53,000,000.
That is a rather large number.
But what does it mean?
My family is part German Jewish-if your last name is Schwartz then congratulations, you are officially related to me. And as a judicious studier of the Holocaust, I have found that over 6 million of my people died. Not including over nine million Gypsies, Jehovah's witnesses, and blacks. That equals over eleven million innocent people slaughtered in 11 years-one million people for every year of the Third Reich.
But that pales in comparison to the number I mentioned, does it not?
I'm sure some of you know that total already.
fifty-three million. The number of abortions in the United States alone since Roe V. Wade.
That's a lot of people...
Today, I'm going to prove to you that an unborn baby is a living creature, and that killing them can have negative effects on people's lives. This is a poinient and rather harsh essay. Viewer discretion is advised. But if I know anything about the human race, I know that convincing someone they are wrong sometimes requires a little bit of slamming people over the head with reality. So, here I go.
Rant time.
We launch into the first, albeit ridiculous, red flag people love to wave in my face. "It's a fetus, not a baby!" Well, then, excuse me as I go kill some panda fetuses because they aren't alive. But besides, that, those of us that actually posses a moral compass need to address the issue of the fetuses life before all else. We can go about that by usage of a simple analogy.
Say I was some kind of Nuclear Astrophysicist and I found a clump of bacteria on Mars. "I have found live bacteria on Mars!" I exlaim, my shock of white hair quivering with exitement. The scientific community rejoices! Life on Mars!
And yet, these same people don't consider a developing human life on earth.
Even ignoring that, we look at the issue of when life begins in another life. If we look at when a doctor pronounces someone dead, It is when the heart stops, is it not? This would indicate that as a heart stops, signalling death, life would be determined by the start of the heart. When does that heart start?
When the "fetus" is six weeks old. First trimester of pregnancy.
Furthermore, people brush past me on that and argue; "Well, it doesn't have brain waves yet! So it's not alive!" Ah, their trump card is pulled.
Can I ask you to go to the aquarium, and look at a jellyfish?
Fun fact: Jellyfish don't have brains. Therefore, based on your logic, jellyfish do not exist. They are not alive. In fact, they should be killed off because they are a waste of space.
No wonder they sting us.
In addtion, when does the baby's brain waves begin?
Ten weeks.
Ah, next argument.
"Well, they can't sustain life by themselves?"
Neither can your two year old. Put him away from your care, leave him out in the world? He'll be dead in a week. Let's face it. And what about that guy with severe down syndrome? He can't survive on his own. The guy in the hospital who needs life support? IV tubes? Guess we should kill them, because they can't life without outside influence.
"My body my choice!"
....
Does it sound like your body to you?
"What if it's from rape?"
Fun fact #2: less than 1 percent of abortions are from rape.
Less. Than. One. Percent.
Furthermore, over 88% of abortions occur simply for the convenience of the mom. Over 70% of women regret their abortion. And having one can result in increased risk of things like suicide and drug use.
"You're a guy! You wouldn't know!"
That's like me telling you not to tell men to be good fathers, because your a woman and you wouldn't know. It's wrong, it's messed up. It doesn't make sense. You may not be a guy, but you know how he can take steps to be a better father. I mean, come on. Playing boy's versus girls never solves anything. Ever.
"Overpopulation!"
Everyone on earth could stand shoulder to shoulder on the Mediterranean island of Bali. (And if they did, how jolly.) Go move to Canada, Montana or Russia and tell me again that we have an overpopulation problem.
"What if there's a medical complication?"
Then, maybe. If this means the baby could have autism, abortion is just selfish. It's like me shooting everyone in a wheelchair because they don't have my quality of life. If it means the mom could die, that's a grey area to me. But again, less than 5% of abortions are for medical reasons of any kind.
"What if the mom cannot support the baby?"
On word-adoption. Two more-self control.
"Put it in an adoption center? Do you know how poor of a life they would have?"
AARGH!
Excuse me while I shoot everyone in prison, then everyone in the worlds ghettos, and then everyone -
You see my point?
Now I understand many will not agree with me. I am simply tired of being treated like an idiot for standing up against abortion. This is my explanation.
I also want you to understand that I harbor no hate towards anyone involved in that number. I only wish that the genocide would stop. And I know the world is only gonna get worse. And I know this little one man speech will have almost no impact. But I'm throwing it out anyway. Here you go, world.
53 million...
That's a very large number.
Will you be part of it?
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
The Name of God
By way of explanation, I have been studying the Hebrew language for at least three years. Recently, the actual meaning of God's name has intrigued me.
The Jews, well, they have long since forgotten God's name. See, they believe that His name is holy. It is. But they think it is SO HOLY that you can't even pronounce it. When writing copies of the Torah, by hand, they have this whole ritual process they have to go through every time they write His name. They can't even TRY to pronounce it. So, what the Rabbis will write is called the tetragrammaton. It consists of four Hebrew letters: YHVH. Many people say it's YHWH, but there is no "w" in Hebrew. the letter is called a vav, and it is pronounced "vuh." YHVH. Yod, hey, vav, hey. Those are the names of the letters. Problem? They took the vowels out. All consonants, no vowels. They never use 'em. So now the geniuses don't even know what the vowels even are!
Enter me, trying to find the name of God.
Yod. Hey. Vav. Hey. The four letters that spell out a cosmic code that will not only blow your mind, but give you PROOF that God had a plan from the dawn of time to save us. Don't believe me? Watch this. (Does backflip) Here we go. Oh, and really quick, it's not Jehovah. There is no "j" in Hebrew. Sorry, Jehovah's witnesses.
This is what it looks like.
The letter on the far right is the yod. (Hebrew reads from right to left.) The letters all make the sound of the first letter in there name. Yod is y. Hey is h. Vav is v. Hey, is still h.
In Paleo Hebrew, which works in pictograms, each letter had a meaning. Like hieroglyphs. So, yod (the little squiggly guy) signifies a closed hand, a work or a deed done. The Hey, to the left of that, signifies the word "lo" or "behold!" The vav signifies a nail or peg, and signifies joining two things together. It is the sixth letter and denotes labor or a task.
All together, that is: (Read it like Spanish, Hebrew seems backward to us).
"Lo, the work and deed is done! Behold, the nails and pegs, the labor complete!"
Now, that is powerful. God's very name is a tribute to the sacrifice of His Son.
But of course, it is His NAME. Why stop there? The guy is a genius! So I went deeper.
The yod and the hey together in context means essentially; "His presence revealed." The yod in the context means "His presence" while the hey means in context; "His breath." Essentially "His presence manifested as his breath." The vav means to join two into one. The last hey is feminine in nature, coming at the end of the word, and going back to the behold, it in this case actully means "revealed" or "manifestation." But, it denotes joining in union, similar to the joining of Adam and Eve, that's basically what it means. Like a marital joining. A Covenant revelation.....
.....so we have the prophecy of the bride of Christ:
"His presence manifests in His breath (Us; He breathed us to life from the dust) as two join into one as one manifestation or revelation."
(Get it? Revelation? As in the book? God is so cool!)
And deeper still.
The Bible refers to God as yah a lot. Yah sayeth. Every time you see LORD in all caps, that's where the tetragrammaton was used. David calls God Yah. Just Yah. So we have the patach, the vowel that basically looks like an underscore _, and under a letter (Yod in this case) makes and 'ah' sound. Yah.
Then what about the VH? Well, I found that when God said I AM that I AM, He meant it. Meaning, when God told Moses to say to Israel, "I AM has sent me to you" the reason that worked out is because in Hebrew, I AM is translated Yaveh. Or in this case, yahveh. It means, "He breaths" Or "He exists."
When Jesus told the pharisees "Before Abraham was, I AM" Do you think they just randomly tried to kill him? No. He had spoken the unpronounceable name of God.
God's name is:
YAHVEH.
I AM.
Well, there you have it. The name of God. I'll be writing more soon, so hang in there ;)
"Assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, YAHVEH."
Jesus Christ
Monday, December 16, 2013
Creed-A poem by Steve Turner
This poem ties in well with the "Vanity" Blog post. One of the hardest hitting poems I have ever read.
Please Enjoy.
Please Enjoy.
We believe in Marx, Freud, and Darwin.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.
We believe in sex before during
and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy's OK
We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything's getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated.
You can prove anything with evidence.
We believe there's something in horoscopes,
UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha
Mohammed and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher although we think
his good morals were bad.
We believe that all religions are basically the same,
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation sin heaven hell God and salvation.
We believe that after death comes The Nothing
because when you ask the dead what happens
they say Nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan.
We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between
warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth
that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust. History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.
We believe in sex before during
and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy's OK
We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything's getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated.
You can prove anything with evidence.
We believe there's something in horoscopes,
UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha
Mohammed and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher although we think
his good morals were bad.
We believe that all religions are basically the same,
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation sin heaven hell God and salvation.
We believe that after death comes The Nothing
because when you ask the dead what happens
they say Nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan.
We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between
warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth
that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust. History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds.
-Steve Turner
Vanity
Vanity, vanity. All is vanity.
If you've ever read the book of Ecclesiastes, you know that it's probably the most depressing book in the bible, bar Job. It was written by Solomon, after he went after other gods, giving the throne to his son and retiring. He obviously underwent a conversion, repented. Meaning he realized how much he messed up. His wisdom finally came back to him.
He says all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Is that true?
Her name was Kiara. She was sixteen, and she was a high school student. She was in a car with four friends. One was nineteen and the rest were juveniles. The nineteen year old was going too fast and the street was wet. She drove right across the divider on the road, and into a tree at the entrance to an apartment complex.
Kiara was in the car. And she didn't have her seat belt on. From my house at 11 o clock P.M., I could hear the screams, the sirens, even the initial crash when the car hit the post. Of course, I didn't know what was happening.
I did the next day.
Today, I visited Kiara's Facebook page.
Posted pictures, on her page, had "Selfies" Of her and her friends. She had two lip piercings, ear piercings, nose piercings. Her dresses looked like oversized shirts, tight and barely stretching past her upper thighs. To be honest, she and her "Friends" Looked like exotic dancers. Of course, in our generation, that's no surprise. She followed Bob Marely, Beyonce, Backwoods Boys, and Drake. She had over one thousand friends. My mother is fifty one; she has 195. That is normal. This girl has OVER ONE THOUSAND, and that's just sad. She was sixteen. A "Popular Girl."
She wanted to fit in, to be accepted. And she was obviously playing the rebel in many ways, especially with no seat belt. Ooooh, bad girl.
Where is she now?
Dead.
Kiara is dead, one of her freinds is in critical, and the other three are badly injured.
All is vanity.
I see a world of hate and intolerance. A world where sodomy is encouraged. A world where even us "Christians" walk around with the "Populars" swearing, drinking, covering themselves with tatoos, and piercings. Wearing enough makeup to create a false center of gravity. Young Christian boys? booze, and I hate to say this, but many of them aren't even virgins anymore. That's insane. Girls? What inspires the tight pants, the cropped shorts? The makeup? You want to fit in, get a boyfriend, roll with the punches.
All is vanity.
Believe me, being a blonde, homeschooled, sabbatarian, Irish German with the name "Shiloh" and is a Tea Party Republican, left handed, and a hardcore Christian isn't easy, and it never was, nor will it ever be. For goodness sake, my computer doesn't even recognize the words "Homeschooled" Or "Sabbatarian". Needless to say, friends are few and far between for this guy.
I don't mind much. I've never really cared what people thought about me, as long as I looked and smelled halfway decent and kept the sarcastic remarks to a minimum.
But I can still see the drive.
The Devil's greatest weapon is pride. You need pride first. Then pride needs to:
"He can't have that! I have to have it!" -Covetousness.
"If I have it, I'll look great. I need to look great or people with think I'm dumb, stupid, cray cray, (whatever is in my vernacular right now)" -Vanity.
"I'll never get it, and I feel terrible. I hate life. I'm forever alone." -Self pity.
"When I get this thing, it's gonna make me look SO GOOD in front of other people. I need to take good care of it. Make sure it has the place of honor." -Idolatry.
"If I have this, he/she will totally fall for me." -False representation.
Believe you me, I have experienced any and all of these emotions in my life before. In fact, I recently started a YouTube channel, and I have made it the center of my focus for the last three months, hence the lack of posts. I've come to grips with the fact that this is important. This should be much more important to me than that. So here I am.
What I'm trying to get at here is, especially in the Christian community, we need to stop pretending that life is Heaven on Earth. IT ISN'T. Unless, of course, you are Catholic. But that's not the point. The point is that life wasn't structured to be a cake walk. It is BOOT CAMP. SO SUCK IT UP! God wants us to be out there! Not just blending in! If we blend in, fit in, shape in, mold into society, what good does it do us? Believe in the Lord and you'll be saved, but picture it like this.
Let's say for a second that Mr. Rodriguez goes to heaven. Now, Mr. Rogriguez was a Christian, but he also did drugs, went out, smoked weed, and had numerous *Immoral* Relationships. He goes to heaven, and St. Peter says; "You made it! Let's check out your final score." So he pulls a meter and hooks it to Mr. R., and it reads; 100 points.
Mr. Peter frowns and says, "Mr. Rodriguez, please step through the gate, your name is on the building slate to the left." So he walks over and sees something resembling a Soviet Apartment Block. He goes to his room, and it's all pretty and stuff, and he sees a chest. So he opens it. It says; "Treasures stored in heaven" On it. Inside is a few gold coins.
Then, Mr. Ramirez, Mr. R.'s neighbor, goes to heaven a few months later.
Peter goes through the proceedings, and his score is: 10,000,000. Mr. Ramirez went to church every week, prayed all hte time and started a charity. He is directed to another part of the apartment block. It looks like a mansion with many rooms. He goes up to his floor, which is a beutiful home with furnishings and everything. It's huge.
He opens his chest, which is much, much large than Mr. Rodriguez's, and out onto the floor spills hundreds of gold coins.
Moral of the story: You do a little, you get a little. You do a lot, you get a lot.
It's obvious, really, that Joan of Arc, burned at stake, has to receive more than Mr. Rodriguez. That's where storing your treasures in heaven comes into play.
I hope I really drove this into the ground for you guys, and provided some encouragement for you. In the end, I hope that you remember that all IS vanity-except serving the Lord Jesus Christ. And, He accepts you just as you are, no strings attached.
If you've ever read the book of Ecclesiastes, you know that it's probably the most depressing book in the bible, bar Job. It was written by Solomon, after he went after other gods, giving the throne to his son and retiring. He obviously underwent a conversion, repented. Meaning he realized how much he messed up. His wisdom finally came back to him.
He says all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Is that true?
Her name was Kiara. She was sixteen, and she was a high school student. She was in a car with four friends. One was nineteen and the rest were juveniles. The nineteen year old was going too fast and the street was wet. She drove right across the divider on the road, and into a tree at the entrance to an apartment complex.
Kiara was in the car. And she didn't have her seat belt on. From my house at 11 o clock P.M., I could hear the screams, the sirens, even the initial crash when the car hit the post. Of course, I didn't know what was happening.
I did the next day.
Today, I visited Kiara's Facebook page.
Posted pictures, on her page, had "Selfies" Of her and her friends. She had two lip piercings, ear piercings, nose piercings. Her dresses looked like oversized shirts, tight and barely stretching past her upper thighs. To be honest, she and her "Friends" Looked like exotic dancers. Of course, in our generation, that's no surprise. She followed Bob Marely, Beyonce, Backwoods Boys, and Drake. She had over one thousand friends. My mother is fifty one; she has 195. That is normal. This girl has OVER ONE THOUSAND, and that's just sad. She was sixteen. A "Popular Girl."
She wanted to fit in, to be accepted. And she was obviously playing the rebel in many ways, especially with no seat belt. Ooooh, bad girl.
Where is she now?
Dead.
Kiara is dead, one of her freinds is in critical, and the other three are badly injured.
All is vanity.
I see a world of hate and intolerance. A world where sodomy is encouraged. A world where even us "Christians" walk around with the "Populars" swearing, drinking, covering themselves with tatoos, and piercings. Wearing enough makeup to create a false center of gravity. Young Christian boys? booze, and I hate to say this, but many of them aren't even virgins anymore. That's insane. Girls? What inspires the tight pants, the cropped shorts? The makeup? You want to fit in, get a boyfriend, roll with the punches.
All is vanity.
Believe me, being a blonde, homeschooled, sabbatarian, Irish German with the name "Shiloh" and is a Tea Party Republican, left handed, and a hardcore Christian isn't easy, and it never was, nor will it ever be. For goodness sake, my computer doesn't even recognize the words "Homeschooled" Or "Sabbatarian". Needless to say, friends are few and far between for this guy.
I don't mind much. I've never really cared what people thought about me, as long as I looked and smelled halfway decent and kept the sarcastic remarks to a minimum.
But I can still see the drive.
The Devil's greatest weapon is pride. You need pride first. Then pride needs to:
"He can't have that! I have to have it!" -Covetousness.
"If I have it, I'll look great. I need to look great or people with think I'm dumb, stupid, cray cray, (whatever is in my vernacular right now)" -Vanity.
"I'll never get it, and I feel terrible. I hate life. I'm forever alone." -Self pity.
"When I get this thing, it's gonna make me look SO GOOD in front of other people. I need to take good care of it. Make sure it has the place of honor." -Idolatry.
"If I have this, he/she will totally fall for me." -False representation.
Believe you me, I have experienced any and all of these emotions in my life before. In fact, I recently started a YouTube channel, and I have made it the center of my focus for the last three months, hence the lack of posts. I've come to grips with the fact that this is important. This should be much more important to me than that. So here I am.
What I'm trying to get at here is, especially in the Christian community, we need to stop pretending that life is Heaven on Earth. IT ISN'T. Unless, of course, you are Catholic. But that's not the point. The point is that life wasn't structured to be a cake walk. It is BOOT CAMP. SO SUCK IT UP! God wants us to be out there! Not just blending in! If we blend in, fit in, shape in, mold into society, what good does it do us? Believe in the Lord and you'll be saved, but picture it like this.
Let's say for a second that Mr. Rodriguez goes to heaven. Now, Mr. Rogriguez was a Christian, but he also did drugs, went out, smoked weed, and had numerous *Immoral* Relationships. He goes to heaven, and St. Peter says; "You made it! Let's check out your final score." So he pulls a meter and hooks it to Mr. R., and it reads; 100 points.
Mr. Peter frowns and says, "Mr. Rodriguez, please step through the gate, your name is on the building slate to the left." So he walks over and sees something resembling a Soviet Apartment Block. He goes to his room, and it's all pretty and stuff, and he sees a chest. So he opens it. It says; "Treasures stored in heaven" On it. Inside is a few gold coins.
Then, Mr. Ramirez, Mr. R.'s neighbor, goes to heaven a few months later.
Peter goes through the proceedings, and his score is: 10,000,000. Mr. Ramirez went to church every week, prayed all hte time and started a charity. He is directed to another part of the apartment block. It looks like a mansion with many rooms. He goes up to his floor, which is a beutiful home with furnishings and everything. It's huge.
He opens his chest, which is much, much large than Mr. Rodriguez's, and out onto the floor spills hundreds of gold coins.
Moral of the story: You do a little, you get a little. You do a lot, you get a lot.
It's obvious, really, that Joan of Arc, burned at stake, has to receive more than Mr. Rodriguez. That's where storing your treasures in heaven comes into play.
I hope I really drove this into the ground for you guys, and provided some encouragement for you. In the end, I hope that you remember that all IS vanity-except serving the Lord Jesus Christ. And, He accepts you just as you are, no strings attached.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
How does it look?
Hey guys! SO I'm trying some new looks for my blog, and I want to know what you think. Should I
go back to the original, or keep this one? Comment on this post and let me know. Thanks a million!
go back to the original, or keep this one? Comment on this post and let me know. Thanks a million!
What is love? Part One
What is love exactly?
Many people, including myself, either are, have been, or will be confused on this subject.
I never used to think about love a lot. Not because I didn't want to think about it (I wasn't the kind of kid that though that girls had cooties) but because I didn't think that it was relevant. Growing up to where I am now, a young teen, I thought, yes, my mother and father love me, and that is a natural part of life. Older folks got married, heaven knew why, and I knew someday I would too. But I didn't think much about it. What did it have to do with me? With my Christian walk?
Have you ever heard of the saying that "Love was what held Jesus on the cross"?
I realize now exactly what that means.
So we've all heard faith hope love, and the greatest of these is love (Hebrews). But WHY is love the greatest?
Well, let's begin at the beginning, shall we?
So at the beginning, before time and space and everything, there was this huge cloud of darkness that just kinda hung over the earth, which was at that time water. (Genesis 1:2) God came from heaven and said? (Sunday school students should now reply to their computer monitors or tablet screens "LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!") Then the world was light. And so on. And after seven days, God was like, "Okay, hard weeks work. Time for a nice, long nap." And so he did just that. He rested with a pina colada in hand watching the sun set over the world He had created. He said, "You know what? It IS good!" Another way to say that would be; "I love this job!"
And we all know what eventually happens.
But what happened before that?
God loves His angels. But he had a plan. So there is this guy Lucifer, right? And he is big man on campus. Michael, Gabriel, all the heavenly host got nothing on this guy, okay. He is numero uno.
But wait. He is actually numero dos. And he wants the top spot.
That's right. This Lucifer character has a truly diabolical plan. He gets one third of the angels on his side, and waits.
Then God says, "Hey Lou! I got this idea. So what I planned is I'm gonna make these things called humans to rule over this planet called earth in this universe I'm gonna make, and they are gonna be with me forever and be a little higher than the angels."
And Lucifer is like; "Higher than the angels? Did you just say HIGHER!?!"
So He goes along with this little plan according to sources such as Job, but then he decides that he is gonna blow this pop stand. So he rallies his armies, and fights God.
Fights. God.
Okay, can I just say, talk about a BONE HEADED IDEA!?!
So obviously he loses the war. And God makes a mockery of him and casts him down to the earth he made. Talk about ironic.
Then, in the form of a serpent, he messes everything up again. And then we get sin. Hooray.
But God loves us. And two thirds of the angels had enough sense to stay with Him, and now Michael sits in Lucifer's spot. And he is one good angel. According to Job, he wouldn't even accuse Lucifer (Now called Satan "The deceiver") Of wrong-doing in front of Father God! Talk about blameless! And Gabe helps too. Hes the mailman (Luke 1.) So God sits down and says that "Okay, I love these humans, so I have a plan." So He tries sacrifice and the old testament law.
It doesn't go well.
All bets are off on the Law, so He says, "I am now gonna put my final plan into action, the plan I have had all along. Jesus, come look at this. You cool with this?" And Jesus, one with the Father says, "Sure. I know its gonna be hard. But I'll do it. That way, we can adopt these people into our forever family, and sacrifice wont be necessary!"
To imagine what it was like for Christ, use this analogy my pastor uses on occasion. With a few of my own special twists.
So you are you, and you play with Legos. And so let's say for the given purpose that Legos are alive, that they are humans. And you are you. A supreme being to them. Capable of wiping them out with your shoe. You can kill a Lego with your pinkie. But you love your little Lego people.
But then they turn around and say; "Go away. We don't need you."
So you send them little Lego prophet after little Lego prophet. And they kill them all right in front of you. And so finally you say: "Okay. I am going to become Lego. And I am going to go be a limited little Lego gut with a plastic head and non-bendable elbows, so that I can bring these people into my forever home. That's how much I love my creation."
And then, they kill you. And in your last moments, you say:
"Father, forgive them. They know not what they do."
And do you, when you resurrect, stomp all over them? You could, after all. They KILLED YOU.
But you extend them grace. And an invitation.
That's how much, in a nutshell, God loves us. US. His little Lego people.
When people ask me what God is. This is what I tell them.
"God is Love."
It's really as simple as that. Love is God. Love is from God. God is Love.
Many people, including myself, either are, have been, or will be confused on this subject.
I never used to think about love a lot. Not because I didn't want to think about it (I wasn't the kind of kid that though that girls had cooties) but because I didn't think that it was relevant. Growing up to where I am now, a young teen, I thought, yes, my mother and father love me, and that is a natural part of life. Older folks got married, heaven knew why, and I knew someday I would too. But I didn't think much about it. What did it have to do with me? With my Christian walk?
Have you ever heard of the saying that "Love was what held Jesus on the cross"?
I realize now exactly what that means.
So we've all heard faith hope love, and the greatest of these is love (Hebrews). But WHY is love the greatest?
Well, let's begin at the beginning, shall we?
So at the beginning, before time and space and everything, there was this huge cloud of darkness that just kinda hung over the earth, which was at that time water. (Genesis 1:2) God came from heaven and said? (Sunday school students should now reply to their computer monitors or tablet screens "LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!") Then the world was light. And so on. And after seven days, God was like, "Okay, hard weeks work. Time for a nice, long nap." And so he did just that. He rested with a pina colada in hand watching the sun set over the world He had created. He said, "You know what? It IS good!" Another way to say that would be; "I love this job!"
And we all know what eventually happens.
But what happened before that?
God loves His angels. But he had a plan. So there is this guy Lucifer, right? And he is big man on campus. Michael, Gabriel, all the heavenly host got nothing on this guy, okay. He is numero uno.
But wait. He is actually numero dos. And he wants the top spot.
That's right. This Lucifer character has a truly diabolical plan. He gets one third of the angels on his side, and waits.
Then God says, "Hey Lou! I got this idea. So what I planned is I'm gonna make these things called humans to rule over this planet called earth in this universe I'm gonna make, and they are gonna be with me forever and be a little higher than the angels."
And Lucifer is like; "Higher than the angels? Did you just say HIGHER!?!"
So He goes along with this little plan according to sources such as Job, but then he decides that he is gonna blow this pop stand. So he rallies his armies, and fights God.
Fights. God.
Okay, can I just say, talk about a BONE HEADED IDEA!?!
So obviously he loses the war. And God makes a mockery of him and casts him down to the earth he made. Talk about ironic.
Then, in the form of a serpent, he messes everything up again. And then we get sin. Hooray.
But God loves us. And two thirds of the angels had enough sense to stay with Him, and now Michael sits in Lucifer's spot. And he is one good angel. According to Job, he wouldn't even accuse Lucifer (Now called Satan "The deceiver") Of wrong-doing in front of Father God! Talk about blameless! And Gabe helps too. Hes the mailman (Luke 1.) So God sits down and says that "Okay, I love these humans, so I have a plan." So He tries sacrifice and the old testament law.
It doesn't go well.
All bets are off on the Law, so He says, "I am now gonna put my final plan into action, the plan I have had all along. Jesus, come look at this. You cool with this?" And Jesus, one with the Father says, "Sure. I know its gonna be hard. But I'll do it. That way, we can adopt these people into our forever family, and sacrifice wont be necessary!"
To imagine what it was like for Christ, use this analogy my pastor uses on occasion. With a few of my own special twists.
So you are you, and you play with Legos. And so let's say for the given purpose that Legos are alive, that they are humans. And you are you. A supreme being to them. Capable of wiping them out with your shoe. You can kill a Lego with your pinkie. But you love your little Lego people.
But then they turn around and say; "Go away. We don't need you."
So you send them little Lego prophet after little Lego prophet. And they kill them all right in front of you. And so finally you say: "Okay. I am going to become Lego. And I am going to go be a limited little Lego gut with a plastic head and non-bendable elbows, so that I can bring these people into my forever home. That's how much I love my creation."
And then, they kill you. And in your last moments, you say:
"Father, forgive them. They know not what they do."
And do you, when you resurrect, stomp all over them? You could, after all. They KILLED YOU.
But you extend them grace. And an invitation.
That's how much, in a nutshell, God loves us. US. His little Lego people.
When people ask me what God is. This is what I tell them.
"God is Love."
It's really as simple as that. Love is God. Love is from God. God is Love.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Your Permanent Home
My church recently bought its own property after renting space from other churches for almost 8 years.
We found a permanent home at last!
The property is about 8 acres of land, including a school, sanctuary, playground, wallball and basketball courts, tetherball, soccer field, housing and giant refrigerators we have no idea what to do with (not to mention the cafeteria, offices, and hallway space and a sound room the size of a small apartment). Nothing short of a miracle, for a small sabbatarian church of roughly 85 people. Despite several bumps in the road and a 2M price tag, we are finished with escrow and plan to move in to the building for our first service there on November 1st. Very exciting.
But that's not what I want to talk about.
I play a lot of online games such as Minecraft, and one day when on the said Minecraft the subject of religion came up with some online friends. Now if you know me, and even if you don't, you might have guessed by my previous posts that I KNOW what I believe and I KNOW why I believe it. I know why it's true. But many others, well, don't. I talked over the web with a Mormon, a Presbyterian, a Catholic, an agnostic, three Muslims and someone who believed in reincarnation.
And other than a few, most of them were very confused about what they believed.
Religion for some never crosses the mind, while for others it's something to actively avoid. Many people don't want to talk about it. Even strong Christians sometimes have nothing to go on other than "Jesus loves you" while that may be a great starting point, there are other things that need to be discussed. But what shocks me is that people don't know where they are going.
Even Christians of the highest degree sometimes have no concept of life after death. It's just not important to them. But it is, contrary to the popular belief, ESSENTIAL to our walk as Christians. Why am I a Christian? Because I love Jesus, yes, but also because I want to go to heaven. I want to live eternally with God. Without that hope of eternity, what is religion? Why serve God all your life when you could have been partying and doing really messed up things without eternal consequences? Heaven (And the opposite) Are abSOULutely CRUCIAL to our faith. Without it, we have nothing.
Now, I am not going to launch into a sermon with scripture references and quotes and hypotheses, again, this blog is designed to make you think. What do you think? About life after death? Take some time and think about it. Pray about it. Study the scriptures like I did. (It's extremely beneficial.) Find out what is true! Use supplemental material. Talk to your pastor or parent or even a friend. (Make sure it's a friend who knows what he or she is talking about! =-) ) Use your head and your heart. Search out the truth. You can even email me or comment on what you found personally. Get a discussion going! Find out where your permanent home will be in eternity.....!
We found a permanent home at last!
The property is about 8 acres of land, including a school, sanctuary, playground, wallball and basketball courts, tetherball, soccer field, housing and giant refrigerators we have no idea what to do with (not to mention the cafeteria, offices, and hallway space and a sound room the size of a small apartment). Nothing short of a miracle, for a small sabbatarian church of roughly 85 people. Despite several bumps in the road and a 2M price tag, we are finished with escrow and plan to move in to the building for our first service there on November 1st. Very exciting.
But that's not what I want to talk about.
I play a lot of online games such as Minecraft, and one day when on the said Minecraft the subject of religion came up with some online friends. Now if you know me, and even if you don't, you might have guessed by my previous posts that I KNOW what I believe and I KNOW why I believe it. I know why it's true. But many others, well, don't. I talked over the web with a Mormon, a Presbyterian, a Catholic, an agnostic, three Muslims and someone who believed in reincarnation.
And other than a few, most of them were very confused about what they believed.
Religion for some never crosses the mind, while for others it's something to actively avoid. Many people don't want to talk about it. Even strong Christians sometimes have nothing to go on other than "Jesus loves you" while that may be a great starting point, there are other things that need to be discussed. But what shocks me is that people don't know where they are going.
Even Christians of the highest degree sometimes have no concept of life after death. It's just not important to them. But it is, contrary to the popular belief, ESSENTIAL to our walk as Christians. Why am I a Christian? Because I love Jesus, yes, but also because I want to go to heaven. I want to live eternally with God. Without that hope of eternity, what is religion? Why serve God all your life when you could have been partying and doing really messed up things without eternal consequences? Heaven (And the opposite) Are abSOULutely CRUCIAL to our faith. Without it, we have nothing.
Now, I am not going to launch into a sermon with scripture references and quotes and hypotheses, again, this blog is designed to make you think. What do you think? About life after death? Take some time and think about it. Pray about it. Study the scriptures like I did. (It's extremely beneficial.) Find out what is true! Use supplemental material. Talk to your pastor or parent or even a friend. (Make sure it's a friend who knows what he or she is talking about! =-) ) Use your head and your heart. Search out the truth. You can even email me or comment on what you found personally. Get a discussion going! Find out where your permanent home will be in eternity.....!
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