christopher’s lives (v5.3)

it is the age-old question, but i feel like i got a fresh answer today when someone asked me this, so i thought i’d blog it…

she said she had all these things throughout the day - work, housework, shopping, eating, time with her son, whatever - all on this tight schedule and then tries to squeeze in time at the end of the day for the word and prayer…
i asked her, “of all those things, what is currently most important? what do you not ever put off until another day, you do it everytime, and on time?” she answered “my job.” and so i “informed” her that her job is put above even time with god.

her job consists of appointments throughout the day and so i told her if she has an appointment at 930 for an hour and one at 1130 for an hour, she needs to now have one at 1030 when she gets away somewhere and has her devotion time… and treat it the way she would the others - no excuses, no being late - give it equal importance… and on her days off keep that appointment…

and maybe this isn’t the literal best answer, but the point is decide what is most important in day-to-day life, not in some vague, big picture way, figure out how it is important - how you make it most important, so to speak - and make sure god gets the same priority and at least a little more (i.e. keeping the appointment on days off)…

i need to ask myself these questions and do likewise… i am there at the church, everyday before 6, but my own quiet time is lacking… hosting proverbs at the church is more important than my own time with god - YES, even ministry can interfere with our own one-on-one relationship with god… and i warn people from time to time to not let the proverbs group be their only devotion time… god wants you alone, too…

think of a marriage…
how would your spouse feel if you only ever spent time together in a group and you said “we DO spend time together!”… or a few minutes talking in the car, on the way somewhere… or just continually telling the spouse that you wish you had time, but you’re too busy… at the end of the day, your spouse feels heart broken that you never get time alone… the bible uses marriage as a picture of the relationship between god and the church and thinking of it that way presents some convicting parallels… i know i personally am not a very attentive spouse…

i am one of those busy busy life people and it is a very tired statement to say “you have to make time”, but if we look at what we never fail to do or show up for and don’t treat time with god the same way, it is time to come up with a new plan…
god cannot be the top priority on a list of ten - we must make him the ONLY priority on a list of ONE… matthew 6:33 tells us to seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all the “necessities” of life will be provided for you…

[posted from my mint metallic green Motorola Q9c]

    i was invited to blog my “attitude toward homosexuals”, so here i go and much of this is responding to his questions and expanding on answers i had already given, so, other readers please forgive what seems improperly segued :P

    yes, the bible clearly says that homosexuality is a sin…  the bible also lists adultery, fornication, and christ went as far as to say that if you look upon a woman  with lust, you have already committed adultery with her in your mind…  overeating is also listed as a sin, as is disrespect to parents…  the bible makes it clear that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of god” and that no sin is worse than any other but that sin is that which keeps us from a relationship with god…
    while the bible clearly says that sin is not to be taken lightly, it also says that we cannot outright avoid everyone who sins because, again, all have sinned and continue to…  nor do i see the bible commanding me to feel or think a certain way about sinners (except myself, to whom it gives much instruction and wisdom) and certainly not to condemn them…  the bible records that jesus had occasion to eat with prostitutes, tax collectors, and other people whom much of society shunned and, if he had openly condemned them, i don’t think he would have been welcome at their table for long…
    and i said i have had many gay friends and that my best friend in albuquerque was gay…  she and i spent a lot of time together…  and, if it had been a ploy to get her to convert, she would have known it…  and she was not my only gay friend in albuquerque and they were friends - people i valued and shared much with and they with me - not people i was subtly trying to make converts of…  i said that i am firm and outspoken in my faith - well, she knew that i believe what the bible says and that the bible says she commits sin and that i do, too…  i believe the bible and am compelled to live my life according to it…  she does not…  there were times she asked me questions about what the bible says, but, mostly it didn’t come up…  we were both film snobs and art snobs and music snobs and most of our time was spent persuing those things…  i was in leadership in the church back home and i would talk about things going on in my life and she would ask questions about why things were done a certain way and sometimes she might think it was a bit silly to feel compelled to do what the bible said, but, i thought some things she did were silly and we could both talk about it light-heartedly…
    i have never been a “manly man” (i have no interest in football or cars and, right this very moment, my toenails are painted) and rarely fit in well with my peers and spent my youth with those that also didn’t quite fit in with the “normal” people of the world…  so, i may be the wrong christian to address this issue…  i don’t see gay people as a separate category of human…  i have biases and prejudices that i endeavor to work out in my life, like anyone else, this just isn’t one of mine…

    now, i said that no sin affects my relationship with people and i made a caveat and i just want to clarify…  there are people who take part in activities the bible calls sin that i am tempted by…  as a former drug addict, it would probably be a mistake for me to hang out with drug users, as i may very well get weak…

    so, the last question you asked me was if i thought being gay was a sin…
    you already know i will say what i think doesn’t matter, it is what scripture says that matters…  so, do i think it is sin?  i KNOW it is sin, according to the bible, as is many things i have done/do/will do…  and, as i said, the bible doesn’t tell me i have to treat anyone any different because of their sin…  i had no opinion on the gay marriage issue…  when i heard the ruling, i neither smiled nor frowned…  i think christians waste a lot of time and make a bad name for themselves when they get involved in certain issues…
    so, perhaps you meant to ask if i am at all repulsed by gays and i use a religious dogma to justify it and i think i have answered that…

    my view on gays does ruffle some feathers in christian circles…  i am used to “them” while most others still see them as some distorted kind of person that they cannot relate to and are even disgusted by…  i think that is a prejudice or perhaps a distorted attempt at morality… and i take some ribbing or even complete disapproval of my relationships with “them”…  even this post will get me some comments, i’m sure…  i bring this up because you certainly are not getting a fair sample of the popular christian consensus on this issue when asking me…  but, no one has yet to show me scripture that clearly proves me to be in the wrong in my view and scripture is the final court of arbitration…

   i also want to point out that, in another sense, i do represent the current christian worldview…  i pastored the addiction recovery ministry back home for several months, hosted a devotion in my apartment every weekday morning at 6am for a year or so, taught bible studies, did work with the homeless - all under the leadership of and accountability to calvary chapel rio rancho, and the worldwide calvary chapel movement is one that most christians would agree is a solid bible-believing church, and has been since its start in the 1960s…  they believe what c.s. lewis called “mere christianity” - the essentials of which have been believed by most christians, most of the time, since the time of christ and, as he puts it “is what it is and was what it was long before i was born and whether i like it or not”…  there are secondary issues i disagree with them about and they with me, but, my point is they are not renegade or radical and they did not consider me to be… 

    so, anyway, there you have it…  there are many kinds of “christianity” and the wild ones make the news and there is an unfortunate prevalence of what i can only see as unbiblical christianty and that is where the problem is…  my friend did not want me to know she was gay because i was christian and she expected me to judge her…  it gave her a whole new view of christ and the bible and those who follow him and it to know me…
    and perhaps i have similarly put you at some ease that not all christians are the same…

i wrote this on february 27, 2005 and just came across it on my psion the other day and thought i’d post it here so i can point people to it since i have been referring to the things mentioned in it lately…

here is the original word document for those who want it…

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” — NASB95

Theopneustos is the Greek word translated “inspired by God” — literally “God-breathed“. And this sets the Bible apart from any other document. Indeed, an ‘extra-terrestrial message’ sent to us from outside time and space, written by the One who created time and space and all that is in it. Everything else this passage says is because of those first few words; that Scripture is God-breathed. The same breath that He blew into the nostrils of Adam to cause him to have life causes the word of God to be alive (Hebrews 4:12).
However, there are many Scriptures that refer to God’s breath in terms of judgment. In Nave’s Topical Bible alone, I find several passages to this effect. Like 2 Samuel 22:16 (quoted in Psalm 18:15) where David seems to equate the breath of God as “the rebuke of the Lord”. In Job, Eliphaz speaks in 4:9 and 15:30 of people perishing by the breath of God, yet interestingly, in 32:8, Elihu speaks of the breath of God giving man understanding.
So, with the facets of God’s breath I have referred to so far, it is no surprise that we are told that His word is profitable for teaching, reproof and correction. And Elihu was obviously onto something, as in 2 Timothy 3:15, we are told that these sacred writings are able to give “the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus“. As has been well said, we must first know “the bad news” of man’s guilt and the penalty of sin if “the good news” of the Gospel is to mean anything to us.

Now, since the Bible is from The Creator of All Things, it is most certainly the only truly accurate manual for the human condition and the Christian walk. As the summary of divine revelation, it contains everything we need to know to for “training in righteousness” and to be “equipped for every good work” that God will call us to do. As Matthew Henry put it, “whatever duty we have to do, whatever service is required of us, we find enough in the Scriptures to furnish us for it“.

All of this being the case, we as Christians, ought to fill our minds with the Word. Through prayerful reading, devotions, study, and memorization, we “renew our minds” (Romans 12:2) and conform it to His will that we may be “doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:22). Ephesians 6:17 speaks of the word of God as the sword of the spirit, the only offensive weapon in the Christian armory, and we need to practice our swordsmanship so that we may battle the enemy the way christ did with “it is written” until the devil flees (Matthew 4:1-11, et. al.).
Since the Bible is how we learn the will of God and equip ourselves for spiritual battle, the Scriptures need to be our obsession, our hobby, spending the rest of our lives searching them, learning them, studying them. There is no pastime more worthy of our attention. As one of my favorite passages on the subject says “…commit yourselves completely to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 11:18-20). If we spent every moment of the rest of our lives in the Scriptures, we still would not know all there is to know, so, we should fill as much time as we can with our minds on the Scriptures, “making the most of your time, because the days are evil“, endeavoring to “understand what the will of the Lord is” (excerpted from Ephesians 5:16-17).

as promised, a brief intro to the subject for scott… if i don’t stop myself at this, i’ll end up writing twenty pages on the subject…

firstly, you wanted info on calvinism, here is wikipedia’s excellent (and thorough) entry…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism
it also has its own links to their stuff about arminianism…

btw, the thing i always quote goes like this…
a predestinarian sees a “freewill’er” trip and fall and mockingly says to him “what did you do that for?”…
a freewill’er sees a predestinarian trip and fall and mockingly says “i bet you’re glad that one’s over”…

another variation would be a predestinarian tripping and falling and saying to himself “i’m glad that one’s over” and, when the freewill’er trips and falls, he says to himself “now, what did i do that for?”

i don’t tell it as a funny, ha-ha, laugh-at-it joke (nor a literal allegation of either side), it is just a great illustration of how both of the extremes are ridiculous…

most people i know (who have thought it through) would typically go along with what is sometimes referred to as “class election”… that god chose the elect and we choose whether or not to be part of the elect…
i didn’t find an easy one-stop link for this yet…
but, the easiest summary is that we know what god’s elect has in store, the bible is full of promises of their destiny… we can choose to be part of that group or not… god is casting parts in a play and we can choose to play out that part or not… and we have the script, so, we know what is going to happen to the character…
of course, we don’t know our own individual destinies so specifically, but, again, the bible is replete with promises…

search results for “God helps those who help themselves” from Bartleby’s quotations…
seems you can find similar statements made even before Franklin said it… none come from the Bible…

and i went to RefDesk.com to find a quotes search…

and i promise to put that list up soon that i spoke of earlier…