What does a biblical Christian look like?

So many people are afraid to say that the bible is open to interpretations, I believe it is. It also seems clear to me that there is only one ‘right’ interpretation, but equally clear, that no one has that one interpretation in its entirety. I might be right about one point, but just as wrong about another point.


To me, I believe the bible makes it clear that it’s not about being perfect, it’s about learning, and growing from each other, changing and maturing to be more like Christ would ask us to be (The law and the prophets are summed up in two things, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and Soul, and Love your neighbor as yourself). Lewis, in his book “Mere Christianity” makes the statement that if there are those that have chosen a different ‘denomination’ then you, and you believe they are wrong, then you are to pray for them, and love them, for even our enemy we are told to pray and love all the more!



With all that being said though, I think it’s important to have a set of rules for interpreting it, a correct Hermeneutics as it’s called. If we don’t agree on the rules for interpreting English, how then can we agree on what an English passage says – the same with the bible, unless there is a scholarly agreement on how to interpret the bible, then how can we know for sure, what the passage says, either in the context of when it was written, or in the context of today’s day and age.



And I disagree with some who say that the rules for biblical interpretation are “How it sounds to me”. I think the Spirit’s working is definitely part of it – but God never worked in one individual. Even Christ found himself a party of believers to surround himself with and preach the word. Christ says “Where two or more gather in my name, there I will be”. When Paul talks about the gifts of the Spirit he makes it plain that the gifts were spread out to many believers, so that together, they may work together to display and proclaim the word of God and encourage each other for more noble things.



I think the solo scriptura view is false [That is much different than the Reformed view of Sola Scriptura] (that is, solo scriptura is the view that the bible is the only authority (me the bible and God), solA scriptura is the view that the bible holds the final authority, but that God has revealed himself in many different fashions throughout all of history) – God gave us history, he gave us great thinkers, he gave us revelation about himself spread throughout history, more than just in the bible (Romans said what may be known about God is plain, because God has made it plain).




C.S. Lewis calls it, in his book “Mere Christianity” – “Good Dreams”, that God throughout history has spread himself and the knowledge of himself throughout the entire world, so that those who seek him will find him, although he is not far from them. In Athens on Mars Hill, Paul says, that they are serving the idea of God, but they do not even know the real God, that the Greeks call him Zeus (His reference to the poets citing “In him we move and breath and have our being” is a reference to a poem written to Zeus), but he says that he will declare to them the real God that they are speaking of.



God clearly wants us to rely on his Spirit not just in the here and now (which is another false pretence that many Christians think that our generation is better, smarter and more informed than previous generations) – but he wants us to rely on his workings throughout history. To read, and learn, and understand the decisions and disagreements throughout history, and use them to help build and understand what it is that God wants us to learn.



One thing that Lewis said is that belief is Jesus’ death and resurrection is the pivotal thing of Christianity. That understanding Christianity (more specifically Jesus’ death), is like understanding Vitamins and minerals when we eat. We ate before we understood vitamins and minerals, we eat even now with our understanding of Vitamins and minerals, and if someday we find that our whole view of vitamins and minerals was wrong – we will continue to eat. We can still be nourished by the vitamins and minerals in our food, without understanding exactly how it nourishes us. We can be saved as Christians, without understanding the in-depth technical details of what actually happened when Christ died and was resurrected.



I think this vitamin view can be applied to so many other things in Christianity. True, we don’t intentionally disregard God’s word, if we don’t like it, or want to do something different, but there is no reason that we should fear that if we get something wrong, because we couldn’t understand it that he is going to condemn us to an eternity in hell.



I’m finishing up a book right now, a book by C.S. Lewis called “Mere Christianity” – I would HIGHLY recommend getting a copy and reading it. Lewis was not a theologian, and he speaks in such plain terms about what “mere Christianity” is, apart from all the things that people have tried to make it into. It’s AMAZING!

Confusion in the world

Today, I read a blog from someone, who until recently was unknown to me; although, my interest has definitely been piqued. Their post, I believe, may show some confusion in understanding the Christian God of the bible. I will paste my response first; and then follow up with a paste of their post.




————— My Response ————————–


Hello, I’m a visitor, but wanted to comment. I’m basing this comment on an understanding of a common Christian Orthodoxy, which, I admit, as a visitor, I may be out of step with the general consensus in the various discussions, or may miss the context of the conversation all together.



While the bible agrees with the view of a loving and compassionate God, we have to be careful not to sacrifice one of his qualities for any other (for example the justice of God). Will there be justice on the Day of Judgment for those who never accepted the work of redemption done on their behalf? Will there be justice for those whom, through Christ’s work of redemption, are thus rewarded, not based on something they have done, but on a work that was completed despite (and in spite) of their own desires?




If God is truly God, then he is omnipotent. As an all powerful God, there is nothing that happens outside of his control, he knows beforehand all things that are to happen. Whether there is a disagreement on the semantics of whether God is the primary or secondary cause, at the very least, he knows that bad things are going to happen, has the power to stop them, and yet, still chooses not to. Why? There are many reasons we could speculate, in fact many have.



This is one major paradox: if God is all powerful and loving, how can there be evil in the world. But in our quest to explain this, let’s be careful not to sacrifice one quality for another (the love of God for the sovereignty of God or omnipotence) to fulfill our desire to answer that question in a satisfactory way. In trying to understand this, it may be like trying to explain to a rock what it’s like to be a dove, when we ourselves are only fish. It may, in fact, be a futile endeavor; but our inability to describe a dove does not indeed make the idea of a Dove nonsense.



What father, that loves his child, would not allow them to face adversity [Not beyond what they are capable of handling], or permit or exact punishment, to refine them. Gold is purer when refined by fire, iron is stronger. Adversity brings character.


I don’t view the Christian God of the bible as being sadistic or schizophrenic, although I confess that the New Testament clearly portrays him as a loving father who disciplines and allows hardships to come under all of his Children. If he did not allow this, then we could be assured of one thing: That we are illegitimate children and not sons of God.





(Heb 12:7) Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?



(Heb 12:8) If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.



(Heb 12:9) Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!



(Heb 12:10) Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.



(Heb 12:11) No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.









—————Original Post —————————-



It’s so sad to hear and know that there are actually people out there who believe that God literally controls and “ordains” everything that happens in their lives. How depressing it must be to serve such a sadistic, cruel and tyrannical being. I honestly can’t imagine serving someone who uses his adversary to torment his own children!

If God is ultimately responsible for and controlling everything that happens, then that would mean Jesus and God worked against each other quite often while Jesus walked this earth. That would mean that God caused storms and then Jesus reversed God’s work by calming them. God made people sick and then Jesus destroyed His work by healing them. God gave people demons and then Jesus cast them out. You’d think that Jesus would have eventually been annoyed by such ridiculous behavior on God’s part. Then again, since Jesus is God, I guess God was actually working against Himself! Wow… what a great way to make God look like a complete idiot!

The Bible says that Jesus went about doing good and healing everyone who was sick. It also says that He was sent [by God] to destroy [and undo] the works of the devil (1 John 3:8; Acts 10:38). The works of who? So God and the devil were actually working together to make people sick and bring pain into their lives? Hmm… how comforting and edifying to believe that God is actually the tormentor!

If God “ordained” that satan bring sin, sickness, and problems into peoples’ lives (as religion claims), then what was Jesus doing destroying those works?? If God “controls everything”, then all of those works of the devil were ultimately works of God, right? How can we ever resist (actively fight against) the devil (James 4:7) if we believe that God is using him to “develop our faith” and teach us a lesson??? Hmm… what amazing theology religion has introduced to us! The sad part is that people actually believe this stuff!

It’s amazing how people can make God out to be so schizophrenic. It’s no wonder why so many millions of people are rejecting God on a daily basis. They probably believe that following Him will make them as confused as the religious people who have described God in such a confusing, unscriptural way.

I’ve got an outstanding idea…. Let’s consider presenting the same Father God to people that Jesus did. People have heard enough false doctrine about God controlling their problems and “ordaining” the hell in their lives as a part of His “sovereign plan”. Isn’t the Gospel supposed to be GOOD News? I don’t think telling someone that God is the one behind the garbage in their lives is Good News.


That is not at all what people are needing to hear from us. We need to allow Jesus to reverse the works of the devil in peoples’ lives. We don’t need to teach them that the devil’s work in their lives is actually God’s work and God’s desire for them!

All I ask is that everyone please consider their beliefs and doctrines about God. Do they line up with what the New Testament proclaims and do they line up with the God that Jesus presented to us? Jesus told us that He was an exact representation of the Father. Did Jesus ever do the things that religion has blamed God for and claimed that God is responsible for?

Have you presented a confusing image of God to other people?
If so, please consider what you’re doing. You’re not helping people, you’re hurting them. People need to know and experience a loving and compassionate God who’s willing to help them… and religion has presented to them a sadistic, all-controlling “God” who is actually the one hurting them and “sovereignly ordaining” their pain!

My thoughts on hunting…

My opinion of hunting is very similiar to my opinion of sports; I used to hunt when I was young, because it was kind of expected for guys to want to hunt, so I did it to be ‘just like the guys’ (although i was never ‘just like the guys’). Hunting seems to include a lot of butt smacking, jock scratching, grunting and testosterone (maybe not literally in all cases, but it is definitely part of the whole ritual). I find it so funny when I see people lined up to go out and ‘hunt’ deer (which really means, sitting in a tree with a high powered rifle and high powered scope and waiting for them to walk by so you can shoot them [now that’s what I call ‘sport’!]). Even more, seeing the foolish people, in the pouring rain, spending hours and hours of their life doing this. If they were doing it because they couldn’t afford to go out and buy meat; then I am very glad they have the opportunity – but the majority of them aren’t (in fact, a lot of them don’t even like the meat).


As far as children hunting; I think it’s scary enough to have grown men walking around in the woods with Guns; I don’t think children should be doing it. As far as women, I feel the same way as with men, although I don’t get it (perhaps because I’m not a woman), without all the butt smacking, jock scratching, grunting and testosterone, what do they get out of it?


Now, don’t get me wrong, I used to kill chickens and rabbits and turkeys for meat; we needed to do it to survive when I was a child (I hated it, but I did it, and I LOVE rabbit meat!) – so i’m not all don’t kill the poor little animals; although – I much perfer watching the deer, or rabbit or turkeys in my back yard year round, over watching then be stuffed and hung on the wall. I’d prefer to eat domesticated animals, rather than wild ones (in fact, I’d love to have my Dog or Cat for dinner!).


I wish I could go pee on all the hunting spots in the word to scare off the deer with my human scent and save the poor little creates from the greedy bullet with their name on it.


I bet though, this is just a form of controlling the masses; allowing them a time of year to expound upon their inner aggressions and the thoughts they are harboring inside of their heads against their neighbors, co-workers, or perhaps even their spouses.


I’m so unpatriotic, or un-American or un-Manly, eh? 🙂


More importantly, if you are a friend of mine, and like to hunt; I don’t hold it against you; don’t hate me for this blog! 😉

Would even one linger?

If I withered like a flower, would you miss me when I’m gone,

If you woke to find me missing, how would that impact your dawn?

If I dried up like a stream bed, would I ever leave a mark,

If I melted like a snow drop, if my candle lost its spark?

As a shooting star will disappear, I’ve often wondered how,

The way they would have treated me, if they knew then, what’s now

The moment that I fly away, I wonder if they’d care.

Or when they lower me below, would one memory linger there?

© 2007 Jediah Logiodice

The weight of Gold

I am stuck inside a mud pit with


A pocket full of gold.


This story of my wayward step


Is one that should be told.





One day while walking on the edge


I thought that I would try,


To soil my sole, to take a step


and yet keep clean and dry





And ‘lo perhaps if I should fall


Or something worse unfold


The remedy was right with me


My pocket full of gold.





I walked out deep, I felt no fear,


As you can clearly see


The safety net, that you can get


With gold so plentily





But now I stand up to my knees


And sinking very fast


There’s something that I could not see


But late, at last, I grasp





And with a frown, my head goes down


Below the mirky foam


The weight to bear of gold so fair


Has crushed me like a stone.





© 2007 Jediah Logiodice



– Sometimes the more gold you have in your pockets, the deeper you get stuck in the ruts of life –

Being a mall rat… Humanities Assignment

Being a Mall Rat



One P.M. Thursday afternoon. It’s October, and the air is becoming crisp, and the leaves are turning colors and starting to fall. Today, feels like a swimming pool day. You know, in the middle of the summer, when it’s in the 90’s and the pool is around 70, when you step into that pool from 90 to 70, the 70 degree pool feels freezing, even though you tell yourself it isn’t; today, is like that; the sun is hot, the black leather seats of the car have absorbed the heat. While it’s one of the warmest days this week, probably close to the mid 60’s, stepping out of the car, feels like being doused into a pool on a summer afternoon. Today is a swimming pool day.


The sun is bright, but the sky is a dark grey, it doesn’t look like it will rain today, the clouds are transparent, but winter is coming. I’m driving, pulling into the parking lot. I live about 2 hours away from this town; I’m glad. I enjoy getting together with friends, spending time even with large groups of people that I have commonalities with, but I disdain crowds. Loud and noisy, waiting in lines, waiting at lights, waiting, waiting, waiting!


The parking lot smells distinctly of garlic. I’m sitting here watching people pull in and out, walk in and out. So many different people, fast walkers, slow walkers, mothers, fathers, old people, even teens, I wonder why the teens aren’t in school. The building here is one big building, hundreds of stores connected together. I’m sitting out near Best Buy, one of my favorite places to shop. The building is red brick, with bright signs on some of the markers. Best Buy in big bright letters, Country Buffet, right next to it. I become aware of my stomach, I’m hungry – I haven’t eaten yet today. I pull back out of my parking space, and drive around to the other side of the mall – the “food court” as they call it. I might as well accomplish something on this little endeavor.


Now, as I start walking to the doors – there are a set of 8 double doors – one set opening with a blue plate on the side for wheel chair access – I realize with trepidation that I’m going into the mall. I don’t really like the mall. Sometimes when talking to my wife, I compare it to a carnival. In my view, the carnival is obscene pollution for the senses. Thinking over the noise, the smells, the sights, the closeness of the crowds, I go, because my wife and children like to go, I don’t enjoy. There is one thing that I do like to do in the mall though, and as I’m on my way in, I start thinking, “Are they going to think of me as a sociopath”, I mean, they thought Ricky was!


There was a young lady pushing a stroller in, not a stroller that you would buy in the store, but one of those goofy children strollers, it almost looked like a bus, but it was red. She was very pretty, but as she turned, I saw that she was smoking. Her beauty dissolved, slightly, almost imperceptibly. I started to wonder if she smoked with that young child in her car, or in her home. Smoking is such a disgusting, destructive habit. I’ve lost two grandfathers to smoking. Oh well. I went to open the door for her, but another woman beat me to it. I walked through the side door, and opened the next door and held it for both of them. As we walked through the doors, I was overwhelmed with sights, and sounds.


The one thing that I enjoy doing in the mall is watching women and children. My wife teases me that, in regards to the women that I’m just remembering when I was young, and single, and thinking up all the different pick-up lines that I might use (and boy did we have some really retarded ones). But it’s so much more than that. It’s so much more than their bodies. I mean, God created the woman’s body, just to drive the man insane, in my mind there is no doubt. The curves, the way they walk and move, and hold themselves, they way they react, think, and view the world. But, more specifically, each and every one has a story to tell, a complex story, a history, a past, a present and a future.


As I look at them I see, beauty. The girl standing next to me in the line, her face, not overly beautiful, but just pretty, like the daughter in American Beauty, but this girls face is covered in freckles, her hair short curly brown, and her shirt, low cut. She must be here just to hang out; I don’t think she would be wearing that attire to work. The girl that just walked by, she had on tight, short, white shorts, very nice legs. So I start feeling guilty, knowing that this is an assignment, and realizing that maybe I should look at the guys too – see what kind of beauty I can find in them, so I don’t sound like a pervert, or something else. The guy that walks to me in line, as I’m standing there pondering what I’m really going to order. “Are you in line?” he asks. “No, go right ahead” I reply. He’s middle age, kind of has a Richard Gere look, graying white, slightly curly hair, a well defined nose, and he seems to have dark eyes. It’s no use; I just don’t see the beauty in men (Is that what defines a sociopath?). I mean, when I was young, and I found out that my father has an uncle that was Mr. Olympia and Mr. America, I decided that was what I wanted to do. I used to train real hard, and long, and I had the framing for it too. I thought the physique of these men, the huge masses of muscle, like rocks, jagged, etched, now that was beautiful. But, I’m digressing.


The smell of the Japanese food draws me in. I can remember the taste, the texture, squishy almost rubbery chicken, in the al-Dante noodles. My wife and I ate here a year or so ago, the food was good. There is a woman that just came into view, almost around the corner. Her face is very beautiful, she works at the mall, she is pushing a trash cart in front of her, but that does nothing to mar the beauty of her face. I’m sitting here thinking, that while this is an assignment purposed to discover and describe the environment of the mall, that people are probably totally going to find me weird, so I decided not to describe this girls facial beauty.


I ordered my food, and went and sat down. The tables were hard, and cold, the chairs were hard and cold, the floor, while I refused to reach down and touch it, because of how much dirt and germs it was harboring, however, being tile, I could imagine it was also hard and cold. I went and sat as far away from people as I could. They were all going to think I was weird anyway (I was speaking into a DAT recorder, rather than writing on a notepad).


The sounds, it was like a buzzing, almost like a summers evening sitting outside under the stars. The sounds of the crickets and tree frogs, and owls and coyotes all mixed together, most of the time I couldn’t pick out anything (like the sounds of the crickets or tree frogs), but once in a while there was a sound or a voice that rose above the din, like a coyote or an owl. I found it so odd that I could be sitting in the middle of a mall, with hundreds of people walking by me on every side, and I could still feel like I was lonely. I miss my family. I always miss my family on the days that I commute on this 2 hour one way drive.


There are all these beautiful little children running around. Like the cliché, the faces of angels (although, I’m sure, like most kids, they aren’t angelic, but their simple little smiles, they’re bright little eyes, for each and every child I look at, I think to myself that I hope they have a healthy, and safe family relationship, that they are getting the love and support that they need. It’s funny though, as much as I love my children, I cannot handle noise, confusion, I often pull into a shell when my children start running around the house and hollering, and laughing and fighting and yelling. It’s something I constantly need to work on.


So, here I am, finally done eating. Ready to go, I want to get back to work. I’m sure I have enough material to finish my assignment. I’ve enjoyed the time to contemplate life, the universe and everything after; although I think Douglas Adams has that saying trademarked. I’ll probably review my audio, and write this up over the weekend.

Yes – I ate a glowstick….

Ok – I’m going to puss out on this one because I couldn’t even come close to describing it as funny as it really was – so if you’re interested – you can read about it on Anna’s blog.


Man we spent almost the whole night laughing – but because I still have a persistent cough – which made me start wheezing and gasping desperately for air – I now have a headache. Oh well – it was worth it! 🙂


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What is doublethink, crimstop, crimetink and blackwhite?

In a recent post – I made some comments of how people even in today’s day and age practice doublethink, crimestop, crimethink and blackwhite.


These are terms that come from George Orwell’s 1984 – and I felt a responsibility to define them for you, if you do not know them.


Winston Smith explains doublethink – which is the foundation of the beliefs of “The Party” in the book 1984 – it’s scary to realize how many people’s minds work this way today.


doublethink:


“To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word ‘doublethink’ involved the use of doublethink.’


crimethink:


All crimes begin with a thought. So, if you control thought, you can control crime. “Thoughtcrime is death. Thoughtcrime does not entail death, Thoughtcrime is death…. The essential crime that contains all others in itself.”


crimestop:


“The faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. In short….protective stupidity.”


(Ingsoc stands for English Socialism – which is the ideal of the Party).


blackwhite:


The willingness to accept the ‘truth’ you are taught, no matter how absurd it is.


blackwhite is “…loyal willingness to say black is white when party discipline demands this. It also means the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know black is white, and forget that one has ever believed the contrary


Emmanuel Goldsteim:


EG is the enemy of the party – he is the scapegoat, the party uses Emmanuel Goldstein to foster anger, and hatred, to create war (for war is peace according to Ingsoc). Through this fanaticism that they stir up, they control the thoughts of the party members, they teach them, through the fear and hate of Goldstein to pratice crimestop, crimethink, blackwhite and above all doublethink.

For those that want to know…

There are some people in life that will stop at nothing to have things their own way. They’ll do anything, say anything, teach anything, and believe anything.


There are some people in life, that think they belong to the thought police. They are adept invokers of the cultish practices of doublethink, crimestop, crimethink, and blackwhite.


There are some people in life, that believe things, things they know or are afraid that can’t be supported by facts or logic; they hold onto them so tightly, so religiously (if you will), that if you approach them and ask them to reconsider, they begin to act like cornered dogs. They bite, they nip, they growl, they bark. Foaming at the mouth, they become possessed. Will they reason with you? No! Will they talk with you? No! They shut you out, they shut you up, they try to discredit you, they use whatever is within their power to try and control you (or those around you).


There are some people that work in the shadows, they hide behind the trees, they hide behind the rocks, they slink back, and when you pass by, and they pounce and stab. Or, there are even those, who are worse. They will use propaganda, they will regurgitate untruths, they will stick them to your back, they will pass them around to your friends, they make sure to conceal the truth, they twist mind’s, they twist themselves, they are contortionists, or better yet, extortionists.


There are some people that want you to believe something so strongly, that they force it down your throat. They jam it, they cram it. They are in such a frenzied state of mind that they don’t even hear that you are choking; don’t even see that you are turning blue. They don’t even feel the anger, the hate, and the resentment that is welling up inside of you.


There are some people that won’t talk to your face, only to your back, and only if you can’t hear them. They claim that you are a troublemaker, and a problem causer, and they do this by running around and spreading trouble and problems that they focus on you.


I am none of these things; I will tell you to your face, I will try to tell it as it is, as I see it. I will promote thought and thinking, reasoning and logic. I won’t hide in the shadows – I will speak in public, I have nothing to hide. I provide a meal, but I won’t force you to eat. I provide an ear, but I won’t force you to talk. I provide friendship; use it as and if you will.


And above all, for those who are of the Spy’s and the Thought Police themselves – I am guilty of thought-crime, my name is Emmanuel Goldstein.