Complete Introductions Collection 7

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Theology Disclaimer

Bible and Truth

Remember, if you see anything written or spoken that is not word for word from the Bible, it is their opinion and may or may not be Biblical. I am not trying to convince you of anything, but I have my own views and I will present them as true as that is the best I know and believe. My writing is based on a combination of Philosophical Taoism plus Existentialism which I think are more compatible with Christianity than Aristotle or Plato, which very much have been synchronized with Christianity.

I do not feel a need to prove anything to anyone except God. I am not running a Bible study and many things I talk about the Bible in conjunction with are not word for word from the scriptures, so you should treat them the same as someone else who talks about the scripture, but isn't reading or quoting directly from the Bible. Every great philosopher makes big errors in logic and are often even factually incorrect about parts of the Bible. I am no greater than they are.

I am one of the last Christian intellectuals who also believe in the Bible. I just believe that there is more revealed to us than is in the Bible. I also believe there are no absolutes we can be sure of out of what the Bible says and is clear about. I know from Scripture that people worshipped and were saved by Jesus Christ, by their faith and God's grace, but they had no Bible and Christianity would not exist for thousand of years. There is enough reason to believe in and worship the Christian God just looking at creation itself. Again, not quoting from the Bible directly, so I could be just as wrong as every theologian could be.

I see faith as primarily an act of the will and salvation a choice, not an intellectual endeavor or a supernatural event, although it can be understood to an extent from both those views. I believe in both sides of most major doctrinal splits of the Church as I believe most Biblical doctrines are paradoxes. I think we need to understand God primarily through faith, not reason or the miraculous. If you need this explained how this relates to Scripture, you probably have a poor understanding of Scripture.

I am more likely to believe the orthodox traditions of the church are more similar to the early non-Protestant churches like the Coptic (Egypt), Syriac (Syria), Church of the East (Iran and Iraq), and Eastern Orthodox (Greece and Turkey) Churches. This is because they were the church in the beginning and for a very large chunk of history and have similar views in a lot of ways compared to Protestant churches (with a few exceptions). Again, not quoting from the Bible directly, so I could be just as wrong as every church could be.

I am not trying to start a new religion or denomination. I am not even trying to get anyone to adopt any of my views. I want to encourage people to study the Bible but also to study philosophy and be a thinking believer and use critical thinking to decide what is Biblical and what is not in your interpretation of Scripture. You also are just as likely as a person to be wrong about your theology, unless you are quoting from the Bible directly.

My Synopsis of Politics, Prophecy, and Future Trends

I believe that we are currently living in Mystery Babylon (world police corporation run by the devil) of the end times as that this is a synonym for modern society. This police corporation is a evolution of the military industrial complex of the cold war and now the big internet companies, the advertising world, independent hackers, organized crime, and state-sponsored hacking which are converging to become one many headed beast with similar objectives - more and more information on us.

It is a re-creation of a totalitarian state but done more with technology than people and done internationally. This has been done under the name of fighting terrorism but is also the same international government response to disease. It is not the Middle East or China they are worried about but their own populations.

The conventional government is being outsourced in the most important parts like the entire defense department and the criminal justice system is being outsourced now as well. Many prisons are now private, the police operate like the military and intelligence agencies and are more and more being run by artificial intelligence, and many want to unfund them totally. The judges have opposite ideas and the only reason why the supreme court has decided on the legal position the government should take on social issues is that its has an odd number of members.

Health care and education are becoming so expensive so that they are becoming irrelevant. These are going to be fully disrupted and someone will make a fortune making it affordable although likely not comparable. Everything funded by taxes is going to be sacrificed so that we can continue to run the military and social security unsustainably until the government becomes irrelevant for most purposes.

The church is finding it will lose popular support if it does not re-invent itself organizationally. Christians might have to stop their unquestioning support of the government as it becomes very hard to legally coexist with a society where radical feminism and reverse racism are mainstream. We have to return to the Bible and reimagine what we are trying to do and how to go about it as the mainstream and Christianity are encountering irreconcilable differences. This will shake the idea of God and country to its core. The changes will be as radical as the Protestant and Catholic Reformations.

Some of the people in power have romanticized the Cold War and are trying to recreate it with China as the other world power. This is also part of the big push to go to colonize space. There also seems to be a huge 9/11 level change in our intelligence to focus on disease instead of terrorism as the number one enemy of the world police state. The major liberal movements like feminism and reverse racism have re-united under a common cause and are winning the current culture wars and the next generation.

Instead of fighting an idea (terrorism), the world police corporation is now trying to fight the natural world (disease).

Now the Internet and related companies are going to get much more powerful much faster and this situation will evolve faster and faster with each wave of disease and our responses to them.

It is interesting that the entire world dealt with the disease in very similar ways. I also believe we are creating hell in our destruction of the earth. I believe that even though this is true that it is very possible that Jesus Christ will not return for centuries or more from now.

This is not word for word from the Bible so consider it like any other person talking abut the Bible but not quoting it word for word. Some people see it and other don't. Believe what you will. The main reason why they don't see it is because we as Americans are the head of that police corporation.

Statement of Faith

Introduction

I still think what I write is valuable and worth reading. If the following doesn't convince you I am orthodox in my thinking, then I do not know what will. We have to separate Christian ideas from our history and culture if we are to improve ourselves and our society. We have to really re-examine what the Bible says and what our culture says and separate the two to solve both personal and social problems. This is not a one time event and needs to continually happen as does Church reform.

Why Glory Goes to God

Some people may misunderstand my interest in what is called epistemology and mysticism, known in Christian theology as general revelation. I know that many people have different beliefs, for different reasons, but my framework for theology, philosophy, psychology, and everything else comes fundamentally from the Bible. If it is clear in the Bible, I believe it.

The Bible always supersedes anything that I write which conflicts with it. I am not writing about nor do I advocate revelation or mystical experience outside of a direct, obvious, and clear interpretation of what the Christian Bible teaches.

Some examples of what I support include broadening our understanding of the world beyond just reason and facts. This only includes Biblically based revelations in areas like rituals, worship, and prayer. The only deity I serve is the God of the Christian Bible (also known as the one all-powerful creator God, who came to Earth as Jesus Christ, as recorded in the Gospels and the Apostle Paul’s Letters, to the early churches and has 3 aspects as we do, body, mind, and spirit, so God has God the Father as His Mind, Christ as His Body, and the Holy Spirit as His Spirit).

Christianity is not just some kind of add-on to my philosophy, but the very nature of salvation by our repentance and God’s grace is the basis of all my writing. This was made possible by God coming to earth as a person while remaining God, living a perfect life, and dying on the cross. In the process He took our judgement for our sins upon Himself, and defeating death and the underworld. He did all this that we might avoid that underworld ourselves and live forever in paradise with God.

The reason for thinking beyond just reason is that the definition of faith is believing in something you cannot fully prove rationally. This naturally conflicts with a purely academic, rational, empirical, and clinical view of reality. I believe that God speaks in many forms, to many different people, in different ways. This includes the celebration and study of a wide variety of endeavors like the arts, academics, history, traditions of other cultures, and the science and technology.

Both salvation and living your faith are difficult. In addition to that salvation is simple and straightforward conceptually. It is in living your faith that things get very complicated very fast. Yes, we should have a direct experience with Christ, but there is more to Christianity than jargon, cliches, technical terms, mainstream values, American politics, and contemporary culture.

I think, as we, as Christians, know the truth, studying other histories, languages, cultures, philosophies, and religions should not be a problem. In fact, this is very important to do so as we believe ours to be the only true faith and want to convince others with different beliefs and backgrounds of the same. As with anything else, there are limits to interfaith studies. Christ is a jealous God and no other lifeforms should be worshiped, prayed to, or rituals performed for by Christians.

Essential to Christianity is this one all powerful God, who has truly earned our praise many times over. He created everything that exists, could exist, or will exist. This includes creating us out of nothing. He is perfectly good, He is merciful when we are bad, He eternally suffers for us on the cross in His body Christ, He created heaven for us, and He forgives us for everything we have done (with the single requirement that we humble ourselves before Him).

No other lifeform can has done any of this, can do any of this, nor claims to do any of it. If we think something that is smarter or more technologically advanced than us, we should remember that God is infinitely greater than it and it should worship Him as well (as it was also created by God). A good example of this is that when an artist creates a work of art, a programmer creates software, and a builder makes a house, who gets credit? The creator or the created? Everything other than the Christian God was created directly or indirectly by Him and by that fact alone they are required to worship Him and do His will.

The real good news is not only is God all powerful and perfectly good, but He is merciful to us, even though we do some very bad things. He made the bar very low for us, as He has done 99% of the work to secure our place in paradise and be in communion with Him. All we have to do is that last less than 1% of the work and accept His offer and agree to follow Him. Ultimately everyone does His will, whether they realize it or not. Take His offer and make full use of it, by letting Him change who you are. This is a wise thing to do, because He both created us and lived as one of us, so He really does know best and much more than we ever will about living.

There are many reason for rejecting God, that usually can be summarized in an individual person's name. Don’t reject God and make your life worse just because you had a bad experience previously. This is where prejudices come from. Accept God for who He is, not because someone else hurt you. They were certainly not following God when that happened. If you are basing your decision on someone else’s bad experience, this is called here-say. Is it not worth deciding for yourself based on your own experiences?

Christianity makes sense, because God’s creations, including us, were designed to be in constant connection with Him. Nobility, monarchs, and even emperors submitted themselves before God. There is no shame in it. God wants to take away your shame, by forgiving you.

Accept the reality of who you are, in relation to God. He will then empower you and give you joy and peace. He offers paradise, if only you would accept His offer of grace. This grace is free for you but costly for God.

Statement of Ministry

Why I Chose my Approach to Religion

When I was young

I engaged in debate about religion

Amateur at best

But it usually ended in anger

I often used silliness

To cover my anger

I had different views

In very subtle ways

Which I had trouble articulating

So to many I appeared to agree

At first

But later we realized

My point of view

Was very different

But I never fit into

Any established theology or philosophy

I came to the conclusion that

I was bad at forming arguments

And so gave up on apologetics

Around this time I discovered

Both Taoism and Existentialism

The Philosophical and Christian ones

I realized that if I could

Shift my discussions to a less emotional approach

The outcomes were better

No one won or lost

Because I had decided not to

Try to prove any point

I found this kind of discussion

More interesting and useful for everyone

I had grown up in a church

In which I found a similar approach

From a kind of hybrid Evangelical-Quaker church

To merely lead people in the direction of thinking about religion

And letting God work on their soul and draw them to His conclusions

At that time I realized that many of the different aspects to my approach

That many saw as merely creative

Was actually well articulated by these 2 philosophies I was learning

See philosophy is very much about debate

But both Taoism and Existentialism are both based on paradox

As are most basic doctrines of the Bible

They are not your typical kind of philosophy

They would be described as anti-philosophies

That is likely why they are more read than other philosophers

These issues are often not the ones theologians wrestle about

I realized the things that bothered me

About the Church, America, and the school system were all similar

I very much believed in the Church, God and the Bible

But I had a different philosophical perspective on these things

Maybe a better word would be a more mystical approach

My problem with society was not with any one group or any one issue

I challenge the very foundation on how our society was built

I was not against the Bible

I was against the modern world

I challenged not the Church but reason itself

I realized that as is said in First Corinthians that Christianity is not about wisdom (of the Greeks) or the miracles (of the Jews)

It was all about choice

There was nothing to prove and no one to convince

Salvation by faith in Christ makes perfect sense and believing in God is natural

And required no intellectual defense

I am still putting together the pieces over time

What I aim to do is to change the philosophical assumptions about reality and life

I have set out to unite those 2 different philosophical schools - one Asian and the other European

I reject the Enlightenment and Aristotle and Plato not God or the Bible

I believe that the primary way we should understand God and the Bible is choice

Not by reason or by signs and wonders

Is mysticism art or intuition or a kind of foreknowledge of God

When you think of the faith of Job or Abraham

Neither had the Bible and Christianity would not exist for millennia

But faith in God was very much alive and all the concepts and supernatural reality of Christianity already true

Abraham and Job were both saved by the death and resurrection of Christ

The Bible is very important to my faith and is the only thing in which I believe is absolutely true

But this is all gravy

People believed in God long before they had the Bible

Belief in God is natural

What is unnatural is the modern world

What interferes with submission to God’s will

Is our thinking we can make an ideal society when the belief in Christ is up for debate

Modern society is the evil empire of the devil called Mystery Babylon in the Bible

The devil’s fundamental sin philosophically stated was arrogance

When our society thinks we can do anything at all without God

This is spiritual rebellion on a international scale

This kind of rebellion is what the modern world is based on

A big part of this is the way we glorify science and reason to the place of God in our society and personal lives

We say fact is true and opinion is false

I aim to provide a parallel way of understanding God and religion

That does not change the truths of the Bible

But cleanly separates Americana and the Enlightenment from Christianity

I aim to share my ideas with people that already agree with me

I challenge no one

God will challenge you if you decide not to believe in Him

Think the Grass is Greener (on the Other Side)

Many people think they can use

Non-Christian Asian philosophies and religions

To justify their behavior

As they think they don’t have to have moral absolutes

And can still be spiritual

No major world religion or philosophy

Allows you to not address morality

And these ethical systems have similar basic rules as the Bible

If you follow the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule

You will be close to following the most basic laws of most countries

And you will avoid most conflicts that you can avoid

What you give up when you leave Christianity

And still calling yourself a good person

Is the forgiveness of sins

You do not avoid being subject to the same laws or rules

What is different about Christianity

Is not what is considered evil

But that you have one clear God in control

Who is both good and merciful

(Also there are still hells in other major world religions)

In most of them you get after you die

According to what you did in this life

In Buddhism enlightenment is undefined

And Buddhism has hundreds of rules to follow

In Confucianism the entire topic is not covered by definition

In Taoism metaphysics are so vague they could mean anything

In Hinduism you never leave your caste even after reincarnation

And in Hinduism the true Self is the supreme entity

Christianity is also commonly

Added to and subtracted from

The difference is like in Islam

This is not accepted to be legitimate

You are to pick the entire religion

Or reject the entire religion as it stands

What Christianity can provide

That no other major world religion even claims

Is that you can have eternal life

If you turn from your sins and choose Christ

As the Lord of your life

Even though Christianity

Cannot legitimately be modified

By cultures or individual people

It is still the most geographically

And culturally diverse religion

And the most popular religion

In the world by sheer numbers

The only reason why Christianity

Is not more accepted is that it will not deviate

From the Bible on any issue

One of the major conflicts between Christianity

And the mainstream culture today

Is that we keep changing the definition of morality in our society

But our society is far from unified

And very inconsistent about its beliefs

Most the major cultural changes in America today

Reflect the economic conditions caused by the information revolution

But these ideas and their supporters are very fickle

Look how much changed because of a flu

Christianity already long since passed

Its heartland in the Middle East

Then found a home in Europe and then relocated to America

Which then passed it to the rest of the world

Today the heart of the Church is in Africa

No other major world religion has

Or could leave its original homeland

And still be a viable world religion

One of the biggest blocks for people

Accepting the Gospel today

Is the anti-supernatural bias

In the American world empire today

This cultural oddity about America and Europe

Is not a worldwide phenomenon

Africa in particular and the other most populous parts of the world are very religious

The supernatural world was and still is very relevant

To the vast majority of the world

And has been the vast majority of world history

It is ironic that those speaking loudest about multiculturalism in America today

Do not study the Bible

Do not learn languages that are not from Europe

And do not learn premodern or early modern history

The Gospel is the most agreed upon common experience

Throughout the poorest and most persecuted people groups

In the world today

What is the biggest problem in the world today

The most fundamental underlying problem in the world today is cruelty

One of the most basic concepts in ethics

Is being kind to others

It is a concept most of us learn

At a very early age

This is why Christianity is the best religion ethically

God is not just perfect, good, and powerful

He also accepts us as we are

And offers to make us better people

But He asks us to do the same for others

Forgiveness is one of the defining things

That is incomprehensible to the outside world

Everyone wants to be forgiven

But few want to forgive others who hurt them

(This is why I am a staunch proponent of the US Bill of Rights

Because it is about kindness and forgiveness)

Many Roads Narrow to One Road

We see life as having many options

And we see many paths to God

Most of the time there are many ways

To accomplish almost anything

But there are times when

The answer is so obvious

And so we cannot evade it

We cannot go over for under it

We cannot deny it exists

We cannot pretend we didn’t see it

We cannot find a reason to be exempted

In the end there can be only one choice

We have a poor understanding of free will

We use our creativity in the wrong ways

We fail to understand there are limits to everything

The limit of free choice is that it is binary

We can choose to serve God or the devil

We are not our own

We are possessed either of the Holy Spirit or the devil

God leads us like a shepherd herds sheep

Where the devil leads us around as a wolf in disguise

I have studies many world religions

I have had several mystical experiences

I follow several philosophies

I am an existentialist

I am very creative and in many ways a cynic

But there are just some things that are clearly true

Whether you want them to be or not

The Bible may not be your thing

You may think it is too severe

You may think it is too direct

You may think it is too simple

You may think it demands too much

You will find God everywhere

Especially in the most unusual places

Even where He is not welcomed at all

God is everywhere

You cannot evade Him

You can believe whatever you want

But you must take responsibility

For the consequences of your choice

Or you decision to attempt to evade this decision

All our lives hinge on this one decision

Will you choose God and live forever

Or choose yourself and die forever

It is not about just following the rules for the sake of it

Or attending religious gatherings

Or even being a nice person

Ultimately we have to submit and follow

Either God or the devil

It is the point of life

It seems overly simple to some

It seems overly negative to some

It seems overly severe to some

It seems overly judgmental to some

The thing is that I don’t set the rules

There are a lot of things people mixed up

There is also one thing we may have “created”

Evil and suffering

Things were good in the beginning and we screwed them up

What is the original sin

Arrogance and rebellion against God

You cannot do everything on your own

And you cannot be smart enough to overcome your destiny

God created us to be in symbiosis with Himself

We cannot really work as designed without Him

This is the beginning of the fall of people

The beginning of our suffering and ruin

That we chose to separate from God

We need God because we make bad choices without Him

Have we not tried every other option under the sun

Do you think we can solve the world’s problems through politics, money, fame, wisdom, education, etc.

We exist because we were created by God

And to live a happy life we need His constant help

See the faith of Christianity is different because it is not defined by rules or learning or even changing behavior

It is known by its refusal to conform to the expectations of others

Many religions allow their followers or cultures to adapt them and change them

But God does not allow that with His believers

In Christianity there is a clear leader

That is God

We change for God

God does not change for us

God set things up all by Himself

A reality was created as a paradise

The farther we go in history

And the more we learn

The more violent we get and the worse we treat God’s creation - nature

People are not the answer

People are the problem

Our salvation will not come from ourselves or other people

Our salvation comes solely from Christ

He did almost everything Himself

But we must make a choice

And we will be forced to make a definitive answer to God’s offer

Whether we are ok with that or not

We are really lucky God is both perfectly good and merciful at the same time

God is good but also forgiving

God is good but also good to us

God is good but we are not

Did God Not Tell You

Have you ever had a dilemma

About something that seems ok

But you realize later it was not

A lesser of two evils

Never make a moral compromise

Do not be creative with morality

It is interesting that of all major world belief systems

As much as they differ

In theology or tradition

Or in expression of devotion

They are all very similar in ethics

What is right and wrong is not a mystery

What gets us into moral compromise

Is when we think something

That we do in secret

Could possibly be good for us

One good thing about the constant hunts

For corrupt leadership

And the continued hacks

And revelation of moral compromise

Of most those we used to trust

Is that it is forcing a spirit

Of what we now call transparency

If you don’t want someone to know about something

Don’t do anything interesting in the first place

It reminds me of the proverb

The pretty tree gets chopped down and made into wood

Whereas the ugly tree in never cut down

Morally boring is the best kind of ethic

Do not just be better than the other guy

Do not just be moral in comparison to your peers

Do not just make one ethical mistake

And consider that sufficient

Do not do anything that might appear to be evil to anyone

It is good to be creative in solving problems

But you can be too creative

As they say

Be conservative in what you put out

And liberal in what you accept

When you are not sure of something

Choose to stay far away

You can never be too moral

Anyone who cannot accept this

Should not be consulted for advice

You don’t need to make enemies

By reporting anyone else

But being beyond reproach yourself

Is worth pursuing at extreme cost

Do not give the evil one a foothold in your life

It will be much harder to fight later on

Do not give anyone grounds to condemn you

As we can become examples even in positions we never thought to be leadership

Some will find in you a role model

And you will lead another into folly

The key to understanding what is good or bad

Is what you would announce about yourself in a public crowd

What would you not mind telling your family about

Avoid even the appearance of evil

The classic temptations of the devil

Are the once recorded in the Bible

Did God really say that

Did He say this particular thing is evil

Do not be that literal

This will lead to your spiritual and physical death

Just doing good is not enough

As Einstein said that you cannot

Just balance out the bad with good

Like you do in an algebraic equation

To have one moral lapse

Is more destructive spiritually

Than you can help by doing many good things

Today we are obsessed about finding the easiest solution

What is easy is not good and what is good is not easy

People do bad things more often because they are easiest

And not as much to deliberately hurt others

But others are hurt nonetheless

One of the first things someone learns

When recovering from addiction

Is everything you do affects others

This is why we have so much conflict in America today

We think our rights stop where someone else’s begin

But that is not enough to agree on

Like the legalization of so called vice crimes

No gambling generally doesn’t directly hurt others

But inevitably it will hurt others you love

Sooner or later

Adler’s view of psychology is often seen as the most mature

Of the three biggest figures in modern psychology

Adler talks about how individual psychology cannot be separated from group psychology

We are not islands even in the modern world

Today after the first major incident that affects everyone in the entire world

And how close we see our world tied together

Which was actually quite deliberately done by us

We can no longer believably say the problem is only overseas

We cannot just put up a wall and have that keep all the bad people away

Not only is the world more fragile and interconnected than ever before

We have always been an asteroid or an infectious disease

Away from the total destruction of people or even the entire planet

We cannot do anything without affecting the entire planet

And today things are harder to contain than ever before

And now that we have chosen to totally depend upon computers for everything

Evil from one person is only one word, click, or gesture away from everyone else

God is Not Boring

Life as a Christian is not boring

Sometimes I wish it were

Christianity is always a challenge

In America today people seem to agree

That Christians are the problem

And the mainstream promotes everything

That is contrary to God

But the real exciting things of God

Are what He does in our lives

The spiritual growth and insights

That help us become better people

There is nothing more exciting than trying something new

But to change the direction of your life brings more joy

There is much talk about following rules under Christianity

But everything has rules

The rules help define areas of study

And give structure and meaning to every discipline

Math and Science and Languages all have extensive rules

And this is not seen as a deficiency

At least God is simple, consistent, and logical in His rules

God really only gives us one rule

The Golden Rule

Love the Lord your God

With all your mind and heart and soul

And love your neighbor as yourself

This rule is more a philosophy of life

Than a legal rule to do something

Even in God’s rules He is creative and personal and challenging

God is direct and we should be to when we talk with Him

God already knows what you think Him

So it is best to at least be honest with Him

I think our perception of what is interesting today is warped

We think that having fun means

Being out of control and destroying things

This life choice only leads to addiction and pain

Refraining from these kind of activities

Does not mean Christians cannot have fun

In fact one of the major commandments of the Old Testament

Was to celebrate numerous festivals

One of the Ten Commandments is literally to rest

And not work one day of the week

God introduced the idea of debts

Being forgiven after a period of 7 years

And giving the land rest

Which is good for the soil

God also created the concept of sex which

He actually encouraged

And there is an entire book of the Bible about sex

God knows like many wise people have found through the ages

That life is about balance

God also did most miracles in a peaceful and sometimes funny way

Like feeding people and having food drop from the sky

Or taking over towns by blowing trumpets

Or using an unusual chain of effects to fulfill a prophecy

God even spoke up for animal rights

When He had a donkey talk back to someone hitting it

And God is sad when cows are not heard mooing

Jesus actually wrestled with the ancestor of the Jews

And was born in the food bowl of a cow or sheep

He saved people from being tortured by making lions gentle

And allowing people to not be hurt after being thrown in a furnace

Christ healed people with mental and physical ailments

And ultimately saves us from Hell

The cost to Him is unimaginable suffering

But for us all we have to do is

Say a 1 minute prayer

Having fun is good but it does you no good if you end up

Permanently hurting yourself in the process

Reckless and fun are different things

Christian compatible pursuits vary

Almost as widely as the imagination will allow

Many famous Christians pursued philosophy, arts, music, literature, sports and all other types of games, crafts, hobbies, and the like

All these kind of things are considered Good Christian fun

God actually has us drink wine and play music in worship of Him

Some of the greatest secular singers in the contemporary music world

Started out singing and playing instruments in church services

Most churches that can afford it have elaborate activities

Designed for young people to do constructive and interesting things

For free usually and learn to relate with others peacefully and intelligently

Some of the biggest, oldest, and most successful charities and other relief organizations in the world

Are directly connected to churches

Do you know the secret thing that unites

People’s common criticisms of God and Christianity

Nothing

Critics just find the most unpopular things

And exaggerate and fixate on these things

One of the really adventurous things

For those who like to take great risks

Is to becoming a missionary to another part of the world

This combines travel with learning about other cultures and languages

And helping poor people conquer injustice and natural disasters

For those more risk adverse

You can spread the Gospel in your communities and online

Certainly Christians can do things

Like skydiving and cave exploration

If they have a burning desire to do so

If there is something you are excited about

And have been for a long time

And the end results are something positive

Chances are this interest is the result of God calling you

To this field as your service to God

Studying the Bible can be fun too and can take many forms

Some people study the languages and cultures and traditions

Of the ancient middle east

To understand Scripture better

But this is just the tip of the ice berg

Christians have different opinions

On many of the major topics of the Bible

So being Christian does NOT mean

You have to choose a certain political party or social group or philosophy

God gives you room to express yourself

And the Christian community supports art, music, theatre, public speaking, as well as sports and crafts of all kinds

The major western philosophers were mostly doctors of divinity

This means that they were trained to be pastors academically

Before starting in philosophy

Some of the greatest art throughout most cultures and time periods

Was directly inspired by religion and religious ideas

Christianity is no exception

A lot of what people see when they visit

Major art and architecture throughout the world

Are different peoples’ perspective on a Christian idea

These Christian arts and architecture now serve as the base for

Most the cultural value of Europe

Even by secular standards

Concluding Prayer

I pray that

I may know

What are

The things that

I cannot change

And what are

Those things

Which I can

I pray that I may be as water

And have the strength of mind

To doubt the reality of pain

To realize I am but a figment

Of God’s imagination

To not be haunted by suffering

And to conquer my demons

By letting God engage the enemy

And just letting the struggle

Pass through me

As if I wasn’t even there

I doubt many things

Let me doubt the reality of pain

Let me be invincible to desire

And not be hit by

The arrows of the evil one

As if they would just cease to exist

Or that I may be removed

From their path continually

I realize evil has unimaginable power

I pray that it might not have

Such power over me

Please give me strength

To dodge the arrows

And protection for any

That may hit me

If there be a resolution

To my struggle

Let it come rapidly

And never leave me

We can be sure of very little

But I will never stop fighting

Until my issues are resolved

How does one reject

Part of society

And yet still exist

As a member of it

How does one keep

From being of the world

While dwelling within it

How do you fight a war

That has no opponent

And is not even visible

How do you conquer

Your own mind

How can I both

Let God fight for me

And yet have the strength of will

To make good decisions

We are saturated in glamorous

Portrayals of materialism

Where we find no end

To our hunger

I pray that God may

Give me the water

That only He provides

I want to never thirst again

I pray that the Lord

Be ever with me

And get me to stop and listen

Before I do something

I might later regret

Some people may think my issues

To be normal today

But morality is not based

On the latest trends

And what is right and what is wrong

Will always be the same

No matter what society thinks

No matter what it accepts or doesn’t

In Buddhism, enlightenment is defined

As the extinction of desire

In Chinese Buddhism

Monks take a vow to not fully ascend

Before every living thing has done likewise

Let me not fall into the trap

Of helping others

If it causes problems for me

That I may have the insight

To know when to stop

Let me not stop desiring completely

As that may drive me

To be a better person

Let me instead find God

To be the one

Desire of my heart

Some think Christianity can by practiced

In your spare time

They believe that you don’t need

To focus on God constantly

That you can have other important goals in your life

That family can take the place of faith

Or that you can live a normal life

That you can choose your life goals or religion

The only choice we really have is

Will you serve God at any cost

Or will you not serve God at any cost

I need no weapons in this fight

And all appears normal

Even in the midst

As to proving this reality

I have no desire

Just to say this

Faith only works

When what you believe in is real

If you believe in a religion

That is not real

There is no point

In your faith

There are many things

That are not visible

But are still real

Some things are also real

In very different ways

Spiritual things are very real

And our struggles really change things

I would prefer to live a boring life

But it seems this fight is unavoidable

If only I could lay down my pain

As a burden I no longer need to carry

I know Christ promises this

I just continually expect the worse

God does not guarantee

He will always intervene

And He is responsible

For none of our problems

We cannot expect Him

To cater to our whims

But as we are to

Pray for spiritual things

I pray for healing and liberation

For both my mind and soul

I seek to be set free

From the pains and the desires

Of my very human situation

There are no excuses

To making poor choices

To make excuses

Would downplay its significance

To not ask for salvation

Would be to prolong my pain

Is it right for me to ask

I know that in a sense

I cannot do it on my own

But if I do not make

The move to overcome

Who will

Regardless of the possibilities

I still pray for

What must require a miracle

I do not know

What the one thing

I am missing that I need

Is it grace or strength or perseverance

Or just asking God to just

Make some things impossible

We all need miracles and I am sure

God has better things to do

But He has promised to help

And has throughout many times in my life

That is the most rational explanation

For what happened then

It is not God’s fault or responsibility

But God please send Your grace