Christians and the Mind

A lot of Christian experience is based all on emotions. Based on how we feel. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but I wonder if we have neglected the mind? If you ask many Christians today to tell people "what" they believe I'm sure many Christians are able to do so.

But if you ask them, "why" it's true, I'm willing to bet my house that many Christians have no clue. I really believe that is the problem with today's Christianity. Can we answer questions like "Is the Bible reliable?"; "Why is Sex before marriage wrong for you?"; "Why is drunkeness is bad?"

Can we answer these questions without using the cliche "Because the Bible says so...?"

If you use that, then I have a question for you-"why does the Bible say that?" Is it just for fun or because God had nothing better to do?

Here is a good article that I found at the Christian Post. I agree with the article whole heartedly.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100120/apologist-youths-need-truth-not-easy-believism/index.html

The role of Obedience

A Christian's relationship with God should be the most important aspect of his life. It's a relationship that should be vibrant and alive. A relationship which values honesty and transparency- that challenges you, builds you up and refines your character. It is a friendship between you and God, not anyone else, just you and God. To fathom that reality is very hard to do-that the God of this universe calls you friend is mind boggling. It hurts my head just thinking about it. I can talk to God whenever I want. He is there always listening to my worries, struggles and even things that are probably meaningless like tv shows, sports and movies.

But the thing that we need to remember is that God speaks too. So often we love to take over the conversation and its just us talking- blah blah blah blah- and then bye God, see you later. We seldom take the time to just sit and stay silent- listening for God to speak.

But when He does speak, it becomes a moment of decision. We need to decide if we are going to obey or not. That's the thing I find puzzling with some Christians. They want God to speak; they want guidance; they want God to direct their paths- yet when an answer comes it's either not what they expected or it's too hard and painful to do- so they do their own thing. They take the path of least resistance. In other words, it's called disobedience. Then they wonder why life has gone so wrong. As much as it's hard to say, we reap what we sow.

A relationship with God also requires obedience. After all, we do call Jesus our "Lord" don't we? But I'm not sure why people don't take that seriously? Why don't we treat Him as such?
It's funny because we love to use phrases like Jesus is the center of our lives. But if we are honest is He? Can we tell Him honestly that we are having trouble revolving our lives around Him? Can we just admit that were just adding Jesus to our lives when its convenient? These are hard things to admit. But we need to admit it first before we can move forward.

If we truly believe that God knows best and in fact He holds the future, than no matter how hard or inconvenient it is we need to obey, not doing so will only hurt us in the long run.

New Years Resolutions

Here are my 2010 New Year's Resolutions

1. Eat healthier and exercise- limit the junk food

2. Don't be lazy!

3. Don't waste time!

4. Read even more books (I read a lot in 2009- but I want more!!)

5. Pray everyday!

6. Have more self-control when watching Raptor games

7. Listen to more Sermon Podcasts (at least 3 sermons a week)

CHUCK "Olympics" Promo!! It's sweet!!!

Another CHUCK Promo!

The State of the Raptors

A quarter into the season and it has been nothing but disappointing. The Raptors have a record of 10-15, one game out of the 8th spot. They have been under achieving greatly. The thing that bothers me the most is not the talent. We are definitely talented. We have good players. It is the energy and effort on the court that has been so frustrating.

They show no energy at all! They put no effort! They are so complacent and non-chalant. There is no sense of urgency. Chris Bosh has been playing amazing! But the lack of energy and horrible defense have allowed teams to score at will. We have 9 new players and yet the same problems. Our defense- if it continues will be the worst defense in NBA history!

Hedo Turkoglu has not lived up to expectations. I'm not sure what it is but I believe the Raptors are cursed. It's the Vince Carter curse! Ugh! When will this end??? We can't lose Bosh! If we lose Bosh this will be catastrophic! This will hurt the Raptors so much! Please God please save us from this curse. I cannot endure another losing season. Raps fans have been through so much. We deserve a break!

Heres hoping that the second quarter will be better than the first. We still in it! No time to panic...yet??!

The Christians in Glee

On Tuesday, I was watching one my new favorite shows of the year- Glee!! It was the episode where Quinn's parents found out that she was pregnant. Now if you don't know anything about the show, Quinn is supposed to be the President of the Celibacy Club and her parents are "Christians". It's always funny to see how media portrays Christians and usually it's always in a bad light. But I can't really blame them because there are a lot of Christians who are in fact jerks and really mean. But then again, there are a lot of Christians who are kind and loving.

What interested me the most about this episode was the reaction of Quinn's parents at the revelation that she was pregnant. As I was watching, I was really hoping that Quinn's parents were going to react in a graceful and forgiving manner. But instead her parents got mad and kicked her out of the house. It was so sad. Quinn was obviously remorseful and she even admitted that she made a mistake. With tears she apologized and cried for help.

Unfortunately, there would be no help, no grace and no forgiveness. All we got was Parents that were so embarrassed and so ashamed, that the only solution they can think of was to kick her out. Wow! And there supposed to be Christians too. How sad.

Contrast this with Fin's mother, a single mother, most likely not a Christian and she also finds out in this episode that Fin is going to be a father. And her reaction was more Christlike than the so called Christians. She was so supportive and she held her child as he cried in her arms. Assuring him that everything will be ok. She even took Quinn and gave her a home- gave her a place to stay.

It is so ironic that the ones that claim to follow Jesus are the least like Him, yet the one that does not claim to follow Jesus, looks more like Him. Ugh! How pitiful! If we are to call ourselves Christians then we better paint an accurate picture of Christ. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are: kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, love, peace, patience, goodness, and self-control. How many Christians look like the "fruits" above?

I am not saying to ignore the sin or to excuse it, but if someone is sorry for it and remorseful shouldn't we forgive?? No matter how horrible the sin? Wouldn't Jesus do that to us when we seek forgiveness? Never in the Gospels do we ever see Jesus struggling to forgive someone. It's funny how we talk about grace- yet we are so horribly slow to show it.

I'm getting sick of our reputation in the World- it does not paint an accurate picture of Christ. It actually paints a distorted one. I'm going to see the "Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock on Friday. Here's hoping the Christians in this one paint a better, a more accurate picture of Jesus.