Time to Stop Swallowing Poison

Beating our Heads Against the Wall Again…

Americans typically assume that we can swallow poison and not be harmed. We swallow poison because it tastes good, and then wonder why we’re sick. I’m not talking about physical poison here. I’m referring to the harmful influences we allow in our lives, oftentimes without thinking. It’s as if people are oblivious to the fact that risky decisions can actually lead to unpleasant outcomes. Perhaps the time is ripe to understand the consequences.

Some Ways that Americans Swallow Poison

People watch movies and television containing horror, sexual immorality, and the depiction of every kind of deceit imaginable. Yet the things we see and experience cause rewiring of the brain. As memories are formed in our brains, our personhood changes ever so subtly.  Do we know for sure that watching hours of sitcoms and soaps full of stinging putdowns and zingers doesn’t taint our attitudes towards others? Why are we so unconcerned, that we glibly assume the risk? How can we be sure that the insane mass-murderer didn’t become insane from the music and movies he chose to pump into his brain?

Private Profits and Social Losses

I think this is an interesting article. The tack that our country has taken, to privatize profits yet socialize losses, puts the burden for someone else’s mistakes squarely on the shoulders of you the taxpayer. Now that bank CEOs can no longer pay for their plush offices with remote-controlled La-Z-Boy, now I must make the La-Z-Boy payments myself. But I’m still not allowed to sit in the chair and enjoy its benefits. Yet when that CEO makes a good decision and makes a profit, he doesn’t have to share it with me – he gets to keep it all to himself and his company. So at its core, this is Middle-Ages Feudalism, where us peasants (American Middle Class) have no choice but to pay to insure the lifestyles of the rich and famous. I agree that it is difficult to gauge the proper balance of government regulation of economic industries. But on the other token, I’m against socialized welfare to cover other people’s bad decisions. It just perpetuates the myth that many Americans operate in…that we can swallow poison and not be harmed. How do Americans swallow poison? Here are some of the ways. 

How to Win an Atheist or Agnostic to Faith in Jesus

Keep an even keel, eyes focused on Jesus and what he wants you to do. Be careful to treat others with God’s love. No athiest or agnostic can deny love in action. Keep the armor of God on (faith, hope, love, God’s word), and refocus any discussions of ‘conservative values’ onto what Jesus actually said or did – then Jesus, not us, becomes the authority they must contend with.  If everyone lived by Jesus’ words, there would be no AIDS, ENRON corruption, war in Iraq, or sex offenders down the street. There would be no locks on doors, SPAM, identity theft, or rude drivers.

Jesus is the Reason for the Season

I hate Santa Claus. Every year when Christmas comes around, I can’t help but think that Santa is next to the devil. Before you flame me, please realize I’m not saying that Santa is bad, or that “Saint” Nicholas was not a good, godly man.

Carve your own Jesus Defeats Death pumpkin

Want to evangelize during “Halloween”? Need a Christian Pumpkin idea? Here’s how to carve your own Jesus Defeats Death pumpkin. I made this pumpkin in 2002 using the 3-shade method of pumpkin carving. You can actually do this with any picture by using a picture editor to convert your picture to 3-tone (white/gray/black). When you actually carve your pumpkin, you carve just the outer skin off for the gray areas, and carve all the way through to the inside of the pumpkin for the white areas.

Halloween, or Reformation Day?

I personally don’t celebrate Halloween. Since Jesus came to give us life and light (guidance) in this world, I can no longer in good conscience participate in a holiday that celebrates death and darkness (and every evil thing conceivable). Here in Detroit folks use it as an excuse for vandalism the night before Halloween, calling it ”Devil’s night”, despite the fact that the night belongs to (and exists because of) God. So on October 31, I encourage people to celebrate something better – I call it “Reformation Day.” 

Odwalla Bar

I have a Berries GoMega Odwalla Bar for a snack today. Its label incorrectly states that it has 1000mg of Vegetarian Omega-3’s in it. If that were the case, I would only travel across land and sea up to 1000mm to get one. But the truth is that in Odwalla’s humility they greatly underestimated the health benefit of this bar. In reality, a Berries GoMega bar has 1000000000ng of Vegetarian Omega-3’s in it, and I think they need to change the printing on the bar’s label to reflect this fact. I would travel across the desolate face of planet earth for 1000000000 nanoseconds for distances up to 1000000000nm to get one.

I am so glad that Odwalla’s Berries GoMega Bar is not like those other inferior bars out there that only have 1g of Vegetarian Omega-3’s in them. I would only travel 1m to get one of those bars.

Sexiness is next to godliness

Since one of my pet peeves is undefined acronyms, please be advised that CCM in this post stands for “Contemporary Christian Music”.

Satire mode on. Today I’m Martin Luther and Paul the Apostle combined.

I’ve finally figured it out! I’ve discovered the key to 21st century Christianity! Yes! I’ve discovered that to be a spiritual role model in the church that Jesus Christ started 1977 years ago, you have to be sexy! That’s right! Just look at all the beautiful Christian music artists out there. Oooh they’re hot! Boy, I could just watch them onstage all day. Forget what they’re singing…I just want to watch them! They are sizz-lin’! You see, we’ve finally discovered that the key to Christianity is outward appearance. The world’s been saying it all along, and we’re finally catching on. To become great in the kingdom of God, you gotta be SEXY!

Christianity vs. convenience…continued

I’d just like to point out that my post from yesterday was intended to portray one side of an issue. As a comment to the post astutely pointed out, using skits etc. can be an effective means to communicate truth. Personally, I am not against using anything that can be an effective tool to evangelize and make disciples of Jesus Christ in our modern culture. (My own sister is part of a Christian mime ministry called Mimeistry.) But I have to qualify that statement. In my mind, when the church of Jesus Christ resorts to Bingo nights, lotteries, 50/50 tickets, serving beer, playing Fear Factor, and Friday night fish frys, we are inadvertently communicating that the gospel of Jesus Christ is irrelevant. Instead we should be communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ as the “hook”. When we have to invite our neighbors to a church-sponsored Super Bowl Bash instead of a Bible study, this implies the Bible is superfluous to Christianity. When we woo non-Christians with fun and games, we’re inadvertently saying it’s more important to have fun than to take Christ’s gospel seriously. When we try to evangelize with T-shirts that are knockoffs of popular secular logos (such as “Reborn” made to look like “Reebok” or “Jesus Christ” in a Coca-Cola font), we’re communicating that Christianity has no original thoughts to add to the world of our day and that Christianity requires the weight of secular muscle to be worth noticing. When we keep attendance rolling in with pony tricks and by constantly “changing things up” to keep it fresh, I agree with the author of Cerulean Sanctum when he observes that we’ve lost our long-term outlook and purpose. What is the church’s raison d’être (reason for existence)? Are we here to entertain, or to take Jesus Christ to the world? Are we to spend our efforts making disciples of recreation and fun, or disciples of Christ?

Christianity vs. convenience

A post at Cerulean Sanctum on “Spiritainment” brings up an interesting topic. A topic that puts me in Martin Luther mode. I’m sorry this is going to be a long post. But this is actually a sore spot for me after weathering a church split a few years ago. I am now of the opinion that the majority of American Christians, though sincere, have very little depth to their roots. Sure, we’re all smiles and hugs and love when the winds are fair. But when adversity comes, we wither, flee, give up, stop attending church, go away, fail to make a stand, and give in to satanic pressure like a wet paper bag.

We live in a modern culture where our god is no longer the God who created the universe. Instead, our god is our own convenience. And the enemy of our souls is no longer the devil and his worldly systems. Instead, the enemy is offending someone. The unpardonable sin of the 21st century is to offend a church-goer in any way. And I’m not talking about the kind of offense that Paul mentioned when he said, “If eating meat offends my brother, I will eat no meat while the world still stands.” (Paul was referring to doing something that conflicted a brother’s conscience.) No, the offense I speak of is the offense of inconvenience – anything that places an imposition upon a person’s fleshly comforts.