Evidence.

I’m going to confess that at the start of this semester I was really worried about taking my comparative religions class. Not that I was worried about my faith being shaken or anything, I just didn’t know what to expect.


I have decided that this class has only strengthened my faith in Christ. I’m only two weeks into this class and I couldn’t imagine myself in any other religion. I just see a complete lack of direction in other religions. That, and there are no guarantees. You have no reassurance as to whether you are going up or down. It is all based on how “good’ you were. It’s all legalism. It’s hell on earth because there is no hope. No Christ. No love.


Not only that, but half of these religions “sacred” scriptures and writings are authorless. What? You serve something and live your live by something and you have NO clue where it came from? Why? Why would someone do that? If it’s so easy to believe in something authorless, then why can it be so hard for people to believe in Christ?


Thoughts?

Am I? Nope!

“Am I who you want to see yourself to be”?

This is a line from a song that I have been obsessed with for about two weeks, maybe longer. The song is really about a love not returned but that line just gets me every time. Am I who someone wants to see their self to be? Am I honorable? Am I what some would consider a “good Christian”? Am I worthy of being looked up to? Am I leading people in the right direction with my actions and words or am I leading people down the wrong path? Am I challenging the students in my life to get closer to God?

As you can tell this question has been punching me in the head for some time, and I think the answer is no. Not because I don’t try or anything like that, but I’m human. I’m not perfect. So no, I’m not always a “good Christian”, honorable, or worthy of being looked up to. But I do try. I try to live a life that is pleasing to God. And really, that’s all He asks of us. My imperfect example is a perfect example of Gods love for me, even when I’m not “good” (not that I’m ever very “bad” mind you).

I think being imperfect but having the desire to try to be perfect for God is enough. I think He accepts that, and I think that’s the best example I have to offer.

Any thoughts?

Matthew

Matthew 10:40-42
40"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. 41Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. 42And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

This was part of the passage in my readings today. When I first read this it reminded me of all the people that pour themselves into my life and help guide me on my journey to live my life for Christ. I feel blessed by them all the time and sometimes I wish I could do more to bless them in return for all they do for me. it’s cool to know that God is blessing them for me. That He sees their good works and their obedience and rewards them accordingly. How truly awesome is our God!

It also made me think of all our students. Sometimes it’s hard to see the impact we have on them and it’s easy to feel lost or like your not making a difference in their lives. It’s comforting to know that God see our selfless work and is blessing us even when we feel that we’re not doing much for His Kingdome.

The Psychology of Obedience: Part 1

In my first semester at college my psychology text talked about the power of authority and the it requests. In 1978 Stanly Milgram created an experiment to test how obedient a normal person would be in the face of perceived authority.

Three people take part in the experiment: "experimenter", "learner" ("victim") and "teacher" (participant). Only the "teacher" is an actual participant, i.e. unaware about the actual setup, while the "learner" is a confederate of the experimenter. The role of the experimenter was played by a stern, impassive biology teacher and the victim (learner) was played by a 47 year old Irish-American accountant trained to act for the role. The participant and the learner were told by the experimenter that they would be participating in an experiment helping his study of memory and learning in different situations.[1]
Two slips of paper were then presented to the men to decide who was the “teacher” and who was the “learner”, of course this was not a random selection. At this point, the "teacher" and "learner" were separated into different rooms where they could communicate but not see each other. In one version of the experiment, the confederate was sure to mention to the participant that he had a heart condition.[1]
The "teacher" was given an electric shock from the electro-shock generator as a sample of the shock that the "learner" would supposedly receive during the experiment. The "teacher" was then given a list of word pairs which he was to teach the learner. The teacher began by reading the list of word pairs to the learner. The teacher would then read the first word of each pair and read four possible answers. The learner would press a button to indicate his response. If the answer was incorrect, the teacher would administer a shock to the learner, with the voltage increasing in 15-volt increments for each wrong answer. If correct, the teacher would read the next word pair.
The subjects believed that for each wrong answer, the learner was receiving actual shocks. In reality, there were no shocks. After the confederate was separated from the subject, the confederate set up a tape recorder integrated with the electro-shock generator, which played pre-recorded sounds for each shock level. After a number of voltage level increases, the actor started to bang on the wall that separated him from the subject. After several times banging on the wall and complaining about his heart condition, all responses by the learner would cease.
At this point, many people indicated their desire to stop the experiment and check on the learner. Some test subjects paused at 135 volts and began to question the purpose of the experiment. Most continued after being assured that they would not be held responsible. A few subjects began to laugh nervously or exhibit other signs of extreme stress once they heard the screams of pain coming from the learner.
If at any time the subject indicated his desire to halt the experiment, he was given a succession of verbal prods by the experimenter, in this order:
Please continue.
The experiment requires that you continue.
It is absolutely essential that you continue.
You have no other choice, you must go on.
If the subject still wished to stop after all four successive verbal prods, the experiment was halted. Otherwise, it was halted after the subject had given the maximum 450-volt shock three times in succession.

This study has always weighed heavy on my heart. Tomorrow I'll explaine why.

Genesis 9:6
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man”.

So my question is this, do you believe it is right to support the death penalty as a believer in Christ?

I have always supported the death penalty and this is why. I honestly feel that some people don’t deserve to share this earth with me. I think some people have given their lives over to the evil one and deserve to die for the things they have done to others. Now, this is my personal view on it, just to make that clear. I once had a woman who didn’t share my ideas try to convince me that I was wrong. Her question to me was how, as a believer in Christ, could I reconcile the idea that killing someone was right?

But then you can look at the life of someone like Mike, the guy that was invaded this past week. He wanted to kill Craig, his life was taken over by evil. But God restored him. God could do that for anyone.

And another thought. Since this verse is in the Old Testament, doe's it still apply today? Jesus did come and die for everyone's sins, so is this as obsolete as like, animal sacrifices?

So that’s my thoughts on it. I really just wanted to know what everyone else thinks about this topic.

To Be Blown Away.

I live for the moments where I am just blown away. Just completely moved. It’s amazing what can do it too. A 1year old trying to make me laugh when I’m broken and in tears, the song on the radio that just “fits”, the random act of kindness from a stranger, and more recently, the students at Lifechurch.tv, the best kind of blown away there is.

How did God think it a good idea to bless NW SWITCH with so many amazing kids. The broken, the lost and confused, the hurting and the innocent and caring. The blessed and the cursed, how did we get such kids? How amazing they all are in their own right.

And what a comfort they have been to me. To hear them talk about their lives and open room in their hearts for Christ to work miracles in them, to dropping addictions at the feet of Christ and walking away from them with Him, they are an inspiration to us all, if only we could stop and see all that they do. And when they bless us with their kind words, tell us they love us and think we are the amazing ones, that is the best blessing of all. And that reason right there is why I feel so blown away by them. God uses the smallest.