Matters of faith
I discovered something really interesting about Baptists recently. I found out that they have the truth of Christ. Shortly thereafter, I found out that the Jehovah’s Witnesses also have the truth of Christ. And then I found out that the Roman Catholic Church have the truth of Christ, given that they are Christ’s true church on earth.
In fact, how many times have I read someone say, “it doesn’t matter what you believe, because I have the truth of God.”
Yahoo Answers is an interesting place to observe human behaviour. I’ve asked the question point blank, “If you argue a doctrinal point with a Christian of a different denomination, and you point to the same bit of scripture to back up the point you’re making, which of you is right?”
My favourite answer was this one: “The one who speaks Christ’s truth.” Isn’t that helpful? That’s like asking, “Which highway lane should I get in to go to Phoenix,” and being told “the one that takes you there.”
Something which is not often taught from the pulpits which which I think should be is HUMILITY. If you represent Christ and HE represents Christ, don’t try to out-Christian one another. ACCEPT that there are gray areas. ACCEPT that there are sometimes no absolutes. ACCEPT that with a book which has been translated, re-translated, mistranslated, etc. countless times, that there are bound to be areas of ambiguity. It isn’t necessary to start a war over it. The truth hasn’t been violated, two interpretations of the same text are simply at variance.
But above all, stop mistaking “truth” for FAITH.
It’s downright amazing that so many religious followers don’t understand the definition of this very straightforward word. Truth is something that is demonstrably provable. It isn’t something you point to in the Bible and decree that since it’s God’s word, it’s not open for dispute. In the first place, and many Christians aren’t going to like to hear this, but the Bible is the words of human beings. Whether it is, as it purports to be, the word of God is another matter (one of faith). NOT one of “truth.” Can we prove the Bible is the word of God? We cannot. Many have faith that it is. And I don’t dispute that faith is extremely strong with many people. But let’s use the correct words for things. God’s word IS going to be truth, certainly. But you cannot prove that those words in that book are God’s, and that’s where faith comes in. I’m not prepared to speak about faith, my point is merely to point out that there is a difference between faith and truth.
But getting back to my original point, think of how many religious arguments could be simply set aside if people stopped claiming that they alone possessed the truth of God. It’s hard to know who to ascribe the blame to for this, but I know I have seen an awful lot of sermons led by red-faced preachers with veins standing out of their foreheads as they pound their pulpits insisting-that-God’s-word-is-the-TRUTH! God will not be mocked! His word is TRUTH! Etc. They never quite explain how to deal with the conflict that arises when they meet someone from another faith, similarly indoctrinated, who tries to make the same point but coming from another denomination’s perspective.
Or from ATHEISTS, for that matter. Atheists lack faith completely but that doesn’t mean that they don’t stumble across the truth from time to time. Being atheist is not an automatic banishment from “God’s truth,” whatever THAT is. Atheists, in fact, have a better perspective on this because they comprehend the difference between truth and faith.
Faith is faith. Truth is truth. But faith is NOT truth. And the two words should never be used interchangeably. Problem solved, sort of.
Kevin
The Hilarity of Closed Mindedness
FSU Revolution is dedicated to keeping an open mind. I am about to share an example of why.
I found an answer on Yahoo! Answers to the question “Is there such thing as a catholic bible?”
Here’s one of the answers I found, by a person with the name of Chris:
Catholicism is not Christian. Catholicism cannot get anyone into heaven, because catholicism teaches works for salvation, and that is a false gospel of works (Galatians 1:6-9) that is against JESUS’S free gift of salvation!
And catholicism will not give you a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus, which is what JESUS wants with you!
So, you need to get away from catholicism, and instead, to believe in JESUS for His free gift of eternal life in heaven! John 3:16! 
!
It’s clear from the Book of Acts in the Bible that catholics didn’t even exist during the days of Acts. And the SEVEN CHURCHES in Revelation, all of which existed before 100 AD, NONE of them are catholic! Catholicism didn’t exist for over 300 years after Jesus. And catholicism didn’t exist for over 200 years after the Bible was complete and compiled. Those in the Book of Acts are the first Christians, and they believed what would be called fundamentalist doctrine today. ANYONE can read the Book of Acts for themselves and see. Had catholicism existed during the time of Acts, the first Christians would have rejected catholicism completely.
Also there’s TONS of Christians who also completely rejected catholicism, long before Martin Luther was even born. Catholicism murdered millions and millions of Christians. :*(
So not only is it wrong for anyone to say that “catholics were the first Christians”, but this blows away the catholic claim that “no churches existed other than the catholic church, until Martin Luther”.
Every “pope” is a false prophet. And there is no “pope” in the Bible.
There were ALWAYS saved believers outside the catholic cult, who knew catholicism cannot save anyone.
Catholicism cannot save. Only believing in Jesus for His free gift of salvation, is what saves!
So, catholics need to get away from catholicism, and instead, to believe in JESUS for His free gift of salvation!
Jesus is God, and Jesus loves you so very much! And the Trinity is true!
The truth about Jesus is that the only way to be saved and to get into heaven and avoid being sent to hell, is by believing in JESUS for His free gift of eternal life in heaven, believing in faith alone that Jesus, who is God, died on the cross for all our sins as FULL PAYMENT for all our sins, and then Jesus rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Believe in Jesus for His free gift of salvation, and you will be in heaven, no matter what!
Salvation is a FREE GIFT that happens in a split second when you believe in JESUS for His free gift of salvation! It is impossible to lose or “leave” salvation (John 6:39-40, John 10:28, 1 John 5:13).
Please pray now: “Jesus, I believe that You died on the cross to pay for my sins and that You rose from the dead, and I thank You for eternal life!” You will be in heaven with Him forever when you die!
Feel free to email me if you need more help: *******@yahoo.com
I’m a Pastor
In my belief, a Pastor should know what he’s talking about when he says things like this. I was awed at the lack of information and argument he had. Since he said to email him, I did. Here’s my response:
Pastor Chris
You should read up on the history of the Bible. During the Great Reformation, the protestants actually took out the Apocrypha from the Bible (the books weren’t “added”).
I do not agree that the Apocrypha is very true (Ben Sirach, the author of Ecclesiasticus wrote a very sexist, very strange wisdom book), but the reason they were taken out has nothing to do with them being true or not. They were mostly not considered part of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) because they were written in Greek, not Hebrew or Aramaic.
The Apocrypha actually has very useful historical information in the Maccabean books (the history of Hanukkah)
Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestants, actually still included the Apocrypha in the Bible. He just separated it from the rest of the Hebrew Bible (Besides the Esdras, which he removed)
On the subject of the Catholic Church, tradition does hold that it was found by Jesus Christ. Though he didn’t specifically create the organized Church, it was probably the first organization of said Churches (not the first Churches). So even if it isn’t the first church, it’s the first group of them. The first Pope of Catholicism (And yes, I do disagree with the concept of the Pope) appeared with the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire in year 313.
But you do need to realize all Church groups have organized leaders. If not a single person, a counsel. The Lutherans have the Synods, the Methodists UMLS, etc, etc. Even non-denominational churches have their own leadership; an example would be the Great Commission Churches. So don’t judge solely on the fact that they have leadership.
And they still do believe that Jesus is the savor.
I’m a follower myself, as well as a Protestant. I do not agree with the Catholic beliefs, nor am I supporting it. But your arguments will only create hatred and resentment from people who will view you as someone who doesn’t accept people for who they are. It will be viewed as hypocrisy, which I want to tell you to watch out for. Image is important to Christians, because we represent Christ. Remember, Christ accepted all prostitutes, and even the Samaritans, the Jewish sect that was always looked down upon, whom he never condemned.
I don’t mean to go against your authority as a Pastor (I’m not ordained, but I would like to be), but I believe in accountability for all. I beg you don’t take this as disrespect, I always have love for a brother in Christ. I am interested in starting a conversation and getting to know you better though (I’ve seen a lot of your posts on Answers). I believe that we can learn from our differing opinions.
I get my knowledge from Biblical study courses I’m taking in College (Florida State University) as well as conversations and experiences with various pastors of various denominations. I am United Methodist myself, though I come from a Lutheran background and went to a non-denominational Church for a while.
In Christ,
James
As I said in my email to him, I took a class on Biblical history, etc. Not to brag, but I researched my information and supported it the best I could (Complain in the comments if you don’t agree).
My jaw literally dropped at his simple response.
“History” is garbage. Man can and does alter “history” all the time.
I believe the BIBLE, not man’s “history”.
I said to myself…okay? I already know this guy is somewhat a weirdo. Here’s my response:
I believe in the Bible as well, but not believing in man’s history can cause some interesting results. Do you believe in the history of the United States? Because if you don’t, we live in a pseudo-country. Are we actually a democracy? Did Ben Franklin actually exist?
History is, in fact, written by the victor, so it is probably altered and changed with varying opinions, as you said. But Christians are guilty of this as well, as we can be guilty of interpreting Biblical verses in our own ways. Stating so simply your version of interpretation and your version of events is the same crime you accuse history-writers of.
And even if you say it’s God’s interpretation and not yours, how can we prove that? How can we say it’s not our interpretation of what God is saying, and not what he himself is?
The human mind is very fallible and can take events to it’s own liking. Stating such things without support or reasoning for your argument only gives that impression.
Again, I am trying to be respectful and cohesive. Can I ask you to do the same?
In Christ,
James
I was doing my best to be cohesive with plenty of support. But he wouldn’t have it. In another short response, he says:
Satan is not interested in lying about Ben Franklin.
Satan is interested in lying about spiritual matters.
If you are a Christian, this is elementary.
“If you are a Christian, this is elementary.”
I gave up at this point.
This is an example of what will push people away from Christ. Closed mindedness, almost insulting words almost made me ashamed of those who share the title “Christian” with me…especially pastors (Or who claim to be pastors).
Am I wrong?
James
God forgives EVERYONE, even the hookers.
So the other day while I was looking through blogs searching for ideas, I came across one that simultaneously interested and appalled me. The blog was posted on a Christian blog site, and the blog itself was just a question: can a virgin marry a non-virgin? It had been posted in 2005, but comments were still being posted on it. I read through the majority of them, and while there were kind answers brimming with the forgiving nature of Christianity…some were downright awful, ignorant and horribly unchristian.
A couple that shocked me the most:
- “As biblical view God created Adam 1st then Eve right?God didnt creat 1man for 2woman or 2man for 1woman so when person is getting married both should be virgins cause its covenent between man and woman if you belive in God then God has made only right person for youin the world &our life is not for compromises better you dont compromise as per biblical view both should be pure cause your body is temple of God&when you marry you become 1body so think about it”
- “ if i have saved myself for someone special, why should i settle for someone who hasn’t? virgins should always hold out for the very best, they have earned it”
What saddens me is that these two esteem themselves to be very devout Christians, but they miss the entire concept of Christianity, that we are new creations in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 states: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Jeremiah 31:34 says that God “will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more”
1 John 1:7 says that “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin”
However, that forgiveness comes with one condition, that you forgive others as well. Matthew 6:14-15 says “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins”.
Luke 6:37 says “Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven”.
The Bible is loaded with verses and stories preaching God’s love and forgiveness. One of my favorite stories is that of the woman that is caught in adultery, the punishment for which was to be stoned to death. Jesus says to those that threaten her with stones, “If any of you are without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”.
No one can. They all walk away, and Jesus then asks the woman if anyone has condemned her, and when says no one, he says “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin” (This story is found in John 8 if you’re interested)
This woman was caught in the act of adultery. Adultery. She married a man and had sex with another. She violated the sacred covenant that is marriage. But she repented. And she was forgiven. Her sin was forgotten.
Not once does Jesus say to her, “I’ll forgive you, but you’re still a slut”.
Because by her faith, her sins have been washed away, and by our faith, our sins are washed away as well.
So if you agree with those 2 comments from before, I urge you to pray to God right now to soften your heart. No one is perfect, and no one ever can be. You may be a virgin, but you are not without sin. No one has the right to condemn someone that is not a virgin if he or she has put their faith in Christ, and sworn to leave their life of sin. You can be a prostitute and have slept with 100 men, but the wonder of God’s grace is that in Him, you are now pure. You are now a virgin. Others may protest that to become a virgin again after virginity is lost is impossible. Biologically, some things cannot be reversed, that is true, but our bodies are only shells anyways. Our true virginity is of the spirit, and if God has forgiven us of our sins, including those of sexual immorality, then those acts have been forgotten in the eyes of God. If God can forgive someone and He is the creator of all things and the one that determines the punishment of sins, then we humans have no excuse to not forgive someone in the same manner.
Even if they have not put their faith in Christ and become a born-again virgin, we still do not have the right to judge. The only, and I stress the word ONLY, one that can judge is God. And until you create an entire UNIVERSE, then leave the responsibility to God.
In addition, every case of lost virginity is different. The circumstances surrounding it may be a lot more complicated than you realize and they may be dealing with a lot of repercussions that you cannot understand. They may be suffering, and no one deserves to suffer. By even implying that a non-virgin is not equal to a virgin, that is the same as inflicting guilt upon them and making them feel as though they deserve to suffer, and you show me in the Bible where it is says it’s okay to make someone suffer and belittle themselves. We are all sons and daughters of God, virgin or not.
So to the writers of both of those comments and anyone that agrees with them, I suggest you get off your high horses and remember: God has forgiven you of something and so must you. If you really feel as though you cannot marry someone that had sex with someone else in their past, thus making them “unworthy” of you, then you may want to do a little research as to what being a Christian really means.
Someone in America not sue-happy? Wow!
I read a news story today about a Ranger (Texas baseball team) fan who fell thirty feet out of the stands, suffered a concussion, cracked skull, and a sprained ankle. (Injury seems to be a familiar thing on this blog).
Think of what any typical American would do in this situation. Blame someone else and try and make money on it by suing. It’s like that McDonalds coffee cup thing. I wanted to yell at the women: look, common sense says the coffee is hot, you spilled it, it’s not your fault! Yes, you were injured severely, but it was an accident.
Unfortunately, it is a common thing to do in America, because it works. The woman won the coffee lawsuit. Something is accidental or out of your own clumsiness, but the human nature to blame others always prevails.
Which is why we, as Christians, tend to blame sin (devil, human nature, etc.) on everyone else. While it’s true that sin originates from Satan, and it is human nature, we need to realize it is our fault too. We consider ourselves as perfect when we shoulder all blame on other people, and we don’t realize it’s us that we need to look at and work on. We put our own tendency to avoid all guilt, and let it blind us to what we really need to work at.
And it works. By this method, we can live guilt free and have a happy life. But this works for Satan as well, who want’s you to be comfortable in this world.
This needs to stop. If we don’t realize that our sin is ours, we will never have the motivation to stop and work on it. This includes everything: sex, swearing, idolatry, etc, etc. While Satan wants you to be comfortable in the world, it is not the world we need – it is God. God calls us to be comfortable in him – and as the awesome rapper Lecrae says, aliens on Earth.
The rangers fan, whose name is Tyler Morris, stated that he was thankful to be alive (I would be too, I mean, 30 feet. Wow.) But the most impressive thing he said was: “100 percent, total accident that could have happened to anybody” and he does not blame the team or the stadium.
This is the mindset we need. I wish there were more people like this. Maybe the recession would be eased if there was. Who knows?
God bless,
James
One in Christ
“Excuse me, do you mind taking a picture of us?”
We’ve all heard the question asked before and all felt the social responsibility to comply pleasantly so as not to be rude, despite whether or not we wanted to pause for a few moments to take a break from our hectic lives to take a picture of people we don’t know, and will likely never see again.
But why does it have to be so bad?
In my opinion, small acts of kindness like this carry much more importance than we tend to give them credit.
A few months ago, my boyfriend, James, and I were going on a trip, and we had just checked in at the airport, went through security, and while I was putting my shoes back on, I noticed with revulsion something nasty and brown on my shoe. To this day, I still do not know what it was, but it resembled something like cat vomit, so that’s my best guess. I showed my boyfriend, and he pointed me to where the bathroom is, telling me he would get everything from security and bring it to the terminal for me so I could go and wash it off. Whatever it was, it took a lot of paper towels and soap to get it off (and might I mention, they were new shoes). In addition, I did not get much sleep the previous night nor did I have coffee to replace it, so I was feeling its affects; I was immensely hungry since it had been a long morning of last-minute packing and organizing; my hair was still wet when we left (no time to dry) so as the air dried it, it grew unkempt (and if you’re female, you very likely know how frustrating messy hair is); and we were flying standby with not-so-great odds on our side…so needless to say, when I came out of that bathroom, I was not in a mood to socialize.
But God had other plans in mind for me, as two seconds after I emerged from the bathroom a woman with whom I presumed to be her daughter asked me if I minded taking a picture of the two of them, holding out her phone. So, despite the not-very-sociable mood I was in at the moment, my many years of programmed etiquette turned on and I told her I’d be happy to.
Her phone was not that great, so needless to say, neither was the camera. I took about 2 or 3 pictures with that phone, but they turned out blurry since the camera was too sensitive to movement from even the steadiest of hands. So her daughter offered her phone, which was much snazzier and therefore had just as snazzy of a camera. But of course snazzy also means confusing so it took a minute or two to take a decent picture.
I’m sure you’re expecting me to say I was highly annoyed, but I really wasn’t. Actually, this experience cheered me up.
Because as I was trying to take a picture, I noticed they were dressed very nicely, and I could only presume what the occasion could have been. Maybe it was a family reunion; maybe it was the first time in many years that they had seen each other and now they were going on a mother-daughter trip that they had wanted to do for many years; maybe they were going to a wedding and maybe this was their first time on an airplane…my mind was spinning with the possibilities of the destination that the two in front of me were planning. But whatever it was, for a small moment, I got to be a part of a trip that meant a lot to them, which I could tell given how excited they were. Years later, they’re going to look at that picture and remember the memories that the trip gave them, and if I hadn’t come out of the bathroom when I had, I would not have been able to take that picture for them. I may never see them again, and I may never know what that mysterious trip was. I don’t even remember their faces that well so even if I did meet them, I doubt I’d recognize them. But for one small moment, I got to participate in a memorable occasion of someone’s life.
On another occasion, James and I went with my parents to a race, and we had gotten there plenty early. My parents went to find our seats, and James & I walked around to look at all the stands set up around the track. At one, they had a display race car, and I stopped to take a picture. A really nice man saw this and offered to take a picture of James & I by the car, saying this was a special occasion, getting to take a picture next to a real race car. When I look at this picture, I don’t see our goofy faces or the really cool car behind us, I see the kindness of a stranger that offered to take a picture for 2 people he had never met before in his life.
Too frequently we are so focused on our own path in life that we forget our lives are all intertwined with the lives of others. Some are intertwined more than others, but we are all connected by the spirit that flows through us. We are all a family. These small acts of kindness that God calls us to do are subtle but very clear reminders that we are not alone in this world, that we are surrounded by our brothers and sisters and we are very much a part of the lives of strangers as we are in the lives of those that are close to us. So if you hear God telling you to take a picture of someone, hold a door open, give up your seat, offer blessings when a stranger sneezes, or anything of the sort; don’t brush it off. Because that’s God’s way of saying, “Hey! This person is your family. Be nice.”
For as scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:27, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it”.
God Bless,
Steph
Creationism vs. Darwinism
Recently, I read a blog about the Russians “embracing Creationism.”
This isn’t what interested me. It was the comments after, which of course (with every Darwinism vs. Creationism argument), was a heated discussion on the ignorance and “fairy-tail”ism of religion and the right to teach Creationism in schools.
One comment read “What has religion got to do with anything accept being silly stories. Anyone who believes in that stuff has been brain washed and should really try to educate themselves.”
Another: “mad bastards want to use the the knowledge the enlightened thinkers of this world offer if it suits them to their purpose but if it contadicts their fairytale beliefs then they want to destroy those who do not want to agree fanatic contrayrey bampots”
Besides spelling mistakes, I find these comments very hilariously ironic. Considering that I’m not brainwashed myself (trust me, I know. I came to the conclusion after looking at evidence that God exists), I don’t think “educating” myself with science (or in a way of saying it, brainwashing myself with atheist beliefs).
The second one made me laugh even more. Besides its obvious need for spell check, the Christians aren’t the only one who do this (I can only speak for myself when I say I consider other beliefs. But the sad fact is, these people get this idea about Christianity because it is pretty true). Atheists, themselves a sort of religion (A religion is simply a set of beliefs by a set of people), agree not to even consider the beliefs of Christians. They agree that there is no God at all.
Irony Warning: That is just as unscientific as Creationism is. Atheists believe that there is no God when there is no observable proof, just as they believe that Christians believe in a God in which there is no conclusive proof.
A great example in which I’m not sure of the source says: A man tells three people that there is a gold coin in New York City. One is a Theist, one is an Atheist, and one is Agnostic (Agnosticism states that you cannot prove whether or not there is a God). All three people search only a small area of a city. A Christian cannot find it, but fully believes it is there. An Agnostic cannot find it, and says that there is no proof whether it is there or not because the entire city cannot possibly be explored. An Atheist cannot find it in the small part, and says it cannot be there.
There are flaws in both the Christian thinking and the Atheist thinking, yes. (Ironically, the most scientific and rational people are the Agnostics).
So what does this tell us? Both the Christians and the Atheists are right. The argument stems from closed mindedness and fear of outside information “polluting” what we already believe. Dogma comes into play, and all of a sudden there is an unneeded war. Many of the outspoken Christians, as well as Atheists, are horribly closed minded.
Everything takes a little faith. But we cannot let that faith put fingers in our ears screaming “LALALALALALA” to different opinions. We could all use a little bit of Agnosticism in our thinking.
~James
Things work out – believe me
A great way to test out how hard-headed a significant other is, just put him/her on a longboard for the first time. They will end up falling, hitting their head, getting a concussion, a broken cheekbone, and a severe and repeating amnesia (which affects over a month’s worth of memory) so bad that she forgot you were her other half.
This is what happened to me in the third day of my relationship with Stephanie, my girlfriend. This happened January 7th. She ended up having amnesia, forgetting everything from the date of her birthday until then. Her birthday was November 30th.
That’s a bit of time, and it was scary for everyone involved. I was the only one there, so I called the FSU police, they sent the ambulance, and I rode with her to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital where me and a few of her friends (thank God they were there to support me) stayed until 4 in the morning until we could go back to campus. The entire time, I was very scared that she wouldn’t gain her memory back, or that her personality would be affected in some adverse way (I was remembering how my cousin had a personality change after a dirt biking accident).
Over the next few days, I was constantly freaking out that she wouldn’t turn out completely normal, or that her memory loss was permanent. But, through her foggy mind and pain, she reassured me over and over again that she would be okay. She was right: she started regaining her memory, was decreasingly loopy, and eventually made a full recovery.
Right when I thought it was over, her parents told her that the costs of the medical bills would total a little over $5,000. Remember that we are but humble, poor college students. There was no way that we could afford that, even if our friends could help out. But I prayed, and I kept telling Stephanie, as she told me when I was scared she wouldn’t recover, that everything would be all right; God would get us through.
Two months, a lot of emails and phone calls, and a lot of freaking out and crying later, the final sum she had to pay? Less than $50. Her insurance and a charity program brought it down to that very affordable sum.
These things are incredibly scary and serious, but they all worked out for the better in the end. We learned a lot by this experience, and it brought us closer. Many, if not all things in life will work this way. Do you remember crying last? Do you remember why? Is it still relevant today? Will it be in a few more weeks…or months?
Things have a funny way to work out in the end…every time. That’s no coincidence…God takes care of his people. Philiman 4:19-20 says “You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus.” (MSG) There are plenty of other verses, such as “Don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry about itself” (Matthew 6:30) and many, many others.
So don’t worry. No matter what you’re going through, God will take care of you. He will figure it out for you, and you’ll end up slapping yourself asking why you didn’t relax.
~James
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I’m not a soccer fan, but I thoroughly enjoy paying attention to the world cup. So I also know of the constant angry bees sounding through the television as we watch.
Those aren’t bees, though. They’re traditional South African horns, called the vuvelza. South Africans love them while the rest of the world hates them. FIFA even considered banning them because they caused distractions to the players. But, they’ve become a hilarious tease, appearing on youtube as a new button to “horn” through the videos.
So why does this little horn cause so much trouble?
The reality of the horn is that as you watch TV, they do their best to drown out the horn so you can hear the announcers (and also so you don’t think an elephant is rampaging through your house). They do this because each horn creates 120 dB of noise. How much noise is that? Think of standing in front of a 747 jet engine, or sitting front row next to a speaker at a Slipknot concert. That loud. Each horn. Multiplied by 40,000 – 100,000 fans.
“What?” is all you’re going to hear in conversations after the game.
I think I might buy myself one of these horns for the use at annoying vampire movies and with bad comedians. Maybe to sterilize my cats.
Or we could use it to drown out over-talkative significant others…(*wink)
~James
Jesus and James Bond
One of my favorite bands is a band called Rise Against. They are not a Christian band.
My favorite author is Clive Cussler. He hasn’t written any Christian literature.
I happen to love the James Bond series of movies. The gunfights and sex obviously does not share anything with Christ.
So am I wrong?
One of the biggest issues within Christian society is the secular media. Is it right for us to to partake in this media, which can promote everything from violence to extra-marital sex? There is a lot to everything we watch on TV, and not much of it is Christian-minded.
The Christian rapper Tedashii mentions in his song, Hollywood, that while we don’t have to give up this media, it is never a good, moral idea. Paul himself says “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” in Philippians 4:8. Colossians 3:2, 5 says “Set your minds on things above, not on Earthly things.” There are plenty of other Bible verses that discourage partaking in Hollywood movies and secular music and books.
But is it truly wrong just to enjoy it? Is it a sin to watch Goldeneye or to play Call of Duty? It depends on the people you ask. Part of Revolution is that we accept all people with all mindsets, so we are going to have people with different opinions on this. But what is too far?
I had a friend who years ago, when she was around 13 years old, told her Christian camp that she happened to like Harry Potter. She was called the devil child for this. To me, that is way to far and really does contradict what Jesus teaches about love and acceptance.
I also like Harry Potter (though I have been disappointed with the last one, I’m excited for the Deathly Hollows). Yet, I have nobody looking at me and yelling “SATAN BE GONE!” I’d just laugh in their face if that happened.
I don’t think that secular media is wrong, as long as you don’t follow it. I’ll enjoy James Bond, but I won’t go guns blazing into North Korea. I’ll enjoy bands like Disturbed and Rise Against, but I won’t swear every two words or start a revolution against the government.
Go ahead and watch the movies. But don’t become the media. Remember who you represent.
~James
