Not another one…

This is just becoming ridiculous. When will these huge corporations realize that their endorsement of homosexuality is going to hurt their business? Pepsi Co. has joined the ranks of the politically active ignorant. I was never a huge fan of Pepsi anyway, but I did like their other products, such as Tropicana. I would like to encourage you to join the boycott (you can get more info here). Please sign the petition as well. It takes effort to stop evil (I went without McDoanld’s sweet tea for months, but it worked), but if we don’t band together to send a message, then we will be forced to live with evil being forced into our lives.

Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

http://www.boycottpepsico.com/

Happy Birthday, Jesus?

The Christmas season has just come to a close. Unsatisfied gift recipients will be lining up at the returns department in every store, the garbage industry will kick in to overdrive, and most people will quickly forget the joy and caring that comes with the season; but what about Jesus? So many put his name in bright lights, made birthday cakes (real or otherwise) and made a point of reminding everyone they met just WHO was the “reason for the season.”

Where did this notion come from; this idea that not only is December 25th the birthday of Christ, but that he wants us to celebrate it by maxing out our credit cards, putting lights on our houses, giving canned goods to the local food shelter, and dropping a coin or two in every red bucket we see in front of every store? Most cultures have some form of a Christmas-like holiday in their traditions. A winter holiday that involves the exchanging of gifts, and usually some kindly character who brings presents to children. It is almost as universal as the Great Deluge tradition. Well, you can thank the Catholics for this one. They tried to get the pagans to give up all of their idolatrous practices and convert to Catholicism, but they still held on to that winter holiday. So, the Catholics compromised. Why not just change the holiday a little? Instead of them worshipping the tree, they can remember the birth of Christ! Everyone was happy, but no one bothered to check The Bible.

Col 3:17 – And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. KJV

I read nowhere in entirety of the New Testament, or even the Old Testament, where we are commanded, or it is implied that we celebrate Jesus’s birth. I have heard people argue the “example theory,” (since the wise men and shepherds did it, we should too). While, in one sense, I understand the logic behind this argument, it doesn’t hold water. Jesus told us how we should remember him.

1 Cor 11:24-26 – And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat : this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. KJV

Of course, this doesn’t mean that in all our comings and goings we should only think about our Lord’s death. He could not have died had he not lived. However, remembering, and celebrating are two entirely different things. We are commanded to learn God’s Word and meditate on it. That does not mean putting up a blinking neon sign that says “Happy Burthday Jesus.”

I could argue the point that Jesus was most likely born around the time of our months of August and September (December doesn’t make much sense anyway, shepherds would have their sheep in a arn in December and they would be in bed, it’s cold in December!), but that is irrelevant, because the point is that there is no authority for celebrating the birth of Christ. If there were, we would have been given instructions on how to properly do it. Since there are no such instructions, and no authority either, it must be added to The Scripture. We are warned about the dangers of adding to The Word of God in the book of Revelation:

Rev 22:18 – For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. KJV

Christian Music and Christmas Music: The Season of Hypocrisy

Christmas: it’s the most wonderful time of the year, right? It is the only time of year when people remember remember to visit the widows and the fatherless, give to others, and generally try to be good.

I have noticed an interesting trend among Christians around Christmas. Even those who do not hold to the “Jesus is the reason for the season” mentality have no problem listening to religious Christmas songs. Those who at any other time of the year would stop their ears at the sound of a piano mingled with The Lord’s name in song, will turn their radio up at the first bars of “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful.”

Why is this? Why does Christmas cause amnesia in Christians? The Bible is clear on the subject of instrumental music used in worship:

Eph 5:19 – Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; KJV

Col 3:16-17 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. KJV

Col. 3:17 says we must have Biblical authority for everything we do, and nowhere in the New Testament is instrumental music authorized in the worship of God. The only authorized instrument is the heart, which goes back to the statement Jesus made in John 4:25 about worshiping in spirit.

John 4:25 – God is a Spirit : and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. KJV

So, if in the other 11 months of the year Christians will scream out in holy indignation over mechanical instruments being used in worship to God, or even worse, the name of God being used with mechanical instruments as entertainment, why do they say nothing during the Christmas season?

Why is it that so many Christians want to celebrate Christmas as Jesus’s birthday? Like most “christian” holidays, this holiday was developed by the Catholic church to combine a pagan holiday with a “christian celebration.”

I had a friend tell me last year that he thought that celebrating Christmas as Jesus’s birthday was important (even though he conceded that Jesus was, in fact, NOT born during the time period of our month of December, but rather closer to August or September), because, he said, it is important to tell people about Jesus, and that is a way of getting them to come listen. Why is it necessary to lie to people, operate outside of Biblical authority (nowhere are we commanded or authorized to celebrate Jesus’s birth) to tell people about Jesus? Especially, as my friend added, that it would not be appropriate to discuss Jesus’s death during a time of celebration. Isn’t that the point of telling people about Jesus? To tell them that He died for their sins? What good does it do a lost sinner to say “Jesus was born in a manger, and there was a huge star, and shepherds were there, and three kings, and lots of expensive presents were given to him”? I dare say there are few sinners who would suddenly realize the error of their ways and their need to be saved after hearing a story like that.

As Christians it is our obligation to teach The Gospel. So many would rather put on a Christmas play than to toss a lifeline to a drowning sinner. So the next time you hear “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” on the radio, think. The next time you hear someone talking about their church’s Christmas pageant, think.

I would be interested to hear why some of you may listen to religious Christmas music, but won’t listen to the so-called “Christian music,” or why you think it is OK to hold Christmas pageants, or anything else I discussed. Please leave me a comment.

Why does it Matter?

A large number of those who call themselves Christians and profess to be religious, and follow The Bible are outraged, shocked, depressed and generally upset that Barack Hussein Obama will be the next president of the United States. My question to them is: Why does it matter? Politically, yes, it matters. It’s a shocking and devastating tragedy for the members of the vast right-wing conspiracy, but it isn’t for Christians.

As Christians, our focus should be on God and God alone, and the things of this earth should not matter, should not affect our ability or our zeal to do what is right. Yes, persecution could (and I’m sure will) arise, but why should that stop us? Did it stop the prophets? Did it stop Jesus? Did it stop His apostles? The answer is very clearly “no.”

Instead of whining about the horror that awaits us, we should renew our efforts and our strength to do The Will of God, no matter what persecutions we face, no matter what problems arise, and no matter how much the laws of our country are disobeyed. A righteous few can save a nation. Don’t forget: if there had been 10 righteous people in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah the cities would not have fell.

Does God Love Gays?

I was recently accused by a member of my college’s homosexuals’ club and a member of the social workers club of saying “God hates gays.” While I didn’t actually say this, and in actuality what I said was twisted by these groups to make me look bad, as I relayed the story to my peers there was an opinion by some of them that God actually does hate gays. I found this interesting and I would like to examine this claim.

There should be no doubt in the minds of Christians that homosexuality is a sin.

1 Cor 6:9-10 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (KJV).

“effeminate,” “abusers of themselves with mankind,” these are 17th century terms for homosexuality.

Lev 18:22 “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” KJV

This verse is pretty clear on the subject, “Don’t do it. It’s bad.” Is essentially what the verse says.

I do not want to go into too much discussion over the sin of homosexuality because The Bible is replete with verses condemning the practice, and that is not the topic I am discussing today.

So, since homosexuals are sinning, does that mean that God hates them? As with anything, let us see what The Bible has to say.

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish , but that all should come to repentance.” KJV

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” KJV

John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” KJV

John 14:15 “If ye love me , keep my commandments.” KJV

There are more passages, but this is enough for our discussion.

The first passage from 2 Peter is discussing the coming of The Lord, and his audience had been hearing, apparently, people were mocking the coming of The Lord saying ‘why hasn’t he come yet?’ Peter was explaining to his audience why The Lord had not come yet, but look at what he says. “The Lord…is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God has not destroyed the world yet because He wants sinners to repent. He wants ALL sinners to repent, that’s what the verse says. It doesn’t say He is going to wait until everyone repents, it just says that that is what He wants. If God did hate gays, why not go ahead and destroy the world and be done with it?

The second verse, taken from John, and probably the most well-known Bible verse, Did God send Jesus for the righteous? Of course not; Jesus denied this himself:
Matt 9:13 “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” KJV
So, if Jesus died for sinners, that means that he died for homosexuals. Going to out third passage then, that means that Jesus loves homosexuals.

I think it is important, however, to examine what love is, what it means for those who receive it, and what is required of them. Many in the world today, both Christians and secularists claim that they are forgiven of their sins because God loves them. They say that when they sin they are automatically forgiven because God loves everyone. While I would agree with the statement that “God loves everyone,” I think it is necessary to see what God’s universal love means. It is found in The Bible, of course.
1 John 4:9 “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” KJV
God shows his love toward us by sending His Son, so that we might be saved. This is found again in Romans.
Rom 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners , Christ died for us.” KJV
This is how God loves us all; he gave us the means by which to receive salvation.

More sobering, I think, is the flip-side of the coin, as we look at the last verse which is from John. Our love to God is showed in one way: by keeping His commandments. When we sin, we do not show Love to God. I think a more important question to ask, when someone brings up “Does God love gays?” would be “Do gays love God?” So many claim they do, but do they show it?

The Importance of Fighting

Lately I have encountered a lot of people who are willing to live and let live. I am puzzled by this attitude because most of these people consider themselves either Christians, Conservatives, or both, and they are willing to let the opposition stand unopposed. I will examine their arguments individually, and then analyze them.

I have heard several Christians say that they think that same-sex marriage should be allowed, abortion is OK, and other such things “because it is none of their business what other people do.” Another argument I hear is that “it doesn’t affect me, so they can do whatever they want.” To hear this from someone who is not a Christian is not shocking in the least, this is a typical view from those who are not part of The Kingdom. I am shocked to hear Christians take this stance. I suppose I was naïve to think that Christians would actually follow the Biblical example of fighting. Clearly I was wrong.

The first argument is related to the second, but I will discuss them separately. To say that it is none of your business is either naïve or cowardly. Either you don’t realize that it is your business, or you don’t want to fight it. There is no middle ground.

Ezek 33:8 “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” (KJV)

While this warning was spoken to Ezekiel, it is applicable to us today.

The second argument that “it doesn’t affect you” can be answered by simply refuting the entirety of it. Sin brings shame on a people.

Proverbs 14:34 says “Righteousness exalteth a nation : but sin is a reproach to any people.” (KJV).

Homosexuality and murder (abortion) are both sins:

1 Cor 6:9-10 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (KJV).

If sin is a reproach to a nation, and you see sin in your nation, then it is your business. If you don’t side with right and confront the sin then you are aiding those who engage in sinful actions.

Finally, there are those who don’t want to offend anyone. As Christians, this should not even be a concern. Our Savior didn’t list it among His priorities, so neither should we.

Matt 15:12-14“Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” (KJV)

Introduction

I have decided that I need an outlet for issues and thoughts constantly going through my head. This blog will mostly discuss Biblical/religious issues/topics. If you would like to view my political blog, go here, or if you would like to view my education/local politics blog go here. This is a really short introduction, but I will hopefully be rolling out some new material soon.