A Rant on Greenville's "Christianity"

I'm so glad I didn't grow up in Greenville. If I had, I have little doubt in my mind that I'd be an atheist. The Christian community here makes the whole of Bluefield look like Saints.  If it weren't for my parents, a few good Christian leaders that the Greenville area seems hell-bent on labeling "not Christian enough," and the Godly examples of the friends of my family back in Virginia, I'd think I was being fed a bunch of lies when read the Bible.
This region is disgusting. The only people I can trust around here to lead an exemplary life are people who've sworn off the so-called church because it's no longer a Church, it's a social club to be catty, holier-than-thou at after fucking the pastor's pre-teen daughter on Sunday so you could get the position on the board of Elders and earn the title of "spiritual leader."
I honestly think the best thing for this area, and quite possibly the country as a whole, is for it to fall to religious persecution. After all, the Church has always thrived under persecution. Persecution makes us forget about the things that don't really matter and focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This need is evidenced by the rampant complacency in some parts of the Church for doctrine, and the vile hatred for the lost in the name of "loving doctrine" or "despising sin" in others.

Christians in a transient culture

In my personal experience, most "Christians" who scream, "don't conform to the world's culture" don't mean it. What they REALLY mean is, "make sure you're conforming to the culture of days gone by, regardless of the wrongs it contained."
Where is the discernment? Are we content to look at past cultures through rose-colored glasses and always be a generation removed from the current culture that surrounds us?
What benefit is that? Is all the church stands for merely a throwback culture; a place people sick of dealing with trends and fashion waves can go and make themselves feel better because they now have a "moral" reason to not follow what's going on in the world around them?
Such an attitude won't last. Eventually, people will wake up. Eventually, they'll realize they don't need a moral reason to not conform to the prevailing social trends. They'll realize that they only need to have a different preference and enough backbone to stand out because they want to.
Such an attitude is happening today.
Such a wake-up call is making pastors sound like fools and Christians who hold to yesterday's trends and cry that it's "for moral reasons" look like idiots.
Why? Because it wasn't too long ago that anything below a woman's neckline was too much skin to show. Because now the same church that said a piano was of the devil, only fit for bars and pleasure halls is screaming that a church without a piano is sinful.
Because the church has set its foundation on a base that is as transient as the next social revolution, not the truths of Scripture.
You can cry, "thou shalt be modest," "thou shalt be above reproach," but any thinking individual will look at you and say, "that two-piece suit was grossly immodest a few generations back, and in twenty years, my jeans and turtleneck will look just as over dressed as you," and walk away; justifiably so.
The church is holding people to a standard that is changing, and yet preaches that we serve a God who never changes.
Such a double-standard will not win a generation that can think.
So are we to do away with standards? No. But we must make sure our standards are not transient. Rather than concern ourselves with whether a modest neckline is four finger widths below the collarbone or a span, maybe we should set standards that are more immutable. If I journey to the jungles of Africa where the women typically run around topless, suddenly my five-finger width below the neckline standard is grossly over-the top.
What is the solution? Admit we're wrong. Admit that not every "standard" is absolute. Yes, God does give us standards that are absolute. But there are some things, like what is modest, that He left to our disgression. If He wanted to give us standards for modesty, He could have easily given us the pattern for the garments He made Adam and Eve after the Fall.
He didn't.
In His Wisdom, He left some things undefined. Why He did so is a subject we can debate from now until eternity, but there is no point to it. We might as well debate how many angels fit on a pinhead for all the good it will do.
He did define this: "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." That coming gives us plenty to work on without worrying about such transient things as culture.

Today sucks. Tomorrow will be better.

Any attempt to promote yourself as a "Christian" environment; meaning a wholesome, safe, secure place is doomed to fail. This is because a "Christian" isn't someone who never does wrong. You are starting on a false premise.
A "Christian" is someone who does wrong, but accepts God's forgiveness and trusts in God's grace to give him the ability to do right.
A Christian environment isn't free of wrongdoing. A Christian environment openly admits that wrong has been done, and lovingly enables the wrongdoer to not do wrong again. A theif isn't beaten down and told "go find a job, don't steal." A theif is told, "hey, here's a job we need done that your talents fit. Work for us and we'll pay you a decent wage."
An environment that tries to label itself Christian, but hide wrongdoing from the public eye is going to fail. Not only is it going to fail, it will do more to mar the name Christian than if it just admitted they weren't perfect in the first place. Not admitting you're a sinner is just as much a slight to Christ as saying, "yeah, I'm a Christian, but I'm going to sin anyway."
The gospel is keyed to, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Anyone that's been through the Romans' Road knows the first "step" to Salvation is admitting you're a sinner in need of God's grace.
And anyone that's been an honest Christian knows that accepting God's grace doesn't immediately transform you, or any other Christian, into a sinless person.
To try and hide the fact that Christians are sinners from the world is to lie to the world about who Christians are, and lie about the real need for Christ.
We should strive for honesty with those around us. Because honesty is more powerful than a polished front.
I know, it's very utopian of me. But you know what, dreaming and striving for a better world can't be all that bad. I don't expect it to happen in my lifetime. But I do think my life can make a difference. Not just by living for today, but by living so I'll make a difference sixty years from today. By living for a brighter future. Because I know it will someday happen, He promised me it will. And I believe Him.

Ambassadors

As a kid, I made a pledge. This was not a "purity" pledge or any of the commercial fluff that the modern Christian pop-culture has produced that effectively drives a wedge between young adults and their relationship with Christ. This was a pledge that stuck with me and has driven, sometimes unconciously, my walk with God over the years.
It was the Royal Ambassador's pledge. I'll copy it here for reference.

"As a Royal Ambassador I will do my best: to become a well-informed, responsible follower of Christ; to have a Christ-like concern for all people; to learn how to carry the message of Christ around the world; to work with others in sharing Christ; and to keep myself clean and healthy in mind and body."

That pledge came to mind today as I read a post a friend on Facebook made.
She said,

"A group of Christians showed up at a Chicago gay pride parade in July. They were holding up signs saying “I’m sorry that Christians judge you” “I’m sorry for how the churches treated you”"

This post got me to thinking. As the Royal Ambassador (RA) motto states, "We are Ambassadors for Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Remember, the job of any Ambassador is to communicate the message of his lord. If the Ambassador uses words that do not properly relay the intended message, he is failing his lord.
It doesn't matter if the recipiant is "hostile" to the lord, the Ambassador must find a way to burn through the hostility, find an area of common understanding, and relay the message in light of the common understanding. That is the definition of communication, and the duty of an Ambassador. Being an Ambassador is also a learning experience. An Ambassador learns how to better understand his lord, and how to better understand the people his lord has sent him to. The duty is a life long learning experience.
An Ambassador's duty is NOT to sit and pontificate or dictate terms. An Ambassador is a peaceful mediator.

We are Ambassadors for Christ. We are peaceful mediators. We are supposed to learn how to communicate Christ's message in a way that reflects Him, the Holy and Just God who "so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." Not a God of hate.

Christianity, Dungeons and Dragons, and shooting your own wounded.

The Knight Shift: Gary Gygax and Christianity: Dungeons & Dragons creator was a believer
This article was informative and the supporting links very clearly back the facts. Gary's own statements from Gen Con 2007 sealed any critical doubts anyone could have.
This did surprise me that Gary claimed faith in Christ, but the supporting articles did point to some small details of the early game that I was unaware of. The spells that reflect Biblical miracles were right there in front of me and it never clicked.
It did not surprise me that Christians managed once again to shred their own. There are plenty that speak against C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien simply for dabbling in a creative fantasy world using tools given them by their Creator for His glory. Perhaps the only reason other Christians so vocally support Lewis and Tolkien is because their other works are so blatantly "Christian" that they somehow are more worthy of vindication.
I hold that Gary is equally worthy. He created a game that could have been a magnificent tool in the hands of Christians to reach others. Imagine a story-telling game where you could demonstrate moral principles in subtle ways to your players.
Sadly, Christians smashed that tool underfoot and left it unused. They left a loaded gun for the enemy to pick up and point right back at them. Nay, they picked up the gun and pointed it at their own head.

Been saying this for a good long while. Posting here for safe keeping.

Government, marriage rights, and same-sex marriage | Washington Times Communities

Dealing With Imprudence

Just venting and putting my thoughts to letters.

I try to be cordial and not cause trouble as much as I am able. However, this does not mean that I will allow myself, or my family to be walked over or treated with disrespect.
I have always been of the mind that good intentions don't amount to much in this world, and thus I give very little consideration to an individual's intentions; only their actions, the way a person comes across, and the results of a person's actions hold much weight with me.

I have very specific beliefs about what is and is not a person's business; my income and welfare being among them. Only two people in the world, as far as I am concerned, have any "right" to that information, myself being one, and my fiancée being the other. Anyone else, my family included, is only informed of such information if I or my fiancée see it appropriate. Note, Lydia and I are the only two persons who are entitled to make such a decision of appropriateness. No one else.
For anyone to press and pry into our affairs is rude, and disrespectful. A single inquiry with a polite reply is understandable, I do not expect anyone to read my mind and know my preferences on things of this nature. However, once that person has been informed that this is the state of affairs, I expect the subject to be dropped and left alone.
To continue to pry and insist you know better than me how to run my life is rude and disrespectful, and I will not sit and endure such action.
Today, I had to deal with such rudeness.
The inquiry is not the primary insult, of course. It was merely the catalyst to a larger issue.
The issue is how I and my fiancee see fit to run our lives. It is our life, and no one else's. No family member, no friend, no stranger, no aquaintence has any right to tell us how to live. It is our decision, between us and God, and no one else. No priest, no financial advisor, no culture has any authority to order or advise unless we ask for that advise.
If I desired someone's council, I would have asked for it. For an individual to insist on giving it without asking is an offence. To continue to offer it after being graciously informed the advice was unecessary, and to press the point is rude and unbecoming. Today, such nosy rudeness was pressed on me and Lydia. I responded with as much grace as I was able under the situation and left.
To say that such a prying slight was unexpected would be a lie. Thanks to the family grapevine, the poor opinions the individual in question holds were known to me. I do have ears. My fiancée communicates such matters to me, as communication is a key point to any relationship, most especially a marriage. I had hoped that prudence and standard politeness would keep this situation from manifesting. It was a small hope, but a hope nonetheless. Unfortunately, such a mercy was not bestowed on myself and Lydia.
I have dealt with such rudeness. I refuse to endure it again, unless a full apology is made and the method of behavior is ammended. Apology without repentance is no apology. It is a lie for convenience sake.
Anyway, vent over.

Musing

He was faced with a bitter choice; fight, fly, or freeze. He couldn't fly, and he didn't freeze. And men of God condemned him for his choice.
Is he so low that he should allow himself to be battered? Is God's shepherd so high that he may declare such violence as God's will?
No one else makes such a declamation. They understand.
He cries:
Lord, why can't Your people understand? I want to be in your house. I want to feel Christian love. But every time I try, all I hear are that minister's damning words. And I wonder if any shepherd could ever see me as anything but an animal you must not corner. A beast, a demon, a bomb.
This man just wants to go his way. Maybe be loved, be held by a sweet someone who doesn't mind his pain, his scars. He doesn't wish for wealth or fame. He just wants to live, to love, and have someone who views him the same.
He's tired of viewing others suspiciously. He is tired of wondering if they will force him to choose to fight, fly, or freeze.
He just wants a place he can worship and a woman he can trust. He's buried his heart so deep, and no one wants to dig it up. And that truth is killing him.
Where are the Christians for him?
Not knocking on his door. Not inviting him to come to church with them. He won't come to any general invitation. Life has wounded him to the point he must be coaxed, like a wounded animal, gently, slowly. And like a wounded hawk loves and is loyal to his healer, so will he be. Who will reach him, Christian? Or will he be lost to the void?