Tuesday, July 7, 2015

The Issue I See Being Missed in the Same Sex Marriage Decision



I would suggest as I start to write my thoughts, how the issue of same sex marriage will be seen from each side as they have always seen it in the past. While I assume this is the case, I will pray for people to see the issue as God would want them to see. The sad thing, is that I nor anyone writing on the subject has the mind and knowledge to know the absolutes of God’s mind and without such knowledge, I believe we can only do our best to approach God as much like He would like us to be.

As I have read various comments and listened to many people talk and discuss the decision by our Supreme Court recently, I find myself disgusted because I just don’t think our Supreme Court has any business dealing with this issue defining marriage. It is my belief they have been manipulated to side against the dominant religious beliefs of our country, thinking they are protecting the rights of those outside of this thought. Instead of addressing the issue of how same sex couples were being treated in society, relative to work, health benefits, and other options available to married heterosexuals, they chose to redefine a word having been defined way before modern civilization.

In dealing with the issues common in the discussion, I continue to hear and see the idea of various sins not being taken as seriously as the sin of homosexuality. Various references have been made to the many things in the Bible we are told are sinful disgusting behaviors and yet the emphasis is always that Christians are simply pushing a hateful agenda against homosexual people and the decision by court was viewed as a victory by many. Yes, there are many people far to the left and right of this issue and in both camps, there is absolute hate toward each other.

As a Christian, I feel really bad for anyone who embraces sin in their lives and I believe this is what the context of the biblical passages put forth on both sides deal with when we hear that “these will not inherit the kingdom of God!” As I said earlier, I am not gifted with the mind of God and it is also not my position on earth to judge another and tell them they are lost. On the other hand, I do feel it is my position to stand and confirm my belief of what constitutes sin when faced with the challenge to be accepting of sin or embrace it myself. I also think this would definitely influence who I hired and who I chose to work for in my daily life. I’ve heard people say, “I was born this way,” and I always want to reply, “You are absolutely correct because we were all born to be challenged by sin and Satan will find the one that tempts you the most.”

I mentioned embracing sin earlier and I see this as a major issue concerning some homosexual individuals. As a Christian, I do not wake up each day to harass people about the sin in their life or mistakes I think they might be making because I am challenged daily by the temptation of sin in my life and the mistakes I make regularly. Having spent time in the position of restaurant manager and more time as a teacher, I’ve seen much sadness and hurt from choices people make. I’ve known workers coming to work each day and stealing a little at a time from the company. I’ve known of those who “secretly” led a life of sexual frolicking and drunkenness away from school and work. I’ve suspected and later became aware of teachers with drug problems. It seems like we hear of some teacher almost weekly who can’t resist the temptation of their students as sexual partners and yet each of these people WAS BORN THAT WAY! The difference, in my opinion, is that they are discovered when they lose the struggle of temptation and we don’t see them out embracing and lobbying for the rights to be considered normal. As a Christian employer, do I maintain people who come to work drunk, on drugs, to steal, to curse constantly, to be sexually promiscuous, who dress obscenely, and many others. No, while I feel for them and know God still loves them, I can’t embrace who they are when they are around me.

Having said all of this, I do not fear the homosexual community any more than I fear those who I believe are making other mistakes in their lives. What I fear is the natural result of hate and personal selfishness. I believe this decision has opened the gate for the assertion of “rights” at a much higher level than we have already seen in the past and I will not even be allowed any decision to live the life I think I should strive towards as a Christian. I’ve always held that a private business should have the right to serve anyone they wish and for any reason, even if it is extreme prejudice! I hear someone talk about a great eating establishment and I’m instantly ready to give them a try. Someone else tells me about a bad experience they had at another place, and I’m very hesitant to walk through the doors. If a private business has enough bad publicity, they will not be in business very long.  If I want to petition an openly gay person from attending the neighborhood public high school or university, I should be told to mind my own business because they have as much right to be there as I do. If on the other hand, ian openly gay person wants to attend a private Christian school with a belief contrary to homosexual behavior, the school should be allowed to deny admission. I say “openly,” because I currently work for a private Christian school and have never heard anyone question someone as to their “orientation” and believe it possible or likely for someone attracted physically to those of their own sex to be attending private Christian schools.

When I think of my church family, I wonder how all of this will affect our future as a Christian denomination. I’ve seen people for years simply welcome people into our services regardless of who they might be. I’ve even championed the idea that if you are looking for perfect people you have come to the wrong place because we are struggling in our own lives and simply come together for strength and encouragement. The odd part of this scenario is that we pray and support people in their daily commitment to stay away from their sin. I’ve known leaders in the church who were alcoholics and not always successful in their attempts to remain sober. I’ve known those with drug problems and again, not always successful in their attempts. All of these people recognize their sin before God and are working not to be that person. I have also known one homosexual falling into the same category of working to be “what I believe God wants them to be,” and yet I fear those I know who want to control the church community and establish for all that sex between individuals of the same sex is normal and God ordained love.

The word love brings an entirely different thought forward because all of us are to love with the most powerful form of love towards everyone regardless of being male or female. Can we define love any more powerful than the love God had for us to give us His son as a sacrifice and then for Jesus to match the love of His father and actually go to the cross willingly so we could be forgiven our sins? Over the past days, I can’t even imagine how many times I’ve heard something concerning love wins! No one has ever been forbidden to love someone and I would say the truest love is much deeper and purer than sexual love! I heard one individual on a news story say this ruling was much more than sex because he would now be able to be there at the bedside of XXXXXX when he was needed. Does the definition of marriage need to be changed to guarantee someone the ability to aid, assist, or love an ill or dying person?

I guess what really begins to irritate me is the idea that someone wants to change my religious perspective so that I accept what is being done as being in accordance with God’s will. I even heard a statement to that effect on the news recently of how God was now pleased. I’ve been a “caustic” Christian and had many things I was taught as a youth destroyed and while I might have fought all the way, I came to a new understanding. My real struggle now is the belief of not being able to believe, speak and act on the things I think are right before God.

I’ve been rambling to get the thoughts out of my head and yet my realization is how the government, once again stepping in to “solve” an issue, has done more harm than good. Our founding fathers did not give us the rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness but basically said these were ours as rights from God. I believe our Supreme Court, much less in ability of mind than our founding fathers, has now established the right not to be offended by the beliefs of others. Instead of holding true to the concept of never being able to please all of the people all of the time, they decided we will pick our group to please.


Friday, May 22, 2015

Give God the Glory

I did this, I did that, I will do, I can do. When will it al end and when will we take ideas of being in control of anything and toss them in the trash. Not to be a Universalist, I would say we choose our destiny even though we don’t control our destiny. (Not sure why I just wrote that or even sure of what it might mean. It may be a condition of my past teaching, something relatively new, or a combination but I do not believe our prayers for the healing of us or another person have anything to do with the healing or non-healing taking place. I also believe the words; “God has answered our prayers” is effectively stealing the glory from God.

Yes, I know we have been told to pray on all things, to make our desires known, and to pray with the expectation of our prayers being answered. Misunderstood, I’ve also been told several times how sad it is that I don’t believe prayer does any good or simply that I don’t believe in prayer. Not believing in prayer, would be the same for me as saying I don’t believe in God. None of this is true and I definitely believe God brings healing to people. I’ve seen in my own life where there can be no answer but the intervention of God in what has taken place. My problem comes with the thought of some who think my prayer might be the reason behind the healing and often, it may not be just the prayer I offer, but also the prayers of many others praying.

I sincerely believe we do incredible damage to the Christian walk of others by teaching them our prayers can/will bring about healing. Almost every day I hear people tell others to lift it up to God and it will go away. If not this statement, I hear people asking for the prayers of others to make pain go away or healing take place. While I can find and fully accept many positive aspects of these prayers, we teach something I am convinced is the manipulation of what prayer actually does by Satan to create doubt and frustration with God. I believe we are teaching a lie and when “apparently” abandoned without healing, the faith of the individual often takes a hit, as they feel betrayed by the promise of God. This “promise of God” is actually little more than the wishful thinking of man superimposed on the promise of God.

I was once foolish enough to buy into the attempts of men and women to explain why healing did not take place. The idea I have been told most often growing up in the church, is that God always answers prayer but sometimes His answer is NO! If this does not do the job, then we were always taught to pray, “your will be done and not mine,” or the basic “cop out,” “if it is your will.” If we are taught something long enough, it becomes the truth. I currently believe two things about prayer. First, all prayer has a positive quality, which includes not only the person praying but also a person being prayed for and so I would encourage everyone to keep praying for others. Second, is how I believe we know the will of God and the prayers offered within His will, will ALWAYS happen as promised by God. Example: We know it is the will of God for us to avoid and say no to sins that challenge us each day. If I am a drunkard, and I am going to be around a lot of alcohol, I can acknowledge to God how I know it is His will that I not be falling off of my promise to remain sober and how I need His strength to get me through the day without falling. I have tried these prayers myself and encouraged others to see if the armor of God does not surround them when praying like this to the point of not even being mildly challenged in difficult situations. I am almost totally convinced that our fall back into any sin wanting control over us is due to us not taking the challenge to God on a regular basis and simply falling prey to Satan because the “shielding” power of the Holy Spirit has been dropped.

The basis for my problem accepting the most common believe concerning prayer comes from what I have to believe in order to accept the common belief. I have to first believe God is a respecter of persons. Yes, God likes some people better than others or the prayers of some are simply better worded or more fervent to change His mind. I’ll let the those holding the most common believe tell the young couple watching their baby die a painful death how they had not prayed enough for their baby as they watch the baby in the next bed scooped up and loved with a healing and the constant statements claiming, “our prayers have been answered!” I can’t believe how cruel we make this time for others because we have set them up to question God. Hearing how the death of your child was God’s will has to be one of the most torturous things we can say and as I near the end of these thoughts, I want to say again, I believe in prayer and also how it is very powerful.

I believe God heals because it is His plan in action! He is doing something He needs done and the only way it is going to happen is by stopping Satan dead in his tracks and over turning the “ruler of this world.” God doesn’t like one or the other better and the prayers from one group or the other are not better. Simply put, for God’s will to be done healing must take place. When this is done, let us not be so quick to take the glory for ourselves, but instead, give glory to God because His will is being done on earth as it is in Heaven! (Out of context I know but the thought coming to mind)


I didn’t spend time talking about all the things I believe are accomplished in prayer, my beliefs on why we were told to pray, or the promised power we share when praying in the will of God but possibly I will share these thoughts at a later time when I’ve focused away from what I consider is a harmful attitude towards prayer.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The Church of Christ Miracle

The title on these thoughts might seem a bit ridiculous but I grew up in this fellowship and was taught the age of miracles was over when the apostles were gone. Through the ages I believe the Holy Spirit has continued to work miracles for God’s people. This has happened even though our leaders and those writing commentaries on the Bible have declared otherwise to those of us with less understanding than themselves.

I was sitting in a chapel gathering of our students recently when this title came into my thoughts and the prompt came from watching the young children, who were being trained to lead a small short worship time to God. Watching the little boys get up to read from the Bible or lead a prayer, I suddenly realized my fellowship has always been this way. I even had a flashback to an email I received recently describing how our young men led a short devotional service for the chapel honoring our seniors.

When I think back on the years I’ve experienced growing up in the Churches of Christ, I can remember programs and special classes to train the young boys to be Christian men and eventually grow into church leaders capable of preaching, praying, leading songs, distributing communion trays, etc. Basically, as I look back, they were being taught how to “run/rule” the church organization. Some might think I’ve forgotten the little girls but with the little girls, the miracle is realized and mentioned shortly.

In every case I’ve known, the instructions to the boys dealt with the mechanics of what I now consider “artificial” worship, much like what was taking place in the time of Amos and focused on getting things right. To lead a prayer, the young man was instructed to include comments regarding care of the sick, the ability or leadership of the elders, thankfulness for Jesus, thankfulness for those meeting “at this place,” and other suggestions. We were also reminded to ask for the forgiveness of sins and officially close the prayer with, “in Jesus name, Amen.”
I’m surprised the thoughts I have now never entered my mind because there have been several occasions when hearing someone pray, I think something like, “ I wish I could pray like that, or wow, it is easy to tell they have a real relationship with God.”

Having written these words, I am convinced our efforts in the church to train our children up, have possibly been more heavily influenced by the “father of lies” instead of the God we believe sent His son for us. We have been teaching the mechanics of man made traditions of worship and passing them off as the true nature of what God wants from us.  We have been teaching a system of worship void of the heart where we place our trust in the confidence of doing things right.

When my fellowship took the time to teach our young girls, a different approach was taken. They were not taught the “proper” way to lead a prayer, singing or communion. They were not taught to organize their thoughts for a great message preached to the masses. Our young girls were taught to be SUBMISSIVE. They were taught to see others as more important than themselves (meaning men) but becoming a trait in most relationships. They were taught to be caregivers, kindly helping those in need. Our girls were taught to sacrifice their desires for others. There was a constant reminder on the need to control their behavior and to value purity.

When I began placing these thoughts on paper (yes pencil and paper because I like to review my rough draft when going to computer), I was only thinking of the irony we face trying to do God’s will as we work through the design of men. We want our children to grow up and become men and women of god and yet we use our traditional view of what this looks like in their training. In the beginning of this writing, I started by thinking the Church of Christ Miracle was how our women often grow up to be the most God like in their relationship with God and doing so without all of the training and opportunities given to our young boys. They learn to develop an intense and real relationship with God completely from the heart and many of the “trained” men simply develop a superficial relationship of serving God through various acts of man-made worship on Sunday. The miracle I considered was how the Holy Spirit used our concept of training proper “Church of Christ Women” to actually become women of God.


My question coming to mind now, is should we not throw out the gender based boy/girl roles WE created and teach our young men the lessons we traditionally teach the young girls? Then, it may be possible to grow up a generation of men and women of God. The true Church of Christ miracle is not what I started with but, instead, the reality of any young man growing up and developing a true, from the heart, relationship with God. What a wonderful miracle that we have any Men of God!

Monday, May 4, 2015

Shall We Listen to Jesus or Man?

Is it not written of Jesus telling us he would send the Holy Spirit to guide us in all things? Is it also not written of Jesus claiming some put their trust in the scripture than the one revealed in scripture? In my heritage, I grew up being taught the Bible is the authority over our lives and if we wished to have the promise of eternal life given to us at judgment, all we needed was to be found in the Bible. Failure to follow the Bible accurately enough would result in the eternal torture of hell. Read, study, and memorize so that we would miss nothing and not be trapped into the deceit of Satan.

Actually, I now believe Satan has used and continues to use our Bible to place our trust, even today in scripture rather than the one revealed in scripture. I still hear religious leaders encouraging us to spend time daily with the Word of God (meaning the Bible) and while the Bible is a great place to begin, I would suggest the actual Word of God is much more than the Bible and actually the very embodiment of Jesus! Did John not say, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God?” Where is our trust or should we say, “Satan get behind me?”

I would encourage my readers not to read much “into” my statements as I claim now to place much more of an equal importance of the Bible and the writings of writers like my current favorite, All Maxey, who offers weekly reflections to thousands of readers. I don’t mind saying I believe he and others (I’ve told him as much) are inspired writers for God in every sense of the word as we use it when referring to the writers in the Bible like Paul and the apostles. As I’ve written before, I’m surprised my fellowship ever accepted the Bible as we have it today because it was compiled hundreds of years following the time when my fellowship claimed direct interaction by God ceased.

I’ve often been accused of having to be right and my present answer is yes, but different than you might think. I believe our elevation of the Bible to “supreme” authority comes from our human desire/nature to have control over our own salvation in a legal “right” sense. We can’t accept two people being right before God if they believe differently on any number of subjects. Human nature, the one controlled by Satan would have us believe salvation is only available to those accurately knowing, understanding, and following the Bible and it is always “my” understanding because the tow of us can’t possibly be right.

Looking outside of the text to the one revealed in the text, I now believe our “rightness” before God demands the identical application of forgiveness from Jesus rather than the identical identity of the one being forgiven. Yes, I believe the only way to the Father is through Jesus. What I refuse to believe (at least right now) is that I or any other man or woman has the power to do any more in the process than point others to the one revealed. They don’t need the accuracy of our message, but rather the accuracy of Jesus forgiveness through the cross and the decision of God to forgive with the blood of His son.

In conclusion and to focus back on the title of these thoughts, I believe the Bible is the work of inspired men to have written down the things revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. I believe other men and women throughout history have taken the time to reveal things via the Holy Spirit and if not for the “official” compiling of the Bible, we would look at all of them with the same weight of belief. We would allow the Holy Spirit to work through us and verify whether what we read is of God or the evil one. I am fully convinced the majority of us have kicked the presence of the Holy Spirit living right inside of us to a “back burner” with no real purpose in our lives and yet we can only find true enjoyment in our Christian lives by allowing the Holy Spirit complete control of our lives and putting the Bible secondary in our lives with the rest of religious writings.

Jesus used the phrase, “it is written,” and I now wonder if there was a greater reasoning for this than we give credit. We have been taught to ask, “Where exactly did you get that from?” We want to know the exact book, chapter and verse for your enlightenment or it is not valid. I happen to know it is written that King Ramses could not have died from Tuberculosis because it was not discovered until 1832. To make my point, what is written does not have to be accurate and the discernment me have through the spirit will easily make the wiles of Satan as ridiculous as this statement. The Holy Spirit is not going to let us be led away to the loss of salvation!

Why do we have the Bible and other religious writings? Answer: To reveal what the Holy Spirit is speaking to the inspired writer and hopefully open the eyes and hearts of someone needing Jesus revealed? Why do we have the Holy Spirit? Answer: We have the Holy Spirit to teach us all things and confirm the righteousness of God and our place in His eternal plan.


One short after word is that yes, I understand how my fellowship accepted the Bible compiled after so many years as the final word from God and the last interaction of God with man. It is all wrapped up in one scripture I was taught as a little boy. 1 Corinthians 13:10 “When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part…” Yes, I was taught the Bible was perfect with no errors. Of course, when we place our trust in something so perfect, there can’t possibly be anyone who will see even one statement different from the rest of “us who are now perfect in God’s eyes!” We must be identical to trust the Bible for our salvation.  Better yet, let’s all place our trust in the ONE REVEALED!

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Losing The Desire To Study The Bible and Other Religious Works


Just in case there is any doubt, Satan is still working day and night to make the sacrifice offered by Jesus on the cross as ineffective as possible. While I would not even suggest knowing the complete goals of Satan anymore than I know the completeness of God, I can’t help but believe Satan is overjoyed when we speak against the character of God! Being so accomplished in this task, well-minded Christian men and women daily malign the character of God without so much as a glimpse of reality when speaking of Godly things. As a people, claiming to be people of God, something needs to happen so we are awakened from the secure feeling trance of Satan lulling us into a pattern of artificial study where no learning takes place.

In the past, I have spoken harshly of my fellowship the churches of Christ and yet, everything I see visiting other denominations shows me we are not alone in the attack Satan has for Christians everywhere. We have bible classes, sermons and Christian conferences every year and yet do we really learn much of anything we didn’t know previously? How often do Christians truly dissect their beliefs to determine if there is a true basis from God or rather an artificial belief based in long held traditions? If we teach or carry on our traditions without specifically claiming they are the will of men rather than God are we not in danger of misleading some people who might go on to teach mans will rather than the will of God?

While there are many areas, possibly more than I have even considered, I can’t help believe Satan has taken our greatest hope and turned it into the greatest weapon against God. We seem to have a firm grasp of the “end game” and holding on to the promise of God, it is not uncommon to hear men and women daily maligning the character of God! Hopefully, if I were to walk up to another Christian and exclaim how God is eager to see all of the wicked people punished in the cruelest manner, they would be offended by my portrayal of God’s character. Would it be any less offensive to say God delights in the punishment of the wicked? Was God overjoyed following the flood? When He rained down fire on Sodom, was He sitting back to enjoy the “wonderful” display of fireworks? As I’ve typed these past few comments, I am almost totally disgusted to believe anyone would believe this is a true characterization of God. Have we come to a point in our existence where we now believe God is not saddened by the wickedness in the world? Do we no longer believe our sin brings grief to the Holy Spirit? I believe God took no delight in the destruction of the world with the flood and the destruction of Sodom with fire. I also believe He will take no delight in the final destruction of the wicked at judgment!

I once heard someone say, “nothing in history was as destructive to Jews becoming Christians than the Crusades.”  While I’m not necessarily convinced this the greatest reason more people have not come to Christ, I can recognize how hard it would be to put my confidence into a God who sanctioned this type of activity.

I mentioned earlier how we seem to have a firm grasp of the “end game” and our knowledge rooted firmly in tradition and concepts created by man effectively transform us into a people, much like those of the Crusades, describing God contrary to what we can see in nature and learn about in the Bible. My grandfather did not know any better when he turned to me after lighting a “bonfire” of brush and dead trees and asking what I would think of being in the middle of the intense fire forever and ever having to endure the pain for all time with no release. He told me then how those not found in the Book of Life would experience exactly what he described! Later, I discovered the concept of what became the “Hell Fire and Damnation” sermons many still want to hear today.

I mentioned how my grandfather (Papa) did not know any better and I am speaking of a date some time in the mid 1960’s. I can make an excuse for him not knowing any better but I can’t excuse people still believing the same thing today considering all of the study accomplished and the wealth of information on this subject being available to those who want to discover what the Bible has to say on the subject instead of what men have taught throughout the centuries of our existence. Should we not be asking the leadership in every one of our churches to help guide us away from our ignorance? My question actually goes much deeper. Why are we afraid to tear away the many barriers to a meaningful relationship with God? Sadly, church leadership is not in the dark about these matters but simply chooses to look the other way!

One of the common stories told to encourage us to tell others of Jesus is the story where we find ourselves in line at judgment some day with someone we knew in this life and hearing him/her ask as they are thrown into the torture of hell for all time, “why did you never tell me about Jesus?” We even have a song in many of our songbooks, “You Never Mentioned Him To Me.”  Very common throughout our history, I’ll use the concept of teachers/leaders being held to a higher level of accountability than everyone else out of context. What would the picture look like at judgment with God asking, “why did you not teach the truth of what I gave you so people could present a truthful characterization of me before others?”

If Satan misses with this weapon, he has another equal and deadly one at his disposal where so many of us, eager to catch of glimpse of our final hope, jump quickly into faulty belief on the flip side of punishment. Movies like “God Is Real” easily become a “family affair” of refreshing Christian doctrine regardless of how many times what is being shown and described fly in the face of what we can read in our Bible. While I don’t/can’t deny what someone claims has happened in their lives, I can take the advice given in the first century to test all things to determine whether they are from God. How easy would it be for Satan to have us experience something working to his benefit and yet appearing as if “an angel of light” to be from God. We are a gullible people and wanting so desperately to get a peek into the future plans of God we will fall for anything, which seems reasonable and good.

All of this brings me full circle back to the idea of losing my desire to study the Bible and other religious works. Are we foolish to belief we can know nothing more of God? Even as I have briefly discussed two areas where we have failed in Christian circles to educate our family, I am considering how women are still held in bondage to our past as lower level Christians. I find it difficult to accept the emphasis of our Bible on serving when so many of our churches are still concerned with who takes a leadership role in serving. Yes, we find it difficult to emulate Jesus, taking the lowest possible position by choice. Just random thoughts, but to some people, I’m sure the concept is that Jesus was alright with taking the lowest position among men as long as He still positioned Himself in power above any women present.


It is a difficult thing to realize how wrong I’ve been in the past as I learn new things. It is even more difficult to consider other areas of my Christian heritage and study to see what I have missed in these other areas. I’m not yet consumed with the idea of study on prayer but I have discovered some potential problems with how we view prayer, wondering why we neglect the words of Jesus when asked about how to pray. Am I simply going to discover something no one cares to examine in light of what we already know? The most difficult part of learning is trying to quench the fire of God burning within because few desire to stretch into areas already settled in the past.