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Draw the Line?
*updated 12/20/2009 @9:30pm* I’ll blog more about this in this space by Monday afternoon but I wanted to open up the gates to see what people think of this article titled “Evangelical church opens doors fully to gays”.
Thoughts?
If you look down in comments you’ll find two amazing Men of God who lay the case out pretty effectively. Scott Roche (spiritualtramp) and Jason Ackerman (jasonmonster) are two fairly well balanced Christian men of whom I’ve had the honor to work on a few things with and as far as I can tell, they know what they’re talking about.
The bottom line is quotes and ideas that both Scott and Jason point out. This one got me (and Scott) going. “I just didn’t feel God would tell a person to deny a big part of who they are and to keep it a secret.” When you sign up to be a Christian (as the name implies – CHRIST-like) you’re setting yourself apart from the world of sin. Mind you, we’re going to sin everyday but the focus of being a Christian is to work against that part of our humanity. We strive to be Christ in everything we do and if we’re going to even break even on that agreement we’re going to have some rules about what is cool and what is not cool.
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Day 13 – The Stand Not Taken
I’m probably going to catch some flack for this, but I think Rick Warren may need to hire me as his public relations man. I would go so far as to say he’s definitely made life for us Christians a little harder in dealing with people who look at us like we’re crazy. Mind you, changing people’s minds and hearts about most Christians is a challenge in and unto itself, but go with me for a moment.
Rick Warren was recently connected via Rachel Maddow’s cable television program to Uganda and several people who have decided it’s a really great idea (it isn’t if you haven’t guessed that already) to enact a law that makes killing homosexuals awesome (I’m paraphrasing here as this whole thing makes me want to projectile vomit), bans hanging out with them or something and makes it cool to rat out people who homosexual and tattle on those that hang out with them.
Let’s get this out of the way. What. In. The. Wide. World. Of. Sports. Is. Going. On Here. I mean, honestly. I know things in far away countries are different as beliefs that are most definitely not Western in nature have long existed for good and/or bad reasons. There is a reason why gay marriage and homosexuals as a whole continue to struggle against much of this kinds of issues. Mind you, here in the United States we’ve somehow managed to grow towards the “tolerate” marker on the “Wheel of hate” spinner and even in the last ten years started to lean towards “indifferent”.
Day 12 – Numbers 14:17-24 – Resolutions
This chapter and verse is fascinating for several reasons. I’m going to keep on being intrigued with the Old School (aka Old Testament) for probably the rest of my life due to this devotional track I’m bouncing along. One of the things that sticks out to me here is the fact that God continues to express his outright frustration with his people to the point of throwing up his hands (figuratively) and putting most of the current generation in permanent time out (literally). He’s tired of the people complaining, whining and throwing wrenches into the works that he simply tells them they will never see The Promised Land because they’ve been whiny little inconsiderate brats. Figuratively.
When I was growing up (yes Virginia, I did have a childhood) I did my share of what the Israelites did but I learned that despite everything I wasn’t going to get my way no matter how hard I tried to push the will of my parents with my pouting petulant pose. They wouldn’t budge. This is one of the many things my parents did right as I grew up. Considering that I’m (for the moment) a well adjusted late twenties bachelor gives proof that I was raised right. Except for the time my mother let me roll off a changing table in JC Penny…but who’s holding a grudge?
Day 11.5 – Numbers 9:4-5, 9-12 – “Never Forget”
God’s a funny character. At least, for us humans. Our frame of reference for The Big Guy is finite. There’s not much for us to base our understanding of him aside from what we have in the Bible. Oh and the millions of theologians and the books they wrote. Maybe finite plus one is more appropriate. You see, we’ve managed to make God a whole bunch of things. I’m no theologian and I’ve got no manner of books, manuscripts or religious idea named after me but I think I’m a good authority on Who God Is. At least for me.
See, this is the tricky part of this whole discussion because your relationship (and mine and his and hers and theirs) is deeply personal. I’m not really able to judge, tell or otherwise pontificate on God and your life because that’s nobody’s job but you. So if I start talking about what God is or isn’t I could be making judgments based on my finite plus one resources.
Daily – Day 11 – Reality is Killing us
I’ve been negligent in getting my daily with God up here and I’m sorry…again. Today I’m deviating from the normal bible thumpin’ and brimstone layin’ to take a step back. Meaning to evaluate us. Not just you and me. Everyone. The Nation as a whole. From Hollyweird to The East Coasters and back again. Because I believe Reality is killing all of us. I’m talking about Reality Television. I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir on most of this (I would like to think all of this) but I’m going to bring God into this argument and sprinkle in some Christianity for good measure. Hopefully after I’m done mixing this little essay we’ll have something good to marinate on our brains.
With Balloon Boy it was exposed. We were all more or less aware of people who want to be famous. There’s all kinds from all corners. Some manage to find their niche in the world and make it their own by serving some kind of purpose. Whether it actually does something for anyone is anyone’s guess. Then there are those that seek it and fail repeatedly. It’s usually not a bad thing when they fail. They just keep on looking for that job or life that makes them happy, satisfied and supported. And then there’s the crazy ones. The ones that are hiding just below the radar of most people. Balloon Boy is one example. The White House Party crashers are another. These are the people who seek publicity, notoriety and the money that eventually comes with all those things.
Day 10 – Leviticus 22:1-8 – More Rules
God didn’t play around back in Old School (aka Old Test) and this verse is one huge exhibit of how he rolled with the people of Israel. He loved (and still does) them so much that they were to him his children. As children slowly grow, mature and get older you have to set out rules, requirements for them. Hence in my opinion why things seem so foreign to us back here in Old School. There’s really nothing wrong with how they ran the place back then because it was what the people of God needed. Surrounded by all kinds of other countries, forces and gods they needed a unique relationship with The King of Kings. One that required a serious investment and a large leap of faith for some.
Rituals are a huge part of our lives and they’ve had lasting influences in our cultures. Some have lasted over the time that has passed while others have thankfully passed into obscurity. Within Christianity rituals can get in the way of the relationship sometimes and it’s a hard line to walk in knowing what you’re doing that has a personal meaning between you and Christ and something you simply do because they do it at church or small group.
I say this so much I think I’ve beaten the dead horse, crucified it, resurrected it and repeated the process a few more times…Christianity is a relationship with your saviour. God and you. That’s it. Not Joel Osteen, not some guy in a podium preaching at you…those guys are great resources to use as guides. It’s and YOU and HIM thing.
Day 9 – Leviticus 16:20-22 – Sacrifice Harder
This verse is wacky. Not like wacky tobacacee, but still wacky.
In this verse the goat is left to live. From what I know about The Old Testament (from now forward known as “Old School”) to erase the sin we had to kill something and then sacrifice it to God. Now as I’m reading through these first few chapters of the Holy Bible I’m discovering all kinds of facets of The Old School that give me a touch more insight into thie being of God and why he was the way he was and is.
I know…my head is spinning too. I’m going top spend some time reading back and forth in this book. Short and sweet today.
Day 8 – Leviticus 4:32-35 – Sacrifice
Today is a rush because…well, I’ve got to sleep in preparation for my medical procedure in the morning. I wanted to at least put something to paper saying I indeed had done my devotion finally and was back on track. So here we go.
The greatest questions for me always come into play when the Old Testament is on the table. The “old school” way of doing thing with God is both fascinating and terrifying. God had innocent animals that he had created killed to shed blood to absolve our sins and misdeeds. There were reams of rules, regulations and requirements for the people of God to follow in order to be considered upstanding and upright followers of The One True God. All of these rules and regulations of course led to interpretation which led to the events that eventually brought us to the Crucifixion of Jesus and the symbolic tearing of the curtain that had long separated us from God.
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Day 6 – Exodus 33:21-34:7 – Revealing of God
I’m catching up (it’s a good thing that Day 7 is a “rest day” in my devotion book) so that means I’m behind with God which is never something I enjoy being. I’d rather be spending every day with God in a quiet moment where I read His word, seek its meaning for my own life and figure out how to make that all come together.
Sometimes that works, sometimes I fail pretty miserably. I can’t guilt myself too heavily except to get better at making this part of my daily life. So…onwards!
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Day 5 – Have Enough?
I missed writing about day 4 here, but I did read it and think on it. It was about the Burning Bush and Moses and paying attention. That particular lesson to pay attention is something I’m working on and I think I’m on my way to understanding more of what that means for me and my future.
Day 5 is something I think I’ve got a mild handle on in the first place so I feel a little better. I say “mild” because the reality is that I suffer from this from time to time. The title in the devotional is “The Bread God Has Given” and if you haven’t guessed already it is the lesson from Exodus 16:9-16 where we meet Moses and Aaron (my namesake) as the people of Israel are complaining.
Mind you they had just broken free from Egypt and the horrifying slavery that they had endured.
Israel is a funny duck in the Old Testament at least to me. You feel for God at times when you wonder why he hasn’t sent lightening bolts down on their at times wacky logical decisions. And yet you realize when you take a moment that the Power of Love of God can be a blinding and powerful thing that cannot be stopped. God loved (and still does) the people of the nation of Israel and despite all their pratfalls and stumbles He loved them unconditionally. Mind you as The Old Testament God he was prone to punish those that deserved it so it was more of a tough love situation.
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- Well, @mistymontano it appears a Tuesday storm is in store. Did Mother Earth go off her meds again?
- @ColoradoKila THE EYES THE EYYYYEESS!
- @johnincolorado You made a funny! #anditwashiliariouslyawesomegojohngo
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Live from the 303 by Aaron DeLay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. -
