"For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice." James 3:16
No funny links today. I'm not in the mood for them. I don't think the subject of today's post lends itself to such a jovial gift. The subject is the school shootings that have happened in the last week or so.
The latest school shooting was done to a group of young Amish schoolgirls, five of whom at the time of this post are dead. The murderer was a 32 year old milkman who "got revenge" for an event that happened 20 years ago. The event I believe was that he was mad at God for his young daughter passing away as an infant. The event has triggered much reaction from radio talk shows and the media. Many are saddened (and rightly so) by this event.
In an unrelated (or so you think) story, Republican House members are in a frenzy over IMs and e-mails describing solicitation of explicit sexual behavior with young pages. This has also triggered much reaction from radio talk shows and the media. Many are saddened (and rightly so) by this event.
Glen Beck talked about what was causing this......he focused on the lack of spirituality in today's society. He alluded to the Pope's message that received outcry from Radical Muslims and pointed out that the Pope's main point in that message was that faith and reason can co-exist. Of course, many hear that, and go on not accepting it. What does the Pope mean by his statement that faith and reason can co-exist? Why does this have ANY bearing on the two problems....and our problems throughout the world. Pay attention to the title passage.
The rise to power.....the "American Dream." I'm not against making a living or even making a lot of money....if you acknowledge the source and don't treat the people who supplied you with it as objects, and hence don't make money an idol. You see, a change in economic ideals in industry and companies has led to a "how can I make the most money" mentality. Let's face it, businesses are out to make money. They have to be and they should be, or else the business won't exist. However, the view on business used to be "unlimited wealth" in which two people could work together and make more money than if working alone.....that's how business was done sucessfully in American businesses (the ethical ones) until relatively recently. Now, businesses have a "limited wealth" idea, which is that there is only a limited amount of wealth out there...you compete with me for the same money....hence, if I can screw you over, I can get your money.....pure and simple. This new mindset has made money into an idol. The unlimited wealth system fostered teamwork and better service to the customer whom you wanted for repeat business. The new mindset encourages bitterness, enmity, treachery, and a hurting of the consumer (and in some cases, your workers).
Politics obviously is the same way, and with all the money floating around, it can become hard to not be seduced by the money. This is an obvious case of selfishness. When St. Paul said that "money is the root of all evil, (1 Timothy 6)" he was referring to the love of money....which can also be translated to power....for money buys power and power cannot exisst without money. What is love of money? It is making it an idol.....like the rich young man (St. Matthew 19, St. Mark 10) who wished to enter into the kingdom of God. He asked Christ what he must do since he kept all of the commandments. Christ knowing that the young man actually was breaking the first commandment by having an idol out of his money asked that he give all of his money to the poor and follow Jesus. The young man left sad because he loved his money.....that is the context of the passage concerning a camel entering the eye of a needle being easier than a rich man entering the kingdom of God.
At this point you might be wondering what my point is, bear with me as I still have to link selfishness to the shooter. The shooter was mad at God for letting his daughter die. My invertebrate zoology professor made the comment concerning cancer that a loving God wouldn't let that happen. The fact that evil exists and bad things happen to "good" people is a difficult fact to cope with. We see death all the time, many times it is senseless and meaningless and we wonder not only how God could use death to bring Himself glory, but how can he allow death if He is a loving God? To put this into context......including those of you who don't believe in a God, why do you or anyone else deserve the life you have? The fact that you have life and exist at all is a fact that must be acknowledged. Do you believe nature made everything you see and that it made you as well with no purpose? Do you believe it is illogical to believe in a God when we have rationality behind us? Rationale would tell us that you can't give something you don't have to begin with. Nature and matter do not have life nor do they have purpose innate to themselves. They must derive their life and purpose from another source....ala God. If there were no God who created you with life and purpose, how can you give life and purpose to something else? Can I say that I am sad about the Amish girls' deaths? Weeping would acknowledge purpose to begin with. Thinking the act is sick implies that there is a right and wrong.....the world is not just random actions. This is why I have been saying that nihilism is the ultimate and logical result of atheism. The fact remains that God MUST exist. Not just complexity in nature but the infusement of traits that are impossible without an ultimate source to those traits are a testament to a supreme, uncreated being....Aristotle's "uncreated first cause." As my Orthodox friend Chris McGarvey drilled into my head.....EVERYTHING good that happens from your conception to whatever life you have is by grace...that is, something you don't deserve. Grace given you by God.....hence all we can do for God is to fulfill his purpose for us....which is to glorify Him and be in a full personal communion with Him and the rest of mankind (sadly, mankind is not in communion because they do not all have God's Holy Spirit).
Here we see the selfishness inherent for profit, power, and revenge making an idol out of a man. When man is set up as an idol, we get a glimpse of hell on earth as the man runs from God and tries to make his rules, and when the evil in his heart breaks forth all suffer. He feels life owes him something rather than that he owes the giver of life all. Now I must ask, how are you different? When I discuss a person's final desitination, they will usually say they believe they will go to Heaven because they have been and are a good person......aside for the idea of his nonexistence THIS is the greatest trick the devil ever pulled! By what right have you to judge yourself....and by what standard?! You speak of God as if He were a boss in a job who owes you a wage and who is fair....well He is fair! He punishes all sin equally....and all have sinned. We are all born with it and we all commit it. Sin causes our hearts to be dead! It is this death that causes a void which we rush to fill with everything....money, ourselves, the world, our jobs, our families....but we cannot of our own power fill it with what originally gave us life.....we can accept no substitutions in this matter, for to choose wrong leads to a result too terrifying to think of. Thankfully, Christ's sacrifice is something we don't have to earn, it's something we don't have to work for.....it's something that redeems us by grace through faith alone. That is the good news!
Most of the world are like the Greeks though.....we think, this foolish rubbish.....a superstition of a bygone era infused with a little bit of the classic dark ages we see in the movies. We view the subordination of women, science, and sex to the church who sits on high and decides how things work by using a dusty book and a convoluted idea of a God who is judgemental if He even exists. The view of the Greeks is EXACTLY what most of today's world think. Why do you view it as rubbish? Do you find the Pope's statement that faith and reason can co-exist as contradictory? Perhaps you should realize that Christianity is a religion that makes no sense by traditional logic and rationale......it shouldn't work.......God shouldn't exist because I can't test him.......PROVE to me Christ rose from the dead! I have heard many times people say they cannot believe in God because they are more rational and real-world-esque......what does that even mean? You sit in a material world devoid of meaning and attempt to make money to have some fun on the weekends and slave away during the rest of the week for what in the end?....NOTHING. Your plans will not come to fruition because there IS no plan. How is that rational? How is that logical? It isn't! Search for the truth.....I will pray for you.....I pray for our world. I wish for the cancer of sin to be cleansed from men's hearts so that evil will no longer be done and I pray fervently the prayer that Christ taught us, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be they name. THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN......"
A Christian's hope is not in this world. We should all recognize that even though this world is fallen and dead in sin, we receive the light of Christ and because of our faith, we do good works for others.....perhaps this helps sanctify nature, even though in the end it will all be destroyed and a new earth will be created. We must rejoice in the grace of God to give us what life and blessings we have.....hence we acknowledge that the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away....He knows more than we could ever know, and His love is something He desires to share with the whole world. The greatest commandment is love.
Pax Domini
The latest school shooting was done to a group of young Amish schoolgirls, five of whom at the time of this post are dead. The murderer was a 32 year old milkman who "got revenge" for an event that happened 20 years ago. The event I believe was that he was mad at God for his young daughter passing away as an infant. The event has triggered much reaction from radio talk shows and the media. Many are saddened (and rightly so) by this event.
In an unrelated (or so you think) story, Republican House members are in a frenzy over IMs and e-mails describing solicitation of explicit sexual behavior with young pages. This has also triggered much reaction from radio talk shows and the media. Many are saddened (and rightly so) by this event.
Glen Beck talked about what was causing this......he focused on the lack of spirituality in today's society. He alluded to the Pope's message that received outcry from Radical Muslims and pointed out that the Pope's main point in that message was that faith and reason can co-exist. Of course, many hear that, and go on not accepting it. What does the Pope mean by his statement that faith and reason can co-exist? Why does this have ANY bearing on the two problems....and our problems throughout the world. Pay attention to the title passage.
The rise to power.....the "American Dream." I'm not against making a living or even making a lot of money....if you acknowledge the source and don't treat the people who supplied you with it as objects, and hence don't make money an idol. You see, a change in economic ideals in industry and companies has led to a "how can I make the most money" mentality. Let's face it, businesses are out to make money. They have to be and they should be, or else the business won't exist. However, the view on business used to be "unlimited wealth" in which two people could work together and make more money than if working alone.....that's how business was done sucessfully in American businesses (the ethical ones) until relatively recently. Now, businesses have a "limited wealth" idea, which is that there is only a limited amount of wealth out there...you compete with me for the same money....hence, if I can screw you over, I can get your money.....pure and simple. This new mindset has made money into an idol. The unlimited wealth system fostered teamwork and better service to the customer whom you wanted for repeat business. The new mindset encourages bitterness, enmity, treachery, and a hurting of the consumer (and in some cases, your workers).
Politics obviously is the same way, and with all the money floating around, it can become hard to not be seduced by the money. This is an obvious case of selfishness. When St. Paul said that "money is the root of all evil, (1 Timothy 6)" he was referring to the love of money....which can also be translated to power....for money buys power and power cannot exisst without money. What is love of money? It is making it an idol.....like the rich young man (St. Matthew 19, St. Mark 10) who wished to enter into the kingdom of God. He asked Christ what he must do since he kept all of the commandments. Christ knowing that the young man actually was breaking the first commandment by having an idol out of his money asked that he give all of his money to the poor and follow Jesus. The young man left sad because he loved his money.....that is the context of the passage concerning a camel entering the eye of a needle being easier than a rich man entering the kingdom of God.
At this point you might be wondering what my point is, bear with me as I still have to link selfishness to the shooter. The shooter was mad at God for letting his daughter die. My invertebrate zoology professor made the comment concerning cancer that a loving God wouldn't let that happen. The fact that evil exists and bad things happen to "good" people is a difficult fact to cope with. We see death all the time, many times it is senseless and meaningless and we wonder not only how God could use death to bring Himself glory, but how can he allow death if He is a loving God? To put this into context......including those of you who don't believe in a God, why do you or anyone else deserve the life you have? The fact that you have life and exist at all is a fact that must be acknowledged. Do you believe nature made everything you see and that it made you as well with no purpose? Do you believe it is illogical to believe in a God when we have rationality behind us? Rationale would tell us that you can't give something you don't have to begin with. Nature and matter do not have life nor do they have purpose innate to themselves. They must derive their life and purpose from another source....ala God. If there were no God who created you with life and purpose, how can you give life and purpose to something else? Can I say that I am sad about the Amish girls' deaths? Weeping would acknowledge purpose to begin with. Thinking the act is sick implies that there is a right and wrong.....the world is not just random actions. This is why I have been saying that nihilism is the ultimate and logical result of atheism. The fact remains that God MUST exist. Not just complexity in nature but the infusement of traits that are impossible without an ultimate source to those traits are a testament to a supreme, uncreated being....Aristotle's "uncreated first cause." As my Orthodox friend Chris McGarvey drilled into my head.....EVERYTHING good that happens from your conception to whatever life you have is by grace...that is, something you don't deserve. Grace given you by God.....hence all we can do for God is to fulfill his purpose for us....which is to glorify Him and be in a full personal communion with Him and the rest of mankind (sadly, mankind is not in communion because they do not all have God's Holy Spirit).
Here we see the selfishness inherent for profit, power, and revenge making an idol out of a man. When man is set up as an idol, we get a glimpse of hell on earth as the man runs from God and tries to make his rules, and when the evil in his heart breaks forth all suffer. He feels life owes him something rather than that he owes the giver of life all. Now I must ask, how are you different? When I discuss a person's final desitination, they will usually say they believe they will go to Heaven because they have been and are a good person......aside for the idea of his nonexistence THIS is the greatest trick the devil ever pulled! By what right have you to judge yourself....and by what standard?! You speak of God as if He were a boss in a job who owes you a wage and who is fair....well He is fair! He punishes all sin equally....and all have sinned. We are all born with it and we all commit it. Sin causes our hearts to be dead! It is this death that causes a void which we rush to fill with everything....money, ourselves, the world, our jobs, our families....but we cannot of our own power fill it with what originally gave us life.....we can accept no substitutions in this matter, for to choose wrong leads to a result too terrifying to think of. Thankfully, Christ's sacrifice is something we don't have to earn, it's something we don't have to work for.....it's something that redeems us by grace through faith alone. That is the good news!
Most of the world are like the Greeks though.....we think, this foolish rubbish.....a superstition of a bygone era infused with a little bit of the classic dark ages we see in the movies. We view the subordination of women, science, and sex to the church who sits on high and decides how things work by using a dusty book and a convoluted idea of a God who is judgemental if He even exists. The view of the Greeks is EXACTLY what most of today's world think. Why do you view it as rubbish? Do you find the Pope's statement that faith and reason can co-exist as contradictory? Perhaps you should realize that Christianity is a religion that makes no sense by traditional logic and rationale......it shouldn't work.......God shouldn't exist because I can't test him.......PROVE to me Christ rose from the dead! I have heard many times people say they cannot believe in God because they are more rational and real-world-esque......what does that even mean? You sit in a material world devoid of meaning and attempt to make money to have some fun on the weekends and slave away during the rest of the week for what in the end?....NOTHING. Your plans will not come to fruition because there IS no plan. How is that rational? How is that logical? It isn't! Search for the truth.....I will pray for you.....I pray for our world. I wish for the cancer of sin to be cleansed from men's hearts so that evil will no longer be done and I pray fervently the prayer that Christ taught us, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be they name. THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN......"
A Christian's hope is not in this world. We should all recognize that even though this world is fallen and dead in sin, we receive the light of Christ and because of our faith, we do good works for others.....perhaps this helps sanctify nature, even though in the end it will all be destroyed and a new earth will be created. We must rejoice in the grace of God to give us what life and blessings we have.....hence we acknowledge that the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away....He knows more than we could ever know, and His love is something He desires to share with the whole world. The greatest commandment is love.
Pax Domini
posted by Chris | 11:46 PM
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