many churches as a whole resemble just that. Understand, I am not bashing church, but instead, I am bashing those who have corrupted church as a result of their unbelief.

The Way of Unbelief

Matt 21:28-32

 

“Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.” (NASB)

 

Jesus told many parables throughout his time on earth. He veiled the truth in stories. His stories were such that the established religious leaders continually choked on the content, unable to swallow their true meaning. Even his disciples struggled to understand them, many times requiring an explanation. In the parable of the two sons, Jesus describes a father who asked his two sons to go and work in his vineyard. The first son says no, feels stung by guilt and go out and works. The second son immediately says he will work, and then does not. Jesus asks the Pharisees, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They answer correctly (show them what they’ve won) that the first son did his father’s will.

 

I find it interesting that in spite of his initial refusal of his father’s request, the first son, likely convicted with guilt goes and works. Anyone who has experienced salvation by grace through faith can immediately relate. Before conversion, each person is like the first son in that we have each rejected our Father’s will. Also, the text references tax collectors and prostitutes; both represent the vilest of sinners of the day. Our sin, that which separates each one of us from the Father, makes us no different than these sinners.

 

In the end, the parable pointed to the pseudo-spirituality of the Pharisees. O the sting the Pharisees felt as they realized Jesus was likening them to the second of the sons! As learned men, I am sure they understood the depth of Jesus’ statement; indicting them of professing obedience only. Are we like the Pharisees in that we know the right answers, but we don’t believe? Are we like the second son, who seemed on the outside willing to do his fathers will, yet his insincerity showed through in the end? The danger for all who desire eternal life is that we profess and know the truth, without believing it.  Romans 10:9, we all know it, requires not only that we confess with the mouth, but also that we believe with the heart. The Pharisees knew the truth both from the Law they studied and Jesus whom they questioned, but they chose the way of unbelief.

 

As an aside, I think I have always tried to excuse the unbelief of the Scribes and Pharisee’s based on the fact that they did not have the completed work of Christ on the cross and in the tomb or the completed, revealed canon of scripture. Any hope I have of excusing their unbelief due to their circumstances falls apart though when I look at our culture of Christianity today. While we live in a country where we have religious freedom and an almost unlimited supply of information, likely now more than ever I believe the church to be full of Pharisees. For in the end, the failure of the Pharisee was not lack of information, it was a lack of faith.

Jimmy Carter, Part Deux

Does the thought of President Obama strike fear into your mortal heart, yet you are not sure why? Do you think that charisma is all that matters in a president?  Do you let the mainstream media decide who you will vote for? No matter who you are, you deserve to know what Barry Obama is all about.  Check out this series from Investors Business Daily. Investors Business Daily’s editorial page is a great place for conservative minded editorials.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/series8.aspx

Extreme Makeover of the Heart

Just this week ABC completed another extreme makeover house right here where I live. Well, not where I live but closer to my house than most. A nice family in need received a 5100 sq ft house. I could complain the normal complaints about the show- how they could do so much for many people instead of SO MUCH for a few or how do people pay the increase in utilities and taxes or what prevents all the lowlifes from breaking in and stealing everything… But instead, I am thinking more about how much of an extreme makeover my life is. 

No, I never did drugs or time in jail or anything that bad, I think. The thing is, before I accepted Christ, I was just like the house the family comes running out of the beginning of each episode. I was decrepid, mold filled, no air conditioning and too small or narrow minded to comprehend my full potential. I was only five years old at the time so it may be hard to comprehend that I was that wretched but I was headed straight for eternity separated from God- Hell. Just like the family with no money to fix their house, I was and still would be helpless to fix my problem. I needed an extreme makeover of the heart, and the only place I could find that was through Jesus’ work on the cross. His blood washed away the old house and built a mansion in its place. A life that will continue for eternity.

One final thought about the new house the family received. Due to its size, it likely stands out in the neighborhood. It is much larger than any of the other houses and much nicer.  If you drive down the road it is on, I am sure your attention would be drawn to it immediately. Christians should be like that house. The life that is made over should be like that house. In a world of darkness, my life should shine as a light on a hill.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16 (NASB)