Dear Readers, For the past two and some years, Blogger has been my online home. I believe it is now time to do a little growing up and a little moving on. It's been a veritable jumble of all things from aesthetics through music to techy goodness. Here on Blogger I've ranted, reviewed, and posted photos of all things cool, funny, and emo. Now, I think it's time I migrated to a different host, much like how a student must graduate. Enter WordPress.com, a service that some friends have been using for some time now. I'm not ritzy enough, for the life of me, to pay out for hosting, so in keeping with my free hosting traditions (Blogger, I won't easily forget you!) I'll be on WordPress' online services. thankfully, I can (and will) import all my Blogger posts and comments onto WordPress' servers, meaning you'll be able to go back and read all the P.Pole v. 1.0 posts you want. For your information, the new page can be found at larker.wordpress.com and I've named it the P.Pole v.2.0 in loving memory of this place. Anyway, without further diddle dawdle head on over and bookmark away (unless something insane happens, I won't be coming back here to post, as sad as that is for me to say). As far as I know, Blogger has no "Import Posts" option meaning I will not be able to make a reversal migration from WordPress if things should go awry. And it just seemed like the other day where I was going on about not changing to the new Blogger template format... Fly-out menus, I will miss you. Blogger, you and I had a great run. You were fun while we lasted. I've grown to know you much better. You were my first real blogging host and now, to borrow words from Christ (simply for linking purposes and not for blasphemy), "Where I am going, you cannot come." - John 13:33.
This is the big 500th post! Woo! Thank you! Thank you! This place couldn't have come this far if it weren't for you (or me, I suppose). Last night's LoaH didn't really go as great as I'd have hoped but I suppose it can't be helped. Anyway, I still think it was alright (it could've been better... or could it?). The amps never came (in time) and I assume they are probably going to arrive between now and next week (right when we're done "needing" them). I guess it's probably best though, that we didn't get new bass and guitar amps to play with in the rain. I think we did what we were decided on doing. I just hope we've got some better weather foreknown for us in the weeks/Wednesday evenings to come. In other news, I've officially begun a new game of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together on my PSP as of two days ago. I finished Final Fantasy Tactics rather abruptly (I had no idea I was fighting the final battle until I beat it and credits were scrolling) and so I've put that aside now (I plan on going back to it and unlocking all the other special characters, weapons, and items for the hell of it some other time). TO is looking finer than ever on my hand-held screen. I remember I'd "accidentally" cheated in one run through of the game where I changed the level of one of my guys to 99 (when he had originally been level 30 or so) meaning that I basically skipped all the stat gains I could've had between levels 30 and 99. Of course, this made training my other characters easy (I had them throw rocks at the uber leveled guy and gain instant levels) but left me with a completely useless character (think... level 100 Magikarp with Splash). Anyway, this time I'm going clean and I'm not going to use any Gamesharks (even though there are such homebrew applications for the PSP). I rather enjoy strategy games like FFTactics, Tactics Ogre, and the super cool Disgaea series. There's something about collecting characters and setting them up how I want that makes for fun times. Of course, that sounds a lot like how little girls play with dolls and dress them up so I'm now going to sulk in my accidental revelation of homosexical tendencies. Just kidding. "For goodness' sake, it's a gay pride parade, not a gay shame festival!"
My dear Pastor Arthur (now Reverend), God bless him, has taken to doing "taize" (pronounced "TI-zee" I think) style services for mostly scattered and sporadic occasions. Lately, however, it seems as if we've been having more and more of these very mellow and very different services at TJCAC and I'm not too sure I think this is a good thing. For those who are unfamiliar with this (I myself do not know too much about it at all actually), it's basically a simplified way of seeking God's will in Scripture. That's the best that I can describe it, it's a form of church, like a Sunday morning service, but different. Instead of the usual message and preaching from the Bible by the pastor/speaker, there are specially chosen verses that are prepared ahead of time, read, and reread to the congregation. After each reading, there are a few minutes of quiet reflection while Arthur (or whoever running the program) asks a few questions like "What words jump out at you?" or "What's God saying to you through these passages?" or "What in your life do these Scriptures speak about?" Obviously, a lot of what the congregation gets out of it is very personal and will no doubt differ (probably drastically) from person to person. That's the general gist of the concept of a taize service. Now, first, I do not wish to have anyone mistake my statement for something along the lines of "This is boring" because that isn't what I'm saying. Now that we've cleared that up, I want to go on and also say that the taize style bothering me isn't coming from any opinion that ordinary people should not interpret Scripture for themselves. I mean, that's one of the reasons why the Protestants split off and reformed from the Catholic system in the first place, if I have my historical facts and summary thereof correct. Luther understood that the Word of God (i.e. the Bible) must and was intended to be available to the common Christian. We take for granted that we have access to the Bible because we can just go and buy one (and pick a version you like!) at the store, but it was not always so. I'm thankful that Luther stood up for what he did and so I'm also grateful for the chance to own, read, and interpret my own copy of God's Bible. So we've got it cleared up what my problem with taize is not, but now I've got to explain what it is. To be honest, I'm afraid of coming off as nothing more than a lofty-minded talker instead of a realistic doer here, but I do think it deserves to be said. Basically, I just don't think the taize style of worship fits very well into how we ought to approach corporate worship. I've got a few reasons for this, but here are the three main ones:
It is sometimes dangerous to leave interpretation of Scripture and the discernment of Biblical truths up to the common individual.
Pastoral preaching really ought to be the focus of occasions where we have corporate (i.e. large group and community) worship.
Personal interpreting of Scripture does mostly nothing to clarify or deepen understanding in Bible passages (especially to newcomers and young Christians).
It is important that I say "sometimes dangerous" and not just "dangerous" because, again, I do believe the individual Christian should be able to and is even responsible for reading and interpreting Scripture as an individual. But the key thing there is that it's done as an individual act of worship and should be kept separate from (instead of substituting) corporate worship. I can read God's word alone and personally seek out His revelation to me. That's fine and good, and a privilege too, but that act of worship ought not replace what we do as a congregation together. Given a passage selected and read from the Bible, and told to "reflect on what it means to you," people in the congregation are left to draw their own conclusions which may or may not be entirely correct. I'm all for multiple opinions (even if I may not take much delight in seeking out others'). You and I may have different opinions, and I'm okay with yours being different from mine and I don't need to have you conform to my ideas. At the same time, however, I know for a fact (read: I know apart from opinion) that there are some things that are certain. This means, by implication, that there are some opinions more valuable than others (take Jesus' for example). God has a reason for having only one "shepherd" (figuratively, a pastor) per flock. Like it says in 1 Corinthians 12, the "Body of Christ" (our congregation/church) is made up of a variety of parts and we can't all be feet, or ears, or appendixes. Every body has one head and even though all body parts have the ability to "know" certain things (like how to walk, how to grab things, etc... muscular memory is what it's called, I think) we still leave deeper and higher reasoning up to the head. Here I'm confronted with a little problem. I want to, for the sake of argument, say that it is the pastor who is represented by the head since he (or she in some churches) is the one who leads the congregation and decides on direction and vision for the church. However, it also says in the Bible that Christ is the head of the church so some people might take issue with my referencing here. Anyway, you get the point. The pastor/preacher's job is to study Scripture, seek God's revelation in it, and then share his/her findings with the congregation and the congregation should be trusting and still discerning of the speaker's words. We trust that this person has been spoken to by God but should still listen alertly to see if their preaching agrees with what is Biblically true. 2 Timothy 3:16 says "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness..." (NIV) and so we can definitively say that, yes, God does speak through (potentially all of) the Bible and people can say "God says this: ..." if they are basing it on the Bible and it really does say that. There are some truths that really just need to be affirmed and not discussed or opinionated. Too often we shy away from infringing on someone else's comfort and so we avoid confronting the issues head on, saying that what you think is as valid as what I think. This is tempting to believe, but rarely ever the case. The Bible is very clear about some things and we should be submissively accepting these rather than interpreting our way to (or more often than not, interpreting our way sinfully away from) these truths. Without rambling on anymore, I just want to reiterate my first point: people interpreting Scripture is good, but interpretation that replaces what should be done in a pastoral capacity is dangerous, subjective, and a little wishy washy -- the pastor must take hold of his role and speak from the Bible, by the Spirit, and with authority given from God. People can read and think all they want about the Bible, but that shouldn't replace hearing the voice of God through authoritative speaking. Read, reread, and reflect on your own time. This ties well into my next point, which is that when we get together as a collection of Christians, we should focus our attention towards to preaching of the Gospel, of God's message to man in the form of the Bible. I'm not pulling this stuff out of thin air, by the way. 2 Timothy 4 goes on to charge in a most grave and serious fashion the importance of preaching.
1 I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: 2Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths. (2 Timothy 4:1-4, NLT)
Verses 1 and 2 are very clear. It's infinitely important that the word of God be preached to the people. Not just read to the people, but preached. This pretty much always involves discernment and definitive "This is what God is saying..." statements on the part of the preacher. Anyone can read Scripture, but it takes a special calling and enabling by God to draw exceptional degrees of meaning from the Bible and to be able to communicate that to a congregation. Reading on, you'll see that verses 3 and 4 are where I find Biblical support for my previous point, though it paints the congregation in a more sinister light. Same idea: people can interpret things wrong (especially if they want to). So Paul clearly marks the importance of preaching. I remember reading somewhere (I think it was on Alex's sixsteps) that one of the defining characteristics of a church body is that there is regular and consistent preaching from the Bible whenever it gathers. How true! Church just isn't church without preaching. It'd be just a country club for whiners. Moving on, I recall a sermon by John Piper that presented things as follows:
Words >[Preaching]> Works >[Inspiring]> Wonder >[Stimulating]> Worship
To explain this potentially confusing diagram of sorts, Pastor Piper understood that when the word of God is preached it should lead to good works (i.e. a physical, tangible change in the way people live). These good works in turn inspire wonder and appreciation of God's goodness, power, majesty, and gloriousness and so lead to worship. Thus, by association, the word of God and preaching become necessary for worship to take place. Talk about a shameless plug (but hey, he's right).
Understanding must always be the foundation of feeling, or all we have is baseless emotionalism. But understanding of God that doesn't give rise to feeling for God becomes mere intellectualism and deadness. This is why the Bible continually calls us to think and consider and meditate and remember on the one hand, and to rejoice and fear and mourn and delight and hope and be glad on the other hand. Both are essential for worship.
This sums up my last point better than I could ever attempt. To be able to worship properly, we have to both understand what we're worshiping (i.e. we have to "get it") and be able to grasp why God deserves our adoration, while having an emotional experience rooted in that understanding (I know I'm just paraphrasing, but what else can I do). If we don't understand why God should be worshiped and do it for the good feelings, well, that's similar to saying sorry but not knowing what for. You don't know what you've done (or rather, what God's done for you) but you're going to admit to agreeing with things you don't even know about. Preaching, as opposed to "do it yourself" taize interpretation, fulfills the need for guidance and correction in the people of God. We all need to be set straight, some more often than others, but without (confrontational) preaching, who is going to do the rebuking? If your teachers themselves don't point out your mistakes, why bother looking for/at them? There is no reason to change if all goes well. For this last point is one that I think must be made, especially about Jaffray. Everyone here knows one another since it's a small church, and very well at times, but instead of this allowing for frequent and necessary correction of one another, we've become too afraid to speak up and consequently shake things up a bit. John 17:17 says that we are to be sanctified (fancy word for "become more and more like Christ") by the truth found in the Bible. We need to hear God's message from the mouths of our pastors, to hear "You've been a good steward, keep it up!" and "Honestly, this needs fixing. Shape up!" from our preachers. If there's one complaint from the congregation that every speaker should fear, it's that they are not challenging enough. This last point becomes all the more important for new believers and newcomers. For the latter, I'm sure most non-churchgoers would not be able to understand for themselves what God has to say to them, especially if the passage selected was, like today's, mainly to do with issues faced within the church body itself (issues that outsiders would have little to no experience in, making them not immediately relevant to them). For new believers, they still lack the maturity to figure out for themselves the "solid food"of the Bible. You don't give babies steak or entire boiled eggs because they can't handle it. Similarly, new believers can't be expected to interpret Scripture for themselves yet since:
The passages for taize are usually taken out of the larger context since there is little to no preaching to fill in the gaps.
New believers do not have the wealth of Biblical knowledge to compare and cross-reference with what they interpret from a single passage.
The second point above would mean some people are quite haphazardly drawing conclusions, as best as they can, which may or may not have come from God at all -- the litmus test for whether something is from God or not is whether or not it agrees with (the rest of) the Bible. This is also why it might be dangerous (to revisit my first point stated many words ago). For the seasoned Christian, taize might not be such a bad idea, but still, I'd argue that reading and rereading Scripture does not forward understanding of it significantly. I mean, you can only get so much out of hearing and reading it. That's why there are entire courses on hermeneutics for pastors and ministry workers to take in seminary. That is (in part at least) what you (pastors and preachers) are paid for, so get on it! I'm not going to go as far as saying that taize is a complete waste of time, since I do think it calms the heart to let it soak in the word of God among doing some other things, but I just don't think it's appropriate for Sunday services given all the things that could go wrong with it, the things we ought to be doing instead of taize, and its general lack of substantial content for most. But hey, all of this could just be me so feel free to leave a comment (or send me inflammatory hate mail in defense of taize) telling me what you think.
It's almost been two weeks (actually exactly two weeks including today) since Moyee and Herman (and the rest of the STM @ Longlac Team) left meaning that they will be momentarily home if my calculations are correct. I can't wait until they get back because then I can book Moyee for some day to go have lunch. Speaking of food, I'm about to head downtown with a couple friends to get stuff and eat. We decided to "just hang out" but I've also got to check out Coast Mountain Sports for a nice water bottle and take them to Burrito Boyz (yeah, the place is actually named with a zedzorz). I've been sans water bottle (and burrito too) for the past many months and it's about time my old one got replaced. I've gone through a few in my time but my last one was definitely my favourite one (so far). I got it at TC two years back, oddly enough. I think I downed all the water and then, because my backpack's bottle pocket is shallow (funny/plug line: "There's more to you than meets the eye..." - Sam, Transformers the Movie) it fell out. Being empty, I didn't feel the tiny difference and thanks to my ear buds I didn't hear it fall either ("Oh when she breaksyour bottle falls down and makes a sound you'll never hear heryour damn bottle falling and making a sound!" - Howie Day, She Says). Oh well, it's not a big loss. There will always be other bottles... but not many TC bottles. Sigh. I'm hopeful in the slimness and curves of Nalgenes to more than make up for the minor loss. Photos to come if I'm successful in my search.
9 Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city. 10 Day and night they prowl about on its walls; malice and abuse are within it. 11 Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets. 12 If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. 13 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, 14with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God. [...] 19 God, who is enthroned forever, will hear them and afflict them— Selah men who never change their ways and have no fear of God. 20My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant. 21 His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.
I've been thinking a lot about this (i.e. disputes within church walls) for the last little while and I honestly don't know what to do, or whether what I've already done or said was correct. To my rescue comes this passage brought randomly to my attention as I searched for passages on a completely different topic on BibleGateway. I'm one of the most confrontational people I know and if you don't think so, you're wrong. Even though it's generally accepted that we, as adult members of a civilized and modern society, ought to settle disputes in a manner as diplomatic and courteous as possible, meaning that people like me are generally labeled "inconsiderate" or "insensitive". But I think sometimes (not always, for sure) certain subjects require a certain degree of "I think you've got it all wrong on this one" -- even more so within Christian-à-Christian relationships. This, of course, is because within the community we call the Body of Christ we are to fellowship with one another through the Spirit. We ought to be able to encourage as well as criticize, teach as well as rebuke, and share as well as disagree with one another all in a loving and God-fearing manner. We ought to be able to confront one another and not have to beat around the bush with nice words or flattery to get our point across. That kind of tactic (i.e. excessive tact, ironically) is dangerously close to manipulation if you ask me. Sure, it might work for people outside and inside the Body but it's not something a godly person should stand for (v. 21). Convincing and persuading others to an opinion treated as objective truth would go along with this too. It's a tragedy when conflicts break out in the "Outside World" but when it happens within the walls of a congregation, it's a shame. The psalmist here is archaic-ranting about just this all-too-common phenomenon: infighting between people of God. Really, we (you and I both, along with the rest of Jaffray) should do better if we remember why exactly we gather and why we do the things we do. Well, we could change our ways, or we could end up like those who don't (v. 19). Aside: I don't think we do enough threatening (to match Biblical content levels) within our walls.
I went and saw Transformers the Movie today with Allen at the Famous Players/Cineplex at... I don't know exactly, but I think it was around Yonge and something to the north. Anyway, it turned out to be a rather good movie for someone who is a fan (but not hardcore fan) of the stuff. Al had lukewarm thoughts about it all but that's because he was more of the die hard fan. Anyway, I didn't do anything else much today except go home afterwards and just relax in the comfort and the companionship of my trusty radiation bombarding computer set up. I chowed down on a few Bagel Bites and they weren't half bad so I'll have the other ones tomorrow for lunch. I'm still looking forward to practices for LoaH and retreat this Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Speaking of movies, I got around to watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last week and there's something about Emma Watson's look that I just can't place. She's definitely not ugly or anything, but I just can't decide conclusively whether she's got a delicately amiable or ever so slightly annoying face. I mean, her character's hair (I'm not even going to attempt spelling the actual name for you off of memory)Hermione is, by nature, quite a put-off, what with being long-ish and frizzy. But the rest of her (as in the way she looks, acts, and speaks) doesn't really bug me all that much (I'd always imagined her characterHermione to be a real know-it-all while reading the book). At least, that's how I felt until near the middle or so of the Goblet of Fire. That one shot of her all dressed up for the ball settled it for me: not annoying looking. I also spent a good chunk of my evening listening to a lecture/workshop given by John Piper about living by faith in future grace. I regret to say that I had been slightly distracted while listening for the latter half of the message so I didn't catch all the little gritty bits as I normally like doing but the general gist was quite stirring to say the least. I'm not even going to attempt paraphrasing or summarizing the message. If you've got the longing and craving for it, check it out for yourself here (whereas the larger set of links and pages of his work can be found here). It's cool stuff to me, but in random bursts at best. Too much of a good thing (in this case, over-saturation with new ideas on divine matters) too fast is probably not the best--cramming such things all at once proves to be a bad way to really reflect, consider, discern, and internalize well and properly.
I don't mean to associate God with gambling or anything but today's date is exactly all made up of sevens -- 07.07.07 -- and I think it's also strangely fitting to have my 490th post on such a day (490 = 7 x 70 of course). Seeing as how seven is supposedly God's number, I figured today would be a holy jackpot of sorts... I don't really have anything specific I want to talk about so I suppose I'll write about my comings and goings of late. As mentioned before, I decided to write about one Clive Staples Lewis for a pretty big paper. To date, I've read all of "The Magician's Nephew" and approximately thirty-four pages of "The Pilgrim's Regress" which is a bit of strange book to say the least. It's not a novel or narrative per se. It is sort of like an allegorical story but on crack where everything is very obviously representative of something else, and dabbling heavily in Christian and Biblical themes. It's a slower read than "The Magician's Nephew" -- the likes of which I thoroughly enjoyed, mind you. After reading just the first book of "The Chronicles of Narnia" series, I've grown quite fond of Lewis' writing style and quirky humour. I'm beginning to understand why he's so admired by so many people. It has something to do, I think, with his almost childlike demeanor in viewing, constructing, and describing his ideas. Anyway, this coming week is looking packed with LoaH and Summer Retreat practices and I'm quite looking forward to them. IMO the best part about serving in a musical capacity is the practice and fellowship time I get to have with my peers/teammates. I mean, playing and actually leading is exhilarating too, but I don't really take more joy in that part than one should (since it's leading and not soaking that I'm supposed to be doing). LoaH songs are sounding pretty good for the most part after our intense practice the other day -- Eric (vocals and guitar), Stephen (drums), Adwin (electric guitar), and I (bass) practiced without Melissa Kwan (second vocals) this Thursday morning for three hours. Retreat worship is also looking pretty good so far, but that is to be expected with the competent leadership of mainly Katherine and Gabriel. I think playing my bass in these kinds of settings is pretty much the best part of my summers nowadays. With no job (part-time or otherwise) in sight, I'm going to make playing my summer (pre)occupation for this year pretty much. My aunt and uncle (Monique and Jock respectively) are over from the states with their young son, Philip. Before you go "Haha, sucker!" because of the addition of an extra young'un (my sister + Philip = 2 little and potentially annoying kids) in my vicinity, I want to sneer at you because with Philip here, my sister is officially sleeping over for the duration of their trip. And with them (my aunt, uncle, and cousin) staying with my grandparents, I am virtually un-childbearing. This means I can do all the things I couldn't do at home (with my sister around) before, like leave my stuff out without fear of annihilation and play with my more dangerous toys (like my totally hot Zippo and... I don't have any other violent toys actually). Of course, this liberation comes at the price of having my aunt and uncle randomly coming over to borrow my wireless Internets... That leads to me thinking "GTFO my Internets before I telegib you." but saying "Hi, welcome! Feel free to use it as you please."
FWD: You're going to die a lonely, painful death if you don't foward this to everyone and eat dirt and...
I don't know why but I got the sudden urge to hate on forwarded messages during the car ride home tonight. I'm not going to rant (I promise I'll keep it short this time). I'm just going to ask you (all of you, there are now no exceptions or special favourites to be excused) to never ever pass along one of those "Read this or you will have 70 years of bad luck" type emails to me (as if I expect to live to be +80 anyway). I hate them. I never pass them along and I never read them. If you send one to me, you're basically condemning me to whatever the hell is promised inside that email as a warning against ignoring it because I intend on and will succeed in ignoring the damnable thing. With the number of "Read this only if you have time for God" emails I've passed up, I probably need to convert to Roman Catholicism and buy an eternity load of indulgences to get my condemned self out of purgatory. It seems I might have offended some people with that last remark so my work here is done for tonight.
PS: Really, don't send me them, unless you want to be goatse'd. Trust me, you don't want to get goatse'd. I never was but that doesn't mean I've never thought of passing it along.
Here at TJCAC co. we like to treat our environment nicely by holding weekly get-togethers and treating our neighbors to some free food, live music, and car washes (saying that reminds me of that Canadian Tire commercial with the man pressure stripping the paint off of his car). We've even got arts and crafts for the little ones. Last year, we managed to come out and have a pretty sweet showing every Wednesday evening/night (starting at seven o' clock or so) and so we're going for the same thing again this year. So this has been my shameless plug for LoaH 2007 and if you are at all interested in having something to do on Hump Day evenings (other than what you'd normally have planned for Hump Day) then come out and have a burger. Note: TJCAC can be found at 9950 Sheppard, just east of Meadowvale. It's a giant red bricked building (that looks every bit the church with its high top and chiseled orange steps...) after an open field of nothing. You can't miss it.
Today's a special day because it's the first info post of June as well as it being another 4th of ________ (month). Those have been special for awhile now and I've grown fond of commemorating them in small ways.
5 things that made me teary recently:
watching the Team Hoyt video (see end of the post) that was part of the "ASK" sermon yesterday--I don't even know how to begin describing how inspiring the story of this father and son is... watch the video and go to their site
downing a glob of wasabi the size of half a large marshmallow at Starwalk Buffet last Friday to stay in and win an eating contest between myself and Henry
yawning uncontrollably today during badminton at the club because I didn't get enough sleep last night
having to cut open the scrotum to reveal the testes (on my dissection pig at school)--I was the only one who could do it since David was squeamish and Amy, being the innocent little (and little as in petite) girl she is, wouldn't know her way around these parts
attending a Sunday baptismal service (Jessica Lu's, no less) at Morningstar Fellowship church (at Morningside and Sheppard, formerly Churchill Heights Baptist Church)
Something about yesterday's double whammy of Sunday services (first at TJCAC and then at Morningstar) made for a seemingly endless service. It was a good Sunday, a good day of renewal and refreshing of the soul's viscera. Morningstar Fellowship has something that I think Jaffray is lacking... but I can't place it exactly. Anyway, here's the video I promised.
I was listening to Arthur's sermon yesterday about... I don't exactly remember what it was focused on. Nevertheless I recall topics of a cruise, fellowship through the person of Christ, and discipleship. I also remember distinctly hearing the following sentence:
"If Christ is the center, then we will suffer... for each other's sake."
Now is it just me or is that really cute? I personally find it amusing to pick at people's words to find out what they may really mean. First of all, it seemed funny that he paused immediately after saying that we would suffer. It's almost as if his thought process stopped there and concluded focusing on Christ naturally leads to suffering (which, I do not deny, probably does and should happen), but it shouldn't stop there. And then I suppose he tagged on the second part about for whose sake we ought to suffer because he realized how awkward the first part of the line sounded. Of course, this would've been a good save if only it hadn't contradicted the first part. Now, I could go hypercritical (or is it hypocritical?) here and start really nitpicking about what this all means, but I'll that for your skills of deduction (or was it induction?).
On a completely unrelated note, I've started using my Vista partition much more lately and that's probably due to my XP boot getting old and cluttered. I like neatness. I also don't mind a fresh look. I've got my sidebar with my drives and clock running on the right, my recycle bin (only icon deserving of actual space on my desktop) in the corner, and my quicklist of progrmas in my start menu. I'm also rocking a Samurai Champloo background that I played with.
(click the thumb for a larger view)
Here are the links to the individual files, if anyone's interested:
The original (by ~joshgotpsed on DeviantART): 1600 x 1200
a captain from another team recognized Canti on my t-shirt and asked me whether it was really him (I nodded offhandedly but I moaned a deep and satisfied moan of "Oh yes, yes that is Canti!" on the inside)
my entire team (totally the best team a captain could hope for) performed Brian's peanut-butter jelly time dance (with maracas and thrusting!) with Raf (the greatest co-captain ever) and I
Steven Hawkins' (not Stephen Hawkings, by the way) speaking was completely amazing to listen to; hearing his life story, you'd expect him to be either dead (he mentioned suicide and insane abuse), bitter, insane, or an atheist but the man's great at what he's been assigned
Michelle (a fellow Emu-mate who happened to be Vietnamese) and I won the TC Talent Search (talent show/contest) by doing an improvised rap (her) and dancing the Emu dance (me), scoring a duct tape wallet and a Whoopee cushion (signed by the AV team and REC team respectively)
all of team Emmanuel got to perform our cheer on stage after having came in third overall and second for spirit (doing the peanut-butter hump to all 600+ people in the audience felt satisfying... almost gratifying)
So this TC turned out to be many many times what I'd expected. Sure, I'd hoped to get some recognition for our team since, well, it leaves the team with a particularly good feeling, to know that we accomplished something together, but I didn't really expect to get as far as this. Personally, I wasn't hell-bent on owning. I even prepared an entire "Alright, it's okay if we don't win tonight, as long as we have fun" speech that we never had the balls to use. Raphael and I had joked around about dominating and blowing away the competition but most of that was just to get ourselves pumped. I sure was surprised when they called us out for third place overall. Seeing our entire team light up (screaming oh so passionately) made it all worth it. I doubt any of them will ever read this, but man do I love the Emus. Greatest. Team. Ever. It was a privilege and an honour to lead such a wonderful group of energetic, amiable, and unique youths. And with such an awesome pair of coaches! Firstly, Caleb's been to every single TC since his first in '96 (he's 24 y.o. at the moment, yeah, old), so he knows his stuff. The man's done it all, attending, captaining, worship team, coaching, etc... He was wholly dependable and Raf and I would often go to him whenever we weren't sure of what to do. Caleb served as our veteran who knew exactly what to say to our team and when to say it. Joyce, a complete n00by at all things TC (this was her first time!), was equally encouraging to work with. What she lacked in experience she more than made up for in cheer and energy. I found that personally, joking around with her about whatever (usually making fun of Caleb) served as my refresher at TC. She was that little bit of crack in my routine that got the good times rolling and the juices flowing. All in all, our coaches were amazing, giving us the guidance as well as the energy that we needed. And finally, we come to my co-cap, Raphael. Now, I've known Raf since we were but unicellular organisms (that might be stretching it, but you get the point), we know one another. We communicate and just feed off of one another's spirits. It's actually quite beautiful what we got going. I love him (not the BBM way) and I can totally feel his love. The guy is mellow and honest. What I love about Raf is his incurable sense of ease about him. He rarely (if ever) gets agitated and never ever does he lose his cool. It was great to work with him since he was always so agreeable. What happened to me last year was that I would be the main one leading team volleys of cheering (Hannah's a quiet girl, and I don't blame her!). This year, Raf and I shared that task, which explains why my voice isn't completely mauled by the end of TC like it was last year (another factor would be the fact that my team was loud yet smart--cheering only when REC leaders were around >_O). Raf was always looking out for the team. It was wonderful captaining with such a solid brother. So with all this mushy gushy stuff coming out of me at the moment, what I'm trying to say is that what we achieved as a team is all good and whatnot, and we should be happy for being blessed with "success", but the real blessing of success is found in the countless souls who came to know/recommit themselves to Christ at TC this year. After all, who cares about all the competition or points or winning, if God is nowhere to be found? You can have all these, but without love, it's meaningless (see Bible)! Oh, but was God ever here! On the first night alone, there were 54 people who made decisions to either accept Jesus into their lives or recommit themselves to a life worthy of our calling. Though this has nothing to do with quantity and everything to do with quality, it's still important to realize when God moves powerfully. Teens Conference was a fun time this year 'round and captaining was a total blast. There are TC haters out there who call it nothing but a sugar-coated fun-fest and not anything with real, spiritual content, and to a certain extent, they're... half right. It IS full of energy and hyperactive teens. But a lot of people actually come to know Christ through TC and so with that in mind, what's a little fun along the way if we are serving God's will? With sleep growing in my eyes and for lack of anything more to say, I bid all thee farewell and fortune in all your ventures (until the next post anyway). God with us indeed.
Listen up, we're loud and clear! [We'll] Show you all that God is here! E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el!** Ev'rybody clap and shout! [We'll] Show you what we're all about! E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el! Comin' down from heav'n above, To show us how to live in love! E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el! We are here to show you all, That our God's Emmanuel! E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el!
Cause... it's... Peanut-butter, jelly time! Peanut-butter, jelly time! (x2) Peanut-butter jelly, peanut-butter jelly, Peanut-butter jelly with a baseball bat! (x2) Emu. [strike a sexy emu pose] -Team Emmanuel of TC '07, The Emu Chant
**We actually had this refrain line down as "E-mu! E-mu! E-mu! E-mu!" before but we changed it to really push our team's whole/actual name. You've also got to note the awesome pumping action done while reciting these lines.... Maybe I'll show you sometime.
This is my Valentine's Day post. Yes, I'm surprised I acknowledged such a fluffy special day too. First off the bat, some Bible reading from 1 Corinthians 7:1-40 (longish passage). This will be the passage Hosanna will be digesting and working over this week at the church so perhaps it would be good for any attenders to read it over before coming. It has relevance to today since well, it's got to do with marriage. Since today's the day that many hopeful boys will be popping "the Big Question" to patient girls, I figure it'd relate.
3 things in short supply today:
Roses: Boys think girls like flowers, even though they don't understand why. Girls like flowers, but don't ask me to explain why.
Chocolates: These tasty aphrodisiacs are no doubt going to be going like hot cakes today. I never could figure out the connection between buying a girl a box of chocolates on Valentine's, but that was before I heard about this candy's magical pant-loosing properties.
Relaxation: What can I say? It could be a stressful time for anyone with any kind of romantic expectations. Will he? Won't she? Rinse and repeat. I think we all know about that funny feeling you get in your stomach (not the kind you get when you've food poisoning and hardcore diarrhea for a week) when you're with a special someone of the opposite sex... or of the same sex if you're into that kind of stuff.
Today was an interesting day (not exactly full of romance... but the night is still young!). Okay, I lied, it was really quite mundane (at least up until now). Had a normal school day with a good but short badminton practice after school. I've not posted recently, mostly because of school and Hosanna. I'll be posting later to report on this Friday's coffee with Arthur experience so watch out for that I suppose... I actually hate it when he's the one to ask me to go out for a drink since I can never tell whether he has anything specific he wants to bring up or if he wants me to talk about my life (not my forte with most people). We'll see what happens.
EDIT: And for the romantic musical types out there, here's She Is by the Fray. And as for Moyee's request, here's Question by Rhett Miller.
This is going to be a bit of a whiny post, but what the hell, it's been a long time coming. For all my readers out there who don't know the alternative meaning of "BS" (as in, apart from "bullshit"--pardon my French), it also serves as a comical short form for Bible Study. I happen to be a Bible Study leader at Hosanna, not really out of ability but more of just it happened that way, and I've got to say, it's not fun. I'm not talking about the kind of fun like you get out of playing sports or video games or going out with a bunch of friends. I'm talking about fun from Bible Study, from discussions, etc. There are people who say that Bible Study is boring, mostly because it's usually not as funentertaining as other programs. This is the general attitude of most people (and by people, I mean Christian kids who come to Hosanna). You'd think it something to do with maturity and hope that the older ones would be more appreciative of the value of spending time to study Scripture as a group. For the most part, this isn't true. I'm not sitting here and claiming that I'm some high and holy saint who wants to condemn people, but this kind of stuff deserves to be brought into the light. Here's the usual routine for Bible Study: Arthur (Youth Pastor) prepares a brief set of questions (some discussion, some more straightforward) and guidelines for BS ahead of time, BS leaders get together over lunch and get briefed on the materials, people show up for Hosanna BS Night, BS happens. Usually what happens is one cell group of boys pairs with one cell group of girls, meaning we've got 3 larger groups with maybe 10 people in each. There are 2 BS leaders for each of these (one from each cell group). Of course, it's not really quite as simple as that. Throughout the course of BS, there's usually maybe only one other person in the group (apart from leaders) who happens to actually be there to learn. So all in all, there might be 2 or 3 people (including leaders!) out of a group of 10 who actually want to listen and participate in some thinking, reading, and learning. What about the others? Well what usually happens is they either stare blankly, chat amongst themselves casually (and loudly), or even just go AWOL (this last one is more rare, but believe me, it actually happens). Of course, I have no problem with kids who want to stare blankly, want to talk, and want to wander. But when you're pulling that kind of BS while other people are trying to learn/discuss/do what we're supposed to be doing, then we've got a problem. Honestly, I don't think this is the kind of attitude to take with something like Bible Study. I'm trying not to come outright and start ranting about people dicking around during BS. I mean, taking into account that I'm just as much a sinner as everyone else, I've no right to go around condemning people for their actions. That's Jesus' job. But really, it wouldn't hurt to grow up a little, would it? Ironically enough, Friday's Bible Study was on 1 Corinthians chapter 3, which talks about Spiritual Milk vs. Spiritual Food and maturity of Christians. Friday's Bible Study went pretty much terribly (as usual actually). Most people (excusing Benson) were mostly uninterested in the material at hand, and I honestly don't know what to do about that. If you've got no inner desire to hear God's voice, to read His word, to embrace His wisdom, then maybe you ought to be reconsidering who/what you really are. The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian (ugly sounding word but that's the negative of a Christian) is that the Christian has a direct claim to God's everything through Jesus Christ's redeeming work of the Cross, as far as the Bible is concerned. What happened to the relationship, the desire, and the passion that we're supposed to be filled with? Where's that longing to sit at Christ's feet and listen and learn? Where's the love of wisdom and all things good and godly? I'm not saying that everyone should stop what they do and listen to me. God forbid that. I'm also not saying that I'm a great leader/discussion facilitator and everyone needs to be totally absorbed by me. I'm just saying, if we're all believers, children of the same Father, then why don't we love our Father by listening and obeying? I'm as guilty as the next in terms of lacking obedience, but I think we shouldn't be complacent with mediocrity. I actually like Bible Study, but not when it's completely lacking, so I don't expect others to like it like that either. So what is it lacking? There are a few possibilities. It could be lacking proper/talented leaders. It could also be lacking pertinence/relevance. Or maybe we are lacking reverence for God and His word in the participants. I personally don't think it takes too much to lead a BS. I mean, Arthur has already prepped the general questions (mostly not intended as the only things to be done) and the leaders have already been briefed. All the leaders have to do is show up, get the ball rolling, and if all goes well, the material usually lends itself to discussion and whatnot quite easily. Perhaps the Bible is lacking pertinence. Maybe the message found in THE Message (I'm talking about the entire Bible, not that translation) isn't relevant anymore. Could it be that the Bible, upon which Christianity is founded, has finally gotten too old and abstract to have practical value for the present times? Of course, to all these I'd have to say, "WTF, no." How can the Word of God ever become useless, like some sort of spiritual appendix that, because of evolution, has become obsolete and unnecessary for a proper and healthy spiritual life?! If you're going to sit here and tell me/believe in your heart that the Bible is not important to a Christian's spiritual life, don't you dare call yourself a Christian. No other piece of written work should/could ever hold more importance to a Christian than the very words of God in written form, ready for consumption/digestion. So this one is a bit bogus too. Finally, we arrive at the big one. Lack of reverence. This can also be read as a lack of fear for God's word. And if you'll notice, a fear for God is closely/inseparably linked to love for God in the Bible. We're talking about a holy kind of fear, not the kind where you've got to fear someone harming you undeservedly, or someone betraying you, or someone using you, or fearing the punishment of sin for the unbelieving, etc... The kind of fear here is the kind of fear where you would fear and respect someone who is completely deserving of all honor, so reverence is a good synonym of this kind of fear. There are tons of verses in the Bible where we are instructed by God to fear God: 1 Peter 2:17, Deut. 10:12, Ps. 118:4, and the list goes on. I've got no problem with people being talkative and speaking their mind on digressions--I personally don't mind going on a tangent when discussing stuff since I think it's good to cover all bases, regardless of how distant they are. I doubt that we are expected to act like soldiers/robots and stay 100% focused like a laser on something until we finish it. That's silly and unrealistic. I do have a problem with people constantly, and I mean constantly, bringing up random stuff with nothing to do with the material at hand, not even remotely (and I can usually find connections that require huge stretches of the imagination to get), and basically talking over what's going on at hand. These I would liken unto people who talk through movies, plays, and just about anything they happen to be sitting in on. If all you want to do is chat and have fellowship that way, you should just do that on your own time. And besides, that's what normal programs are like mostly. Do we Christians have such intense verbal diarrhea that we've got to be chattering away like annoying Pharisee monkeys 24/7? Is it that hard to sit and listen--not to other people or to the BS leader, but to God--for a little while? Then there are the few people who, like I mentioned before, just go AWOL by getting up and leaving the circle. If you've got to go and do/take care of something, by all means, go, but at least give everyone else a warning, and not treat BS like some sort of casual affair you can join and leave as you please. But ultimately it comes down to the general attitude of everyone towards something that will either make it fly or die. I have a feeling that it's not so much the structure or essence of Bible Study that makes it unsuccessful. I also don't think it's fair to blame leaders for crappy leadership if 1) you're not willing to come out and lead yourself, 2) there are no grounds for saying that or 3) you as one being led are refusing to be led. It's like blaming a teacher for you not doing your homework. As a BS leader, I can't help it if you yourself hate reading your Bible, dislike thinking about... well, stuff, and generally find no desire to seek God's face. That's your problem (and oh what a problem it is for all of us) and you've got to fix that or at least be in the process of sorting it out with God before you can start blaming others. If you've got no interest in something and if you're going to choose to stay that way, then that's your problem. To those people. just don't come. Or if you come, I'm sure we could put you in a group with others like you and you can discuss whatever you want. I'm not saying that out of spite or anything, don't get me wrong. I seriously think that would work--people who want to BS will be able to do so, and people who want to just relax and not BS can do that too. Of course, we'd have to ask people to let everyone know about their intentions first, and I'm sure not too many people would be willing to admit the fact that they don't want to BS. I'd still rather people who are uninterested to just not come. Who do we think we're fooling? Sure we can put on pretty faces for friends on Sundays and Bible Study nights, but in the end, the only Person whose opinion matters will see right through your BS anyway. We should just save everyone and ourselves the trouble of being deceived and just be open and honest. At the end of the day, it comes down to whether or not we are ready to fearfully love God by obeying Him and giving His Word the respect it deserves. If we're not, then we're not. That's not a problem or a damnable thing. We are simply too immature. For those of us who are like that, keep feeding on spiritual milk, but realize that somehow, someday, we need to be weened. To the others who genuinely find eve just an inkling of interest in the matters of God, good, keep eating and feeding on godly food. How else are any of us going to grow up?
PS: I'm sorry if me pointing out this poor testimony of Christ's work in such a public way sits badly with you, but hiding away this kind of BS that happens as part of some sort of secret tumor of the Church is exactly the kind of thing that would be an even worse testimony.
I heard you say you would love for a lifetime. Now you complain a lifetime just doesn’t feel right for you. Another casualty of casual love, Another soul out of place, a heart that gave up.
Why do we break the promises we make? Are we living for ourselves?
Don’t give up on love and throw it all away! Don’t give up on love and let it fall away! When did it become so easy to run from your pain? Don’t give up on love and throw it all away!
I heard you say you can’t change a stubborn heart. I can relate ‘cause that’s how I feel when I talk with you.
Why should it take losing everything, To realize it might be time to change?
Your restless heart won’t win ‘cause you take but you don’t give, And you’ll keep moving on until you learn what love is. -Sanctus Real, Don't Give Up It's almost as if this song was written for me. I borrowed this CD from Kristen the other day and I heart it. Sanctus Real, definitely worth money. When I get a job...
Well, recently God's really thrown bricks (of lovingkindness of course) at me and I've been craving and getting more and more of Him. I really don't want to come off as some high and holy, aloof and analytical person who is now attempting to give off the impression of being a certain way. That's one thing I know God -- dare I say -- hates. But anyway, I've taken a page out of Colossians -- not literally, even though it is a book of the Bible... I made a pun! -- and have been trying my best to spend my "free time" thinking and pondering about "things above" (Col. 3:2). What that means, as per what God has said to me with passages like Philippians 4:8, is to spend time -- and lots of it -- learning and listening, inviting our Father to sit us down and have a heart-to-heart perhaps. I think -- no, I know -- it is God's will that His people should wrestle and struggle, not because He takes pleasure out of strife and suffering of His creation -- God forbid! -- but that He takes pleasure in the opportunity to instruct, admonish, encourage, reveal, inspire, discipline, humble, etc... us when we meet with Him. I think that in a relationship, one of the greatest signs of a lack of passion (i.e. spiritual death) is when one party loses interest in the other's affairs (i.e. apathy? disregard?). With God as our Savior, Comfortor, Creator, Lover, Friend, Father, we can't possibly neglect our relationship with Him, ever, if we are to claim Him as our Most Beloved. It is, thus, good to think of Him, His works, His traits, His goodness, and all things [of] Him. Amen?
Anyway, that was a somewhat long explanation for where this next part of the post came from. Before we go farther, you must understand that I am someone who remembers things pretty well. Not all things, of course, but a good many things -- especially fine, mudane, useless details. I'm also someone who can draw what may seem to some extremely farfetched connections between these quotidian occurances. I'd like to think I've been blessed with the gift of communication and expression of thoughts, so I hope this stuff will help you to have a better picture of why and how I came to the conclusion I'm about to try and explain. It's a simple question about a simple idea. Yet, as one character said in Stephen Chow's "God of Cookery": "It's the simple things that are the hardest to make delicious." What does this have to do with my post? With a title like that, it better be related to God! Well, it does. I always find that the simplest truths I've been taught about God are always the toughest to grasp and really believe. Such truths are always the ones that take the most time, the most energy, and the most conviction from God to wrap my head around. And even at that, God does all of the wrapping. But yes, what I'm trying to say, in a very round-about way, is that simple truths that we've all -- those who've grown up in the Church at least -- been taught we actually don't understand as much as we'd like to think. This is why I'm taking this time to try and put some of these thoughts and whatnot into words to try and capture what it is God is saying. Even if it may seem like an over-played, already-mastered concept, bear with me. We Christians believe that God is ultimately good, yes? Do we believe that all of God is good? I'd like to think we have to. If God is infinite in might (omnipotence is the term) and can do whatever He wills, would it not follow that He is also infinitely good? If He even has a tiny hint of flaw in His character, that hint applied to the infinitude of God would infinitely corrupt God, turning Him into an Infinite Monster, no? Thus, the only logical -- and I would even argue, believable -- conclusion we must come to is that all of God is good. That is what it means to call Him the Holy of holies. And now we must be sure to identify what is good. Some people may find it offensive of me to be as self-righteous as to define what is good and what is bad by my standards, so I won't. Then again, one cannot make such an assertion/be offended without first judging me according to their own standards, so really, that kind of thinking -- Post-Modernism, I'm looking at you -- is just as circular and pointless as the idea of Macro-Evolution. Still, I won't be defining what is good by my standards. Let's define it by what God has shown, through His word and His creation, to be good according to Him. I do believe that each person, though born in depravity since the Fall of Man, is still given the Spirit and Image of God, since that is what sets us apart from the grasses of the fields, beasts of the earth, the creatures of the sea, and the birds of the sky. This image, this breath of God will cause us to have a natural sense of what is right and wrong, even though to ability and even desire to do what is good to God will be given to some and withheld from others (all by God's choice and not by merit of the sinner, mind you). This is what human morality is. I think that a human raised in normality -- under as unbiased as possible conditions -- will naturally have a God-given sense of what is ultimately right and wrong. Of course, there's always room for the exception that proves the rule. Because of whatever reason -- perhaps trauma or heavy bias or whatever -- some people have quite damaged notions of what is acceptable or "good". The very fact that we know that people suffering trauma or being raised in dogma are not good things proves that in general, people do know what is fundamentally right and wrong.** So what's the heart of the matter? What's the simple truth(s) that are to come under question and consideration? What is it that caused me to wonder as to whether God was a bipolar God? Getting back to God's goodness, both Scripture and even this "human morality" as described previously will tell us quite clearly that justice is good. Ask yourself honestly (best if without any bias but there's always bias to some degree), does it feel right when criminals go unpunished? When innocents get caught in the crossfire? When millions of harmless Jews are murdered and the culprit behind it all escapes scot-free in suicide? I didn't think so. You don't need to read it in a Bible to know that there is ultimately something very sick about the notion of evil going unpunished, yes? Let's not debate on how, let's agree that there ought to be punishment. So justice is good. But so is mercy, is it not? I cannot imagine anyone ever convincing me that forgiveness, acceptance, and longsuffering are not very crucial prerequisites for a healthy marriage, or even for an intimate and true friendship (since I really know nothing in practical experience about marriage... yet!). If someone betrays your trust and comes to you for mercy, does it not please you more to administer forgiveness rather than condemnation? Sure, saying, "No, it's over. Go find someone else to hurt." might seem pretty attractive -- but only in a very sick and twisted way if you really look into it. Does the broken friendship, awkward distance, and general untrust that are sure to follow also seem attractive? You can tell a plant's worth by its fruit, the Bible says. What great words of wisdom! Forgiveness lends itself to grace given, humility demonstrated, pride humbled, repentance accepted, change motivated, love shown, love returned, shared joy, peace returned, and on and on... Whereas unforgiveness leads to isolation, guilt, sorrow, despair, hopelessness, hatred, unrest, bitterness, distrust, and on and on. In the end, mercy is shown to be good. And here's where we find ourselves: we believe in a God who is just yet merciful at the same time, both being ultimately good traits. How can this be? Given man's condition as having fallen and continuing to fall quite short of God's expectations of perfection, we are all logically (and deservingly) condemned and doomed to life (and death) in eternal separation from the good and the love of God. That is the only just sentence for those who are impure, who are not holy like God. What an impossible standard! What a hopeless venture, this "life" which is lived and ended in death! It is very important for us to never only take into consideration one of God's traits and forget that God is a complete person ("person" as in being and entity, intelligent and thinking, feeling and living, and not as in human or anything like that). Enter God's mercy. God is indeed merciful. We can see this in the history of the Israelites. If you ever take a short glance through the Old Testament, you'll see that above all else, the image of a spurned lover comes to mind when considering God in relation to His chosen people. Time and time again, God and Israel promise one another their faithfulness and single-heartedness, yet time and time again we see how Israel turns aside and seeks other lovers as her own. This is what it means to have an idol: to hold something, some created thing (other persons included) in higher regard than one's own Creator and First Love. Money, sex, power, you name it. Given Israel's and our terrible track record, God still reminds us, time and time again, of His promise to forgive us our sins and unfaithfulness. So God is merciful. Yet this image of God is also flawed. This form of forgiveness seems like a slap-on-the-wrist kind of justice, where anyone can get away with anything and God will just turn a blind eye to it. No consequences. No responsibility. No justice. Would you respect a judge who pardons criminals because it's a nice sunny day and he feels particularly generous? Hell no.
It is important to make it understood at this point that God totally in the right to condemn, since His example is the perfection which has been missed. He is also the one who is to give and withhold mercy as He sees fit since He is ultimately the one we have wronged.
This is the point I'm trying to make: God's mercy and justice are quite at odds. God can't be just and merciful at the same time, can He? If He is merciful, then He is not just and not respectable. If He is just, He is also unappeasable and we are, well, we are screwed (yes, blunt but effective). If He is neither, He is a monster! As things stand, God cannot possibly be JUST, and MERCIFUL. It is not possible. Indeed, they are wholly contradictory in nature. God cannot possibly be merciful to humans while demonstrating His just nature in all things as things stand. You see, this is why God "gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16 KJV). All the punishment and condemnation that we deserved and rightfully belonged to us was poured out on Christ Jesus on the cross. That's why whoever dies with Christ lives with Christ. Our condemnation Christ suffered in our place, as our substitution. What Christ suffered has to be exactly what God had intended as our sentence, and nothing else. Christ didn't suffer a punishment. He suffered my punishment. Before we go farther, we've got to get something very clear. If it wasn't my condemnation that Christ suffered, then the wrath God has for me because of my sins (and this is a just wrath, as He does in fact have every right to judge, being the Creator of all things and the image of Perfection) is still unsatisfied. Christ did not pay some lump sum price when He did what He did, He paid a very specific price: the price owed to God by each and every single one of His elected and adopted children, thereby completely satisfying God's wrath for us in Himself and making it possible for the "saints who sin" to become the righteousness of God like Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). So now, what have we got? We've got God, who is always all of Himself and not just bits and parts, as if He puts on a different trait each day depending on His mood. He is always good. We know that two ultimately and universally good things are justice and mercy. We just know, don't we? But if that's not enough, the Bible (which is either the most reliable source of information and inspiration to you, or the last thing you'd ever trust with anything depending on where you happen to stand/be in life -- this explains why I haven't quoted Scripture as much as I could have so far) says clearly and repeatedly that God will indeed judge and not let evil go unpunished (Galatians 6:7) , yet His mercy is always there and He even delights "in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy" (Psalms 147:11 KJV, emphasis mine). We've also got the human race. The human, mortal, finite, human race. Humanity is God's creation that has turned from Him. What has happened, in essence, is that we have failed to value the most valuable Being in existance as the most valuable Being in existance. We have elevated other things (money, sex, power, food, people, ourselves, etc.) to the thrones of our lives, when the only One who belongs there, who has a right and just claim to the thrones of our lives, who ultimately deserves it all has been stripped of His honour and glory. Humans have turned from the One we ought to love above all other things and have all fallen short of God's standard, wholly and justly deserving of judgment and condemnation (Romans 3:23). Finally we have the Christ whose name is Jesus. In short, He lived a perfect life of obedience to God the Father, died a criminal, endured in the place of God's elect all condemnation from God for their sins and transgressions, and rose again on the third day, thereby conquering the powers sin and death for all who will believe in His name and hope in His life. Have you ever heard someone say that the perfect Sunday School answer to any question is "Jesus" or "God"? This is for those who have been more exposed to "Christian circles" I guess; it's somewhat like a quirky semi-joke that has its roots in truth, IMO. Well, in this case -- as is with many others -- Jesus is the answer! He is the only One who can possibly resolve the incongruity found between God's justice and His mercy. God's wrath for sins and sinners -- God's hate for sin comes only from His love of what is good and not because He's a dictator or because He enjoys imposing laws and burdens on people -- is completely satisfied in Christ's work on the cross (Isaiah 53:3-8), allowing Him to show mercy to those whose sins and condemnation have already been taken care of through Christ's work alone (i.e. those who are called to be "in Christ" by God and have been given Christ to have "in them"). That's what it means to say that one has died with Christ and will live with Him (i.e. "I am a child of God, chosen and called by God the Father, adopted through Jesus, and sustained by the Holy Spirit.").
I want to take a moment here to make it very clear that some people may read all this (if anyone reads this far at all) and think it's all foolishness, all ramblings, all confusing, all stupid, all incomprehensible. That's fine. Understanding, like mercy, is shown to some and not to others, and is shown/withheld by God. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says quite clearly that "a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised" (NASB). "Natural" in this context simply means without God's spirit within him, without God's speaking to him, without God's wanting to make it known to or understood by him [yet]. Perhaps it will take more consideration, rumination, and reasoning. The discussion of God's election will have to wait for another day. I can only encourage you, if you do not understand yet, to not be turned away or feel rejected by God. Continue to think and wonder and perhaps God will cause revelation in you someday because of your persistence. Vraiment, je vous dis, je ne sais pas.
Before I digress too much and go on and on (even more so, yes, I know), I'd just like to wrap up by saying that God indeed is always good. Always just. Always merciful. Always all of Himself. We can "believe" these "simple truths" so easily, but just look at how many words went into explaining and describing something as simple as "God is good". And this was all just looking at God's mercy and His justice. We haven't even touched on His other good qualities: His kindness, His faithfulness, His humility, His providence, His might, etc... It's important for people -- everyone, not just old people, or just old people, or just Christians, or just non-Christians (AKA: pre-Christians sometimes, IMO), or just scholars, or just "normal people, or just pastors, or just boys, or just girls, etc... (you get the point) -- to spend time thinking about stuff -- great, big, wonderful, heavenly stuff! Like J. Piper says in this sermon (I read it last night, so yeah, it's fresh in my mind), "God calls us to something great. He did not give you life to spend it on troughs [in relation to the Grand Canyon] and trifles." There's an infinite wealth of wisdom (i.e. practical information) and delightful revelation in the Words of God (both written and spoken) that God is just bursting to show us, if only we let Him. There's so much to learn, to ponder, to consider, to dissect, to be taught, to be shown that we'd be fools to waste our time distracted by the "trifles" in life. We were designed to give glory to God, and to crave what only He can provide. That's perfect because -- more-John-Piper warning -- "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."
** I am in no way saying that man is naturally good or attributing this discernment to man's glory. It is a gift of God, the very breath of God, and so is not from ourselves, meaning that we claim no glory for it. I am also not contradicting my belief in man's total depravity before God, since this understanding of right and wrong alone is wholly lacking in terms of a means of reaching God without His providence to do so. : P
I stumbled upon John Piper's site yesternight as I was wandering the web aimlessly, looking for a good read. He's got all his sermons archived on his site for your reading or listening pleasure. It's a good resource for someone like me, who likes to read and learn on his own rather than in a classroom. Anyway, click the title for a link to read one of his sermons on Flesh vs Spirit.
Most of the time (though not always, see below) it does not simply refer to the physical part of you. (Paul does not regard the body as evil in itself.) The flesh is the ego which feels an emptiness and uses the resources in its own power to try to fill it. Flesh is the "I" who tries to satisfy me with anything but God's mercy.
I've always liked Piper's style. There's something about the way he words and phrases things that just make it easy for me to grasp. Anyway, go check out the sermon and the rest of the site. Definitely good spiritual food.
Come thou fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above! I'll praise the mount -- I'm fixed upon it -- Mount of thy redeeming love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer, Hither by thy help I come. And I hope, by thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood.
O to Grace, how great a debtor, Daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to thee! Prone to wander -- Lord I feel it -- Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for thy courts above.
O that day, when freed from sinning, I shall see Thy lovely face: Clothed then in blood, washed linen, How I’ll sing Thy sovereign Grace! Come my Lord -- no longer tarry -- Take my ransomed soul away. Send thine angels, now to carry Me to realms of endless day. - Come Thou Fount
This hymn has always been my favourite (though I don't exactly know a plethora of the). Read the words carefully and take some time to think and whatnot. I'd bold the good parts as I do normally, but I'd just end up bolding the whole thing. Enjoy (click here for track).
Note: The version I uploaded to Zshare is an adaptation by David Crowder Band; it does not have the fourth verse. Go figure.
I'm surprised I haven't posted earlier about David Crowder. He's like, the only artist of his trade (Christian worship music making) that I really enjoy listening to. Style points for his music -- though his freaky hair and beard are also quite... different. Anyway, this song is one of my favourites from him. Have fun. Click title for download.
I am full of earth; You are heaven’s worth. I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity. You are everything that is bright and clean, The antonym of me: You are divinity.
But a certain sign of grace is this: From the broken earth flowers come up, Pushing through the dirt!
You are holy, holy, holy; All heaven cries “Holy, holy God!” You are holy, holy, holy; I want to be holy like You are.
You are everything that is bright and clean, And You’re covering me with Your majesty.
And the truest sign of grace was this: From wounded hands redemption fell down, Liberating man!
You are wholly, wholly holy; All heaven cries “Wholly holy, God!” You are wholly, wholly holy; I want to be holy like You are.
But the harder I try the more clearly can I Feel the depth of our fall and the weight of it all. And so this might could be the most impossible thing: Your grandness in me making me clean!
Glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! So here I am -- all of me -- Finally! Everything! Wholly, wholly, wholly! I am wholly... Yours.
I am full of earth and dirt and You... - David Crowder Band, Wholly Yours
EDIT: This song speaks of the unregenerate man, the human being that cannot, from within himself, create or attain any goodness because of his total depravity from God. In simpler terms, this songs paints a picture of a person who is hopelessly helpless, and is to be completely dependant on God's grace, mercy, and lovingkindness if he is to truly live in God's light. Human effort/willpower is a false crutch that will ultimately still fall far short of God's standard of perfection. This is not to say that we are hopeless, for we, those elected by name by God Himself (not based on merit or gold but based on His good pleasure alone), have been provided with the gift of grace to hope upon. It can only be taken hold of and realized when we, the sinful saints, are given the [fruit of the] spirit of humility by the Holy Ghost and come to terms with our true position in light of God. Seeing our sinful state, the just wrath of God that it deserves, and yet the saving grace of God unwaiveringly covering us in one moment is a humbling experience. By Christ's work alone, we can stand naked before God, just as we are, without shame or dread, for Christ is our pride and joy. Repentance should be the natural -- and really, only -- response from us after witnessing such love and kindness, and repentance is not complete until a change of heart and thus, action, has taken place. Amen!
