Why

The recent school shootings have brought out the usual bottom feeders and their pet theories about why the tragedy happened. Just pick anything from the list of usual suspects. Doesn't really matter what you choose. We all know this tragedy wouldn't have happened if there were school prayer, copies of the Ten Commandments on public buildings. Or we can blame it on video games, gays, and whatever else you can think of. All we need to do is invoke the right magical spell and the problem will be solved.

I don't know. When I was growing up a tragedy such as this would have been unthinkable. Children were taught respect by their parents and we took the time to discipline our children. As a society we were much more civilized than we are now. Yet before I start sounding like the others, let me say there are no magic formulas. Control is an illusion. We live in a fallen world and  to say it nicely, excrement occurs.

Bad things will happen again, not because God is in a bad mood, or because some store clerk wished us "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". It will happen because of the sin that lives in all of us.

Icono Clash

Tis the season for conspiracy theories. The Atheists are meeting to plan their anti-Christmas strategy while the LBGT community is holding a convention in San Francisco to map out their strategy to destroy family values. Well not really, but if you listen to conservatives long enough you'd probably believe that is what they think.

I don't know. I cannot find any scriptural command to celebrate Christmas anyway. "One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every one alike" Rom 14:5  Besides, historically December 25 was celebrated as a winter solstice celebration, not Jesus's birthday, who was most probably not born in winter.

Frankly I don't care, wish me Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever. Its your good wishes that matter, not what cultural group you represent. Christians are to be known by their love, not their willingness to fight atheists. Maybe that is what people in our society have against believers. Maybe if we would stop fighting so-called "culture wars" and show the true love that comes from God we wouldn't have so many enemies

Of course the Religious Right would just say I am part of the alleged "Christian persecution". May Jesus is too. He had a few choice words to say about the religious people of his day. I have an idea. Perhaps Bill Reiley, Pat Robertson, and the like could be rendered to Iran and places where Christians really are being persecuted. Tell me how well your complaints go over there.

Maybe what we need is a good Christian Persecution

We all know about the early days of Christianity. It was an illegal religion. Believers were arrested, tortured, and executed is the most barbaric manners. Something strange about it though. The Christians who were persecuted went to their deaths praising God. 

Today Christians in the US are not persecuted. Not only is freedom of worship guaranteed by law, but we can be totally open about our faith without fear. Just one problem, we don't praise God as much as we complain. We whine like babies every time we don't get our way. We whine every time someone criticisms us, even if we deserve it. We whine when we don't get to make the laws to suit us. We whine because non-Christians have rights too. We whine when we have to sacrifice for our faith. I wonder what the early Christian martyrs will say to us. I wonder what He who died for our sins will say to us.

I'm not suggesting a return to the "bad old days", but maybe it would be good if one could no longer claim to be a Christian without the understanding that it is going to cost us something. What if we were in the minority.   Maybe then we would offer our sacrifices to God without complaint and with joy. Maybe then we would be more certain about what we believe. Either Christ would be worth giving our lives to, regardless of the cost, or He isn't. Its do or not, no half way.

Falling in the Cracks

First of all I would like to offer a farewell to Bruce Gerencser's Falling From Grace blog. Bruce stated that he no longer enjoys doing it and has closed down the site.

If you are wondering why a believer would want to read an atheist site, there are a couple of reasons. First, there are times an atheist will tell you the truth when a Christian won't. Bill Maher made it plain that one cannot call themselves a Christian and delight in the death of Bin Laden or condone the torture of prisoners.  Do you think you would have heard that on Sunday morning?

Then too, I have never been one who could be comfortable following along with the crowd. I have always had the need to think and ask questions, some of them which will never be answered by the minister. Former believers can talk about the  struggles with their former faith. Believers are not always so free.

Its not always a problem with the church. Some of us don’t always find it easy  to take our minds off of our own struggles. Yet I have to say that too many times I find my faith far too abstract to be of value in the moment.

My question is how some of us are to fit in. If you are Gay or Transgendered, have emotional or physical difficulties, or just have needs, are we just tolerated, or is our unique situation something that can glorify God?

Happy Election Day

“Careful, Evil has a way of making friends with Good and dragging them into the Darkness” --Dr. Al Robbins to Ray Langston (Lawerence Fishburn),  CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Isn't it the truth? The scriptures themselves warn us that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. Still we seem to fall for the deception more often than not. Sometimes I can't help but thinking that Christian involvement in politics is like making a deal with the Devil. No matter who you vote for, you're going to lose.

An atheist blogger pointed out that Christians use the same book, we rely on the same Gospel and he same Holy Spirit, yet we are all unbelievably fragmented. Try explaining that. Maybe we just do not really believe in the power of God to change lives. We rely on human solutions instead.

Sure, I voted, but I am under no delusion that voting democratic or republican will accomplish God's will. "Issues" will not save anyone. Only the power of the Gospel can do that.

WILDERNESS: The dark night of the soul

After Jesus was baptized, He went to the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. I find it interesting that this apparently was intentional. For me, that condition was unintentional. I don't believe that other Christians who find themselves in a spiritual wilderness intended to be here either. Its just not something rates high on our "to do" list. It happens nevertheless.

We don’t usually talk about the wilderness much, or why Jesus chose to face it. In some denominations it is all most considered heresy to admit one is encountering difficulties or doubt. After all, our faith in God is supposed to be able to deal with anything.

To say there have been times I have sat in church and “just didn’t have my heart in it” would be to grossly understate the problem. I am talking about getting to the point I actually find it painful to try to worship God. He becomes a figure whose “Divine Silence” becomes a greater torment than any earthly sadist could dream up. I am really not surprised that some have abandoned faith altogether in order to escape. Better not to believe in God, than to have Him become the focus of all our anguish.

I have so far manage to come to one conclusion. Finding oneself in the wilderness does not indicate that one has  made an irrevocable misstep somewhere. It may even you are there because you need to be. We all have emotional garbage that needs to be burned away. I can be thankful for that at least. Its only in the trial that you can make the choice of what you actually believe.

Poly-tics

Poly - many
tic - a blood-sucking parasite

I don't like politics. Maybe its because I am a strongly pragmatic thinker. When my mind gets done filtering out the BS, I don't really like what I see on either side. Democrat or Republican. I cannot help but to want another choice. Regardless of who it is, I get the impression they are out for themselves.

The question though is whether or not I would want the person I vote for to be a christian. The answer is of course yes. However, I don't mean a liberal christian or a conservative christian. I mean someone whose focus is to be a servant as Christ was a servant. Not someone concerned with issues, but someone concerned  with the needs of the nation.

The Hunger Game

Goliath Awaits, was a 1981 TV  Scifi Drama about the search for the Goliath, a passenger ship sunk in WWII. When divers find the vessel they get a surprise, people are still alive in an air pocket within the ship. When the ship sank, a method was found to produce oxygen to keep the passengers alive. Many of the people were happy to be rescued. Yet the Captain and some other had grown used to their home under the sea. Their attitude as summed up by the Captain was, "Rescue? From what?" Sometimes I admit, I feel the same way.

Jesus said those who hunger and thirst after rightousness will be filled. Those who don't, or those who think they are filled... Well, everyone who didn't leave Goliath died. Some people think being right with God is about keeping rules or condemning others. Ask the Pharasees how well that worked.

Even in a world where I struggle to survive I find myself being far too comfortable with this life. Some of the things I do to survive only anesthetize me so I want to sleep, not prepare to leave. Not so good if the bus leaves for God's country and I am not on it. Count it as joy if I must endure hardship? I don't know, maybe it makes some sense after all.

Turnabout Chicken

The news is that Chick-fil-A has reversed its previous policy of supporting anti-gay organizations. Isn't it interesting? Right-wing groups that supported Chick-fil-A in the name of freedom of religion are now condemning the restaurant chain. What is all to obvious is that to some people "freedom" means the freedom to believe as they do, not freedom as the dictionary defines it.

Jesus was quite open on the matter, God hates adultery and divorce. Yet when an adulterous woman was brought to Jesus, He said, "He who is without sin, cast the first." The only person who had the right to stone the sinful woman spoke in her defense.

Whatsamatta? Chicken?

I am glad that the fracas over the Chick-fil-A debicle is starting to settle down. For the record, I can't even remember the last time I ate at Chick-fil-A. Even so, I have no interest in involving myself in politics, Christian or otherwise.

What concerns me though is what Jesus would think about the whole matter. Jesus said that the way we others is the way we treat Him. Read Matthew 25. We don't even have to do anything bad to others to incur His wrath. Its enough just to fail respond to the needs of others. "What you do to one of these, you have done to Me". Understand that those who murdered Matthew Shepard murdered Jesus.

Thats what bothers me about all those people who supported Don Cathy. Nowhere in the scripture does it ever say it is our job to bring God's wrath against anyone. It isn't. It is our job to bring God's love to everyone whom we encounter.

Welcome to my Blog. "Outside the Camp" is of course a biblical term. It is also a personal one. It is about those of us who for various reasons feel alone and isolated from others.

Jesus was known to travel outside the elite circles. He reached out to the lonely and despised; the broken in body and mind. Jesus reached out to others not in a spirit smugness and superiority, but humility