Why part 2

Please understand that I am trying to be totally honest here. I am also being completely subjective. This is not a presentations of facts, and logical insights that lead to certain understanding. I am not following an evidence that demands a verdict style of presentation. Rather I am telling my story, I am trying to do so honestly, and trying not to edit myself for effect.

With this in mind, I do not expect to convince anyone, but rather to explain myself. This is not an exercise in debate, or argument, but rather one of revelation. There are some things I will not talk about in depth, this is because I have a huge amount of respect for them, and will not subject them to public scrutiny or ridicule, I hope you can understand that.

So lets start with my beginnings. I grew up in a very marginally catholic home. My dad was more of a deist, he believed that there must be some kind of creator, but that this being whatever it was was both unknowable, and disinterested in its creation. My mother was a very strong believing catholic, but did not practice regularly for most of her life. I went to catechism, made first communion, and later went to Catholic school in Jr High and High School.

When I was very young, 10 or 11 years old the charismatic movement was effecting the catholic church that I was associated with. This belief was that the Holy Spirit, (the spiritual influencing part of the community of God) was active in our lives, allowing us to understand God's voice, and even doing miracles. It was very emotional, and of course this emotion was believed to be evidence of God's presence in our midst, which is how I took it as well.

During one meeting they left a mic turned on at the front of the church and asked people to come up if they believed God had given them a message for the church. I believed, and still believed that certain words came into my head that were not my own. I didn't hear a voice, but more realized a few sentences. So I walked up and said what I thought was God's message. I was told later that my voice sounded different, and a number of different things, but at the time I just felt like I had responded to God. I did not stay in the church for much longer. I began to drift further and further away, and though I did believe in God (and Jesus, as this is how I was raised to understand God) it had nothing to do with the day to day living of my life. I went to church once and a while, or when I had to, but there was no real faith in my life.

I learned a lot in school, they were actually quite forthright about church history, and gave the ugly side of things as well as the nice. But my cultural bias towards Christianity was actually quite small, but it was prevailing. The experience with the charismatic prophecy or whatever you want to call it, was the only personal experience I had until I was 18 and it wasn't enough to hold me.

I will continue, this is a long process, so please be patient

Why I am a believer in Jesus

I have been asked many times by my atheist friends why I believe in Jesus, or God in general. The question is usually unintentionally pretty aggressive. It often goes something like this, "john, you seem like a fairly intelligent guy, and you aren't brain washed, how can you believe in God?"

Well, this might take some time. So sit back and relax, I will tackle this issue over a few weeks most likely. In doing so I will borrow or steal from NT Wright, Alvin Plantinga, CS Lewis, and probably a few others that I just can't remember. I most likely won't deal with questions in the comment section, unless they are about clarifying what I already said. If I don't answer you, it is because I am scared of your question and buried my head in the sand...

or I will be addressing it in later posts.

I will do this in this order:

The subjective reasons that I personally have come to this belief

The less subjective reasons why I think that a belief in God is reasonable

The less subjective reasons why I believe that Jesus, and Christianity is the most correct path of many

The less subjective reasons why I do not believe in a godless abiogenesis

And how I deal with some tough questions about the nature of evil, difficult bible passages, and biblical interpretation

I will most likely begin the first part tomorrow morning

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Atheist church (I was guest speaker)

My brother does an atheist church every week, he asked me to be his guest speaker last week, hope you enjoy, and pardon my potty mouth

part one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5WuCjwybUc


part two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHHpvEWcTH8

The beatitudes and salt and light

So tonight we once again talked about how we are putting the beatitudes into practice in our lives. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the mourners, those that hunger and thirst for justice, the pure in heart, the merciful, the peacemakers, those that are persecuted for justice sake. Each of us shared about how we tried to live one of these out over the week previous. But we also talked about the very next set of verses in Jesus sermon on the mount (matthew chapters 5-7 in the bible)

These next few verses may be familiar to you. You are the salt of the earth, and you are the light of the world. See, in Jesus the kingdom of God has come, has begun. His disciples are called to walk in this kingdom community, and the beatitudes begin to show how radically different this is to what they see in the world, and even what they expect from the Messiah. It is not the powerful that are blessed by God, but the meek. It is not the rich that are blessed by God, but the poor. It is not those that have all the justice they could desire but those that are actually suffering injustice and longing for it. Jesus turns the world upside down. And then explains how this will effect the world.

Contrary to many of our Christian domination ideas, Jesus says that we will be a flavor and preservative for the world. We will not force them to live right, but we will give them a taste of something different, and we will keep the world from getting spoiled, just by our being in it.

And again, we are not to hide away and practice our kingdom outside of the world, or more currently, to create our own "Christian" version of culture that we hide out in. But instead, we become a light in darkness. Matthew calls us to not try and influence from the top, but instead to influence from the margins. To be a light in darkness.

So as we walk out these radical new ways of being, we become that which give the world a taste of heaven, that preserves the world for heaven, and that shines a light, that calls people out of darkness. This is how the kingdom is meant to influence, from a position of love, and service, not from a position of power

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Something I have been thinking about

If you look at the way Jesus starts his ministry in the three synoptic gospels this is what you find:

Matthew 4:23 (New International Version)

Jesus Heals the Sick

²³Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

Mark 1:14 (New International Version)

The Calling of the First Disciples

¹⁴After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.

Luke 4:14-20 (New International Version)

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

¹⁴Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. ¹⁷The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."^a]">[a]

²⁰Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,

So Jesus starts his ministry in all three of these gospels with a declaration of the kingdom of God, or what that means. Though each author is writing to a different group of people, this is what they see as the important part of Jesus ministry, and its beginning. He begins his ministry by explaining that a new way of life is begun in His life. That this new way of living is the rulership of God. That that this new empire of God, is begun in Him, (yet we know that it is also going to be completed in His return).

But...

in John, the beginning of Jesus' signs (which John later tells us have special significance and will lead us to understand who Jesus is, and how we have life through him), is His actions at the Wedding at Cana. Here He turns water, set aside for ritual cleansing, into wine for the wedding party. Now there is so much in that. Jesus making huge amounts of high quality wine for a party where they already drank too much! The symbolism of taking ritual, and transforming it into a party! and much more.

However, if you look at things from an an end times or metaphorical way, you can see another interesting thing. Jesus starts his ministry by taking part in the celebration at a wedding feast. Now we often hear about the "great wedding feast" when Jesus and the church, finally get to be together, and the wonder of the fulfillment of history. But his first "sign" in John is becoming involved in a wedding ceremony and reception.

So lets put that with the other three gospels. Jesus starts his ministry in the three synoptic gospels talking about the beginning of something that we are to participate in, that will be fulfilled in its entirety, in the future. Now, and not yet. But in John, Jesus performs a sign at a wedding, that "begins" a party, that I believe symbolically, is the start of something that will be finished in the end times with the great marriage feast, the culmination of the kingdom.

This of course is just another layer of scripture, not more or less important from more literal truths, just something I have been thinking about. What is the application? I guess just the acknowledgment that all four gospels tell us of a way of living, initiated in Jesus, that we are invited to take part in, while waiting its fulfillment. I guess in Johns gospel we just see the celebration of it all, and are welcomed to the party

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today is my birthday

Got my tattoo on my forearm finished as a birthday present, woo hoo

mans best friend

my little man has been very concerned for me, as I have been sick.

dogs rule

cats suck

that is all

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"who's this faggot"

Sorry if I offend anyone with that title, its just a quote. Said about me.

I was asked to come talk to a few classes at a local high school about my experience as a fighter. These classes were with young people that were in danger of not continuing their high school experience. They were not too impressed with me.

It is always interesting to see how people react to what you have to say. In this instance I assumed I would not have a very interested or attentive audience. But the difference from class to class was weird. I told the same stories to each group, two of the groups seemed to be interested a bit, and two were really hard.

I talked about how hard you have to work to get ready for a fight, and then explained that if you want to do what you want, rather than what you have to, it usually takes more work. But in the end its worth it.

The last class I was waiting in the room for the period to start and one of the students said, "who's this faggot". Now, I could have explained that I was in fact a hetero sexual man. I could have explained that his language was very offensive, and not politically correct. I could have told him that I was not a bundle of wood, or a cigarette. Or I could have walked over and got in his face saying, "who you calling a faggot you little piece of shit?" But instead I acted like I didn't hear.

I would like to say however, that I really appreciated the effort and work the teachers put in. They get disrespected constantly, they are not listened to much at all, and none of the students appear to appreciate them at all. But they work very hard, above and beyond to care for those that most people have already given up on. That sounds like Jesus to me.

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scary guy

so I am at the art theater in Long Beach, which is in a fairly hip neighborhood, but like most hip neighborhoods its also not far from the ghetto. The wife and I were just going for a little bike ride. But we stopped in at the coffee annex there to get a drink. One of the owners, (who has always been very friendly and warm to me) invites me to come inside for a bite to eat.

Apparently there is a special party for mom's or something, because there is a lot of kids, and momma aged women, along with balloons and what not. The owner ducks behind a door for a second, and a young woman, from the right side of the tracks turns around and sees me. Well I hadn't shaved in a few days, I am 6'2" and about 235lbs right now. I have quite a few tattoo's, and my head is shaved. She got the most amazing look of shock, disgust and fear all mixed into one that I had ever seen. I just smiled.

I received my corn dog, (I am sure the lady now believed I was homeless and receiving charity), and was on my way. Glad I work on the wrong side of the tracks.

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Just started a couple of new books

The first one was given to me by my boss its called "in defense of food" the subtitle is eat food, not too much, mostly plants. So far it is a great read. It's about the rise of "nutritionism" and how the economics of food have created a situation that is both unhealthy for our bodies, and our minds and culture. So far the most notable thing I have read is about a government study on cancer showed that eating less red meat was helpful at avoiding cancer, but the official statement was changed to: avoiding foods with high saturated fats is helpful for avoiding cancer. Which some of the scientists objected to because it wasn't the nutrients but the whole foods.

The second is kingdom ethics which studies the ethics of the sermon on the mount.

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