The Importance of Christ

I would like to apologize to my readers, if any are still around, for taking so long between posts. I just was not feeling up to it and what I write about should not be written if not with passion and conviction.


Christ Jesus is the central figure of Christianity. That seems like a fairly obvious statement. I suppose one might say the Trinity is, but we come to know the Trinity through Christ first, he is the spokesman and facilitator of God's will to His people through His preaching and Resurrection.

Yet stating all this, why do we need Jesus? What would be the effect if he did not exist to us?

This is a critical question to be able to answer well for Christians, as it is one many non-Christians will likely ask us is discussion, and because it is so central to faith and how we interact with the world.

I would start out with saying we only know of Jesus and His importance because God revealed His son in prophesy and in the flesh. We could not know we needed Christ otherwise. But why was this revelation necessary? Precisely because of prior revelations from God and in examinations of humans and their condition. For when God created man, He gave us a choice between His will or our own (free will), with Adam and Eve choosing to abandon God for our own will (how literal one takes the creation story is irrelevant to the proof). This lead to what is commonly know as "The Fall", humans being consumed by sin and sentenced to death, separating themselves from God. The sin was tied to the physical being of us, and we were doomed to physical existence and separation from God as long as this endured. What happens next is God slowly reestablishing contact with His creation, perhaps most significantly with Moses and the gift of the Law to the people of Israel, which allowed for repentance and redemption not previously available.

The Law; however, was a poor method of forgiveness of sins, and really dealt with the symptoms rather than the cause. This is critical to understanding the importance of Christ. Beside anything he said, what his arrival signified was a cure for the disease that plagued us, sin, rather than a variety of treatments which the Law provided for. Before, one had to be constantly aware of sin in order to cleanse oneself of it, and the treatment was giving in such a way as we would now call a "clinical trial", meaning it was available to a select few and everyone else was excluded no matter how much the treatment might have benefited them. Christ, simply put, changed everything.

If one does not accept that humans have sin, are in rebellion against God and that death is tied to all this then surely Christ is unnecessary. If humans in the Law are and were perfect and offered perfect sacrifice and devotion to God's will then Christ is unnecessary. But if the above is true then a solution is necessary. What is needed is something without sin that is fully of God's will as a result and can defeat death and transform creation. This is Christ on the cross. Humiliated, mocked and beaten, the perfect lamb whose blood is sacrificed to spare the people of God from their own iniquity. That is in rising the physical body, he defeated death and the Devil, and restored the sinful creation to its Maker, and providing means for all people, regardless of race, gender, or religion, to find the truth, light, and way to salvation.

We must remember that the way Christ lived his live as critical. His life was the perfect manifestation of the human conforming to God's will. He shows that the Law was perfect, and that it was us that had failed, even at our best to reach the standard it set. He provided real world application of perfect obedience and service to the Father.

He also preached and did forgive sins and by doing so allowed for the Holy Spirit to come to any and all, removing the forgiveness of sin from direct appeal to god through imperfect sacrifice to attaching oneself to a perfect sacrifice through the Holy Spirit, removing the sin and barrier to God. This process allows for the new creation to occur, so that one is of Christ rather than merely from Christ.

It can be thought of as well that Christ is the mechanism of reconciliation between us and God, not only derived from His purpose and function as savior and King over us all, but through his very meaning, being equally human and God.

While I realize that most of this is obvious and I probably missed a thing here or there, but I hope it is helpful in making it clear in all Christians mind that Jesus is not merely a nice guy that said nice things, but the beginning and end of our journeys to be creatures obedient to God. We cannot fulfill God's will without Christ, for to ignore Christ or deviate from in any way is to do the same to God. But we must not at the same time separate Christ from His context and purpose, and come to know the Christ revealed and known rather than the Christ we desire for our own will. For as Jesus completely surrendered His will to God, may we surrender our will to him.

News Flash!

I'm back! Well sort of, my internet fast will continue after this post until tomorrow because of internet troubles but I will hopefully have an article ready in the next couple of days. Anyways if anyone is still out there this blog is not dead yet!

No New Posts / My Change on Predestination

I am going on a personal week long internet fast (I still have to use the internet for work), so I will not be posting again until Friday next week. If you are wondering what an internet fast entails it is like a food fast, basically no internet for a week. I have also decided to limit my computer access (minus the internet), to one hour per night, which would be for writing articles for next week and maybe finishing watching arrested development :)


I will write on the experience and why I did it when I return, I just feel I need to regroup mentally. I also see it as a great opportunity to really focus on reading and reflecting on scripture and God's grace and truth which he delivered through Jesus (John 1: 17). So I hope it is a good week and I gain something valuable from the experience and I wish all my readers the best until I post again.


God Bless






Predestination? Craziness or Truth?

I always thought predestination was bonkers. How could we not have a say in our salvation? Did I not decide to believe in God, do I not choose to do good? Why only a few posts ago I argued  how choice was in humans or else our existence did not make any sense. However, I now believe I was wrong.


The reality is that most people believe they have some control over their lives, and that this control is central to their happiness and well-being. This applies to most Christians too. Whether it is about God or the car we drive or our career or what to eat, we see ourselves as having some free will in the decision to do and/or believe. I myself have always held that we have minds that can think and God must have given them to us for a reason. The reason he did though is where I believe I have faulted in my thinking.


Firstly, can we earn salvation? Well I would say no, since that would require perfection and perfect obedience to God, which we cannot do as sinners.We cannot forgive our own sin and cannot earn this forgiveness, we can merely ask God to forgive us through Christ's death on the cross and resurrection. additionally, God's grace cannot be conditioned and compelled, for if it was it would mean he was not in complete control of all things and His dominion could be challenged.


So now to predestination (salvation of the elect), or more specifically double predestination (the elect and everyone else). So God chooses His elect to save through grace alone. And the rest He leaves to themselves to do as they like. The thing to remember is that we all start as sinners in rebellion against God. We have no way of reaching God on our own or of fixing our condition. God chooses to forgive the elect, even without earning forgiveness and "free will" to choose God is merely the awareness of salvation already given, acknowledging the power of the Holy Spirit to help align ourselves more closely to God's will. Meanwhile, those not of the elect, already turned from God, merely face God's justice at the end times. God does not abandon them nor put evil upon them, He merely lets them live in sin and face judgment.


It is not the best explanation of predestination, a better one is found here, but it is suffice to say I am more convinced than ever before of this. When  you remove our desires and opinions and thoughts and read scripture without prejudice, I feel this becomes more clear. I like to think I can explain everything rationally, and learning to be humble and trust in God's plan for me has been difficult but rewarding.


How do we know we are saved or how does God choose are for another day, if they matter at all. Those that follow Christ's example, who act for ours and  for the fulfillment of God's plan and glory are the signs of the saved. It is merely trusting in His grace and mercy, which when you think of it is an immensely freeing experience to know that God will deliver us to salvation regardless of our weakness and failings and the dictates of the world. To end I would say simply if you are not sure about your own salavtion: Love unconditionally to all, as God has loved us unconditionally, as he gave his son unconditionally.

A Note to Readers

Moving forward with this blog, I plan to better plan my posts my having different categories of posts. I feel the blog at the moment is sort of directionless, and having more focus will make it easier to post and more enjoyable to read hopefully. Some of my ideas for post categories include:


Personal Reflections: Posts focusing on my growth as a Christian, the ups and downs of living for Christ in a modern world. (Planning an article about my faith and Predestination tomorrow hopefully)
Intro to Theology/Christian Definitions: This will be posts that will help illustrate basic ideas and concepts in Christianity 
Ancient History: Posts about the history behind biblical events, and possibly early Christian history. 
Bible Study: Review and discussion on particular Bible passages, books and stories.
Book Study: Like bible study, but of non-scripture books. (First book will be The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Expect to start in next couple of days.)
Inter-Christian Discussion: Posts that will focus on a theological issue and how different groups in Christianity interpret it, as well general comparisons between groups.
Guest Posts: Posts on relevant and interesting Christian topics, discussions, and experiences from writers and people I respect.
Current Events and Christianity: Responding and relating to world events and issues through a Christian perspective.
Other: For the posts that don't fit the above categories.


If I have missed any categories that seem essential to cover, let me know. I will try very hard to develop a basic schedule to help readers follow along better and to deliver content on a more regular basis.


God Bless

Post about Cats!!!

I promise not to do this too often, but with my last post about my blog not caving in to popular demands and tastes, i decided to become a hypocrite and talk about the populist topic on the internet: CATS!!! More specifically, about my two family cats back home, Kitty and Pepper. There are some pictures to hopefully redeem this tangent.

Why blog?

What is a blog?

I think its more difficult to answer than it seems. Are blogs journals of people's personal lives thrown open to an unexpecting public, part of the "new" media, virtual cafe's were people go to consume a product and interact with the clientele. Do they primarily transit objective information or subjective experience. Are they the future, the past or merely the present? Are these questions even relevant?

My philosophizing is based on my reactions and thoughts to reading other blogs this weekend. Looking at these blogs, many which are far more popular than mine, I thought about what makes a blog successful and how to go about doing that. 

My blog is not optimized for attaining maximum viewership. Its layout is generic and undistinct, although I hope it is readable. The articles tend to be of short essay length and style, which drives anyway the temporally and attention challenged. The overall topic of the blog is specific and it is hard to imagine how one could appeal outside of Christians for reliable viewership, supposing that was desirable. The biggest knock against it however is simply the lack of images and videos, which from what I have gathered are usually critical to higher viewership.

So do I plan to change? In one sense no, because I want to be loyal to any repeat viewers I may have and because the blog is an expression of me and dramatic changes would probably come at the cost of being inauthentic. That said, I will likely make small, incremental changes to mostly improve formatting and maintain a common consistency in fonts used and colors and how scripture is quoted. As well, more focus on what type of things I talk about, maybe a few guest writers, and most important of all; pictures!

Are you sure?

Confidence rules the world. Or at least confident people do. These are audacious statements indeed, but the evidence is clear. Its the people that don't take no for an answer, know who they are and what they can do then go out and do it. People that do not allow failure and travails to detour them their goals and dreams. In most aspects of life, confidence, and not a lack therefore leads to success.

I bring the issue up because I was reading some blog articles on dating, and more specifically Christian dating, and the thing that strikes me is the importance of confidence, especially in one's faith. While both genders benefit from confidence, it seems as though Christian men should have it be a very identifiable aspect of their personality. Confidence is seen as a very attractive trait, if not an essential one oftentimes.

Now, to get personal, I am not all that confident. Certainly not in the whole dating/relationship arena, and in my life in general. For most of my life I have viewed myself as a freak of sorts that people despised at worse or tolerated at best. I realize now that its not completely true, but that view of myself has been hard to erase and has made me sensitive to criticism and causing harm to others. Plus, I am somewhat a perfectionist who tends to take failure, in action or being, far too personal. The result is poor self-perception and missed opportunities in my life.

Now in regards to dating, I prefer to see myself as hopeless and largely unlovable, even while the reality is not quite so depressing, since lower expectations are easier to achieve.The truth is, I'm a smart, funny, good-looking, nice, and thoughtful guy. Sounds good right? The problem is that I can write that and might even believe it intellectually, but the moment I talk to a girl or a superior at work or a stranger I'm fat and weird and ugly and annoying. I create a negative persona in my head that makes doing what I want and enjoying life more difficult 

So why can I not be confident? FEAR. I thinks its that simple. When you allow fear to consume you, you are unable to react as you really desire and thus only present a shadow of yourself. Instead of trusting in Christ and removing the fear that somehow the LORD is not fully able to meet all our needs, we diminish the creation we were made to be.

In truth, this post is more about my lack of complete trust in Christ. I read all this posts about these mature, confident Christians and say to myself " I will never meet anyone to love and share our lives together because i'm not a fully developed Christian". I also wonder about how strong my faith really is, how much do I really want to devote myself to God, and not feel ashamed that I am somehow deceiving myself about His truth and existence? I feel inadequate and it frustrates me.

I know change is slow and that I have transformed myself before to confront the challenges that I faced and to grow as a person. But its hard in the present to trust in the future and I get scared and discouraged more often than I like to admit. Sometimes I want the answers now, I want to know the plan now instead of trusting in the  power of His grace and righteousness.

Finally, I think the truth is ultimately to ask God for strength in such times, to put your joys and sorrow before Him and to ask Him to move through you transform into a new creation in Him. It just time and patience and plenty of faith.

Should I stay or should I go?

Do people have the right to assisted suicide? article here

I would answer no, because firstly I leave the decision of life and death to God. The one time I can think of suicide in the bible is Judas Iscariot hanging himself after betraying Jesus.

Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself." And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. (Matthew 27:3-4)

Now the issue in the article is about assisted suicide, which is even worse since the sin and immorality is spread. Now I realize that watching a loved one suffer in their last days and months or even years can be tough, I myself watched a close family member go through terrible pain in his last days. But in such suffering I also saw the true depths of devotion, a man whose body had withered away to almost nothing, yet his faith and trust in the Lord, even in the grips of death and horrendous agony, moves me deeply to this day. As I looked upon him on his deathbed I saw a man who even as he yearned for the pain to end keep his trust that the Lord was watching over him and that the Lord would never abandon him. I had known for a long time that he had been a true disciple of Christ, but in the last time I saw him I became acutely aware that I should be as well.

This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. (Ephesians 3:11-13)

That said, my goal is not to exploit one man's suffering to prove my point, but to caution against the argument that life has no meaning if we cannot "experience" it, in whatever subjective way people mean. For if you really believe in God then your life never ceases to be meaningful, even when things seem horrible and hopeless and bleak. Surely even the people in Somalia as i write, under terrible and seemingly hopeless duress  find meaning even as death surrounds them? Additionally, no one wants suffering, but it is a part of life and can in fact be as important to the collective and individual human experience as any other feeling or sensation. Certainly if suffering was so wrong then why would Christ allow himself to be crucified?

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15: 34)

Therefore, the decision by one person, directly or indirectly, to decide on the life of any other is one where more restrictions should be considered then less. The dangers of a morally ambiguous society losing its way of the issue seem too great to allow for the issue to be opened up. Consider financial issues of both cost of end of life care and possible inheritances to be gained, both issues which are very real even now sometimes, and probably exacerbated by allowing assisted suicide. As well, the state would be required to regulate this heavy to prevent what I stated from the sentence before and to ensure that people are actually incurable and likely to suffer greatly, which removed true freedom from the individual to a variety of stakeholders, all with likely different aims and objectives that may or may not align for the person's actual best interest.

To conclude, I do not doubt that this is a tough issue and if faced personally with the issue, it would be very hard to not entertain such thoughts. However, if life has meaning intrinsic to itself and my own understanding of God's plans for us is incomplete, I cannot act in such a way that condemns myself or others to throw away the precious gift that is life. Therefore, I must put faith that through all circumstances the Lord is with me and shall not forsaken me, just as he did not forsake those before me.

Can Jesus really be Divine?

Almost everyone can agree that Jesus said many wise and moral things and was a good person. The problem most non-Christians have with Jesus is denying that He is God and more simply that he has supernatural powers. Thomas Jefferson even wrote his own version of the New Testament (Jefferson Bible), which removed any supernatural occurances, events such as the resurrection. While most secularist would not feel it necessary to rewrite the bible, I believe many hold Jesus was just a man that was made into far more after His death, or Jesus was crazy in thinking He was God, but he still said some good things.

As i see it any Christians that deny the divinity of Christ deny Christ and deny salvation. This is because what defines Christianity as different from Judaism and all other moral codes is the salvation through Christ freeing us of sin, which can only happen if he is in fact divine. For only if He is divine is the Resurrection possible. The liberal Christians that believe the bible to be alterable to fit with "modern" standards (such as rejecting divinity), the obvious question of why not use any and all texts, from other religions and secular thinkers? Why even call oneself a Christian, for really why all the fuss about the apocalyptic Jew? Denying Christ as divine and denying the supernatural as possible, even now, means saying the bible is a helpful tool in growing one's own personal, unique philosophy and morality rather than abiding by the dictates of an almighty and ever-living God and His eternal plan for us.

What people will often say about Jesus is that he was a man made into God by his believers in the decades proceeding His death. However, in my bible study yesterday we were discussing the issue of the Gospel of John and how it portrays a more "mystical" version of Jesus than the synoptic gospels (the other 3 canonical gospels), but how in fact it perhaps goes out of its way to denounce the Gnostic (entirely spiritual and esoteric) view of Christ, with such lines as John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...". In fact, according to my bible study teacher (who I would call a trustworthy source on the topic), what distinguishes the four canonical gospels from the slew of apocryphal (doubtful authenticity) gospels is the fact that they portray a much more human Christ, one who is undoubtedly God, but is also fully manifested into human flesh, or else how could he save us from the flesh? Ancient apocryphal gospels tend to make Jesus a purely spiritual entity according to my teacher, or at least downplay his humanity.

Certainly the early church could have accepted the other gospels if they had wanted people to believe in a purely spiritual entity, since it makes much more intuitive sense for Jesus to have been one or the other, and not of two states simultaneously. As well, considering authorship of Matthew is associated with the apostle Matthew and Mark is associated at least partially with the teaching of Peter (See Here), and John with the apostle John, the likelihood is that first hand knowledge of Jesus would be trustworthy, certainty more so than the largely unsubstantiated speculations of "causal" philosophers who cannot reconcile their worldview with a supernatural one. The issue is not whether the laws of nature apply to our lives so much as can God act within and around that framework. In a simpler sense, If Christ is not divine, Christianity is a sham and find a new belief, or if it is valid then the path to salvation has been revealed. Its as simple and complex as that.

He gave all for He knew there was more

What I am about to say is perhaps obvious in a way, but when I was thinking about it I appreciated it all the more. Much of what I write is for myself more than my audience directly, although I certainly hope it appeals to you as well.

Most people, Christians or non-Christians, accept Jesus died and was crucified on the cross. Obviously this event means different things depending what you believe about the nature of Christ and existence, but the fact Jesus was crucified by the Romans is relatively well accepted. As Christians we see the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ as God's way of freeing us from sin and allowing us to have new life in Christ. what I mean to focus on is the manner and importance of his death in and of itself.

To begin, what is the single most important thing in your life? I would answer that for the vast majority of people, Christians included, it would be themselves, and more specifically their life. Its only natural since we can only truly experience life as us, to perceive it through the physical and mental being of ourselves. Therefore the death of us is the end of this experience, with no guarantee of anything beyond it. What I'm saying is a complicated way to state we want to live almost beyond anything else and really would prefer no to die.

For the nonreligious, their temporal and physical life is the end and be all of existence, therefore it must be valued above all if they are at all rational, for they have nothing else to look for to. Even the religious who believe in life after death find it rather difficult to live for the next world without in reality prioritizing this world.

Therefore if life is supreme then the ultimate sacrifice is of one's life. The sacrifice is not just in the dying however, but the admission that death is not supreme, for one rational would not accpet death if they had any other option unless death was not final and complete. While in theory most christians would say duh!, I think the reality is quite different.

If you read the passion accounts, it is clear that only Jesus truly believes that life exists after death. It is why he does not fight his capture but bears his cross and suffers for our sake. He refused to save himself and remained at all times obedient to the father, even as he asked God to remove his burden. Mark 15: 29-32 illustrates this well "34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” [4] 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."    

Meanwhile the apostles, the chosen followers of Christ, showed their fear of death and lack of faith in God at the critical moments. When Jesus was arrested, all the apostles abandoned him except Peter, who betrayed knowing Jesus out of fear for his own life as he had not yet put faith in a new, more permanent and meaningful life as Mark 14: 66-72 illustrates "66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway [8] and the rooster crowed. [9] 69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept. [10]".

Jesus proved through his death and resurrection that death can be defeated and that we can overcome it if we put our faith in Christ. He provided the example and proof of how to live fully for God and to trust in His work and plans. While I realize that at the extreme of giving one's life is extremely difficult, it is in the resurrection that our faith is real and fruitful and gives us hope that whatever happens in this life is only temporary until we are united fully in Christ. So do not look upon Jesus on the cross not only as Jesus dying for your sins but what Jesus expressed as to what was really life and what was really important in the act of giving himself to being killed.

The Church: What's the big deal?

As I was coming home on the bus to see my family for this long weekend, I thought how important family is to me. How much we trust them and rely on them, and how much of growing up as adults is modeled on our parents and older siblings if you have them. I think back on the first 22 years of my life and how much harder it would have been if my parents were divorced or if I had to be raised by a single parent. I realize for many people today the following scenarios are a reality and some manage to come out of it in good shape, but I feel all else equal children are better off raised by two loving parents. I realize as well for some people the grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles are or are almost as important part of their lives as their parents, or they were adopted and were never connected to their biological family. My point is not the size or composition as much as having a group of people that provide comfort and safety and guidance from cradle to adulthood and beyond is critical to being a successful person and a loving Christian. Good families are places were one is accepted for who they are and places that support you in good times and bad. Good families give tough love at times, but unconditional love as well and provide an environment to learn about and grew in Christ, where people first see the fruits of the Holy Spirit among us.

I think good families are the model which the church is based upon and which prove that the good our families provide is also provided in a church family. A good church has stability, strong leadership, accountability, is loving and compassion and protective of its flock, but also willing to hold members to account for inappropriate action. Churches like families require all members to do there part, and all members are important to the cohesion and success. 

I think for Christians that go to church what I say is obvious about a church. The problem is that while most Christians see the church family as valuable or very nearly so as your personal family, they do not treat it as such. To illustrate, if a friend of yours told you that they were going "family-shopping" because there current family always told lame jokes or did not respond to their complaints appropriately and your friend also said that he or she had found this much "cooler" family that he or she thought would be a better fit, you would think them loco. But people do the same with churches all the time. While I realize there are some important differences, if the local church functions as a Christian family then it deserves the loyalty you would give to a biological family, warts and all. 

There is another reason that the church is so critical, as to be of the body of Christ is to be a member of the church, and while in one sense the church is all Christians globally united through the Spirit, it is also the local churches that make this union practical and real as they carry out the ministries that spread and grow God's eternal word whatever it is lacking, and to fortify the hearts of those in Christ wavering and suffering. We are social beings that need community, and if we fail to commit to a true church community, what we really are saying is that we are unwilling to commit to Christ.

I realize that churches can have lots of problems and be very frustrating, but I think it is very rare that a church is so diseased as to be beyond repair. Instead one should look into their own hearts when they are having problems in their church to see what they are doing wrong, and to pray and really look to find solutions rather than excuses. For those that refuse to commit, you isolate yourself from a second family of people that will love and care and protect you. Church is not really so much the music or sermon or ministries but a group of people sharing in Christ together in a wide variety of  activities and functions. I think when you see the church as a full time commitment rather than something you do on Sunday morning, you will see a similar transformation in your relationship and faith in God.

I speak from personal experience and what people have shown me and what I have read to believe all this to be true. I find that I can forget about Christ if I don't immerse myself in serving him and glorifying God, and this is easiest done through church. I am not here to judge but only to encourage others to come experience the grace and love of Christ through the church, which he is head and leader. 

 

In closing, there are two sections of Ephesians that I think help illustrate my point and encourage you to find or commit to a group of Christians. God bless and peace be with all.

(Ephesians 4: 11-16) 

 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds [2] and teachers, [3] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, [4] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. 

 

(Ephesians 5: 22-32)

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [1] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Do I have a choice?

A friend of mine brought up the issue recently of our free will and to what extent we can do good works by our own choice rather than through the compulsion of the Holy Spirit within us. The issue is vast and complicated, but I will add my thoughts mostly using some basic logic.

To begin, I think humans have a degree of free will, I would disagree that we are predestined to be saved or not, at least in a practical sense. Firstly, even if we are predestined to salvation, nothing short of direct revelation from God could confirm this, so we have to act as if we are not even if it is the case. Secondly, the point of us existing is moot if we have no choice to make, unless one argues that God cannot make us of him unless we are physically born, which we have no evidence is the case. The reason we wouldn't need to exist if we didn't have some choice is because why not skip the human step and make us directly perfect beings and avoid sin and all that? clearly God could do that no? Thirdly how did we Fall from Grace if not that we chose to? You either argue God made us Fall, which is impossible, or that the Devil forced us to to sin and God couldn't stop him, which would mean God is not all powerful, which clearly cannot be so.  Perhaps God allowed the Devil to make us sinners and we had no say, but would God willingly let His good creation be sullied as such, or could He even? Plus The issue of whether the Devil choose to rebel against God or God predestined him to rebel is an issue if you continue on this line of reasoning.

It seems instead, from reading Genesis that Eve choose to eat the apple and God clearly did not plan or at least was unhappy with the result. For God at the beginning tells them not to eat from the tree, but if they had no free will he would have no need to tell them, or if he did tell them they could not have eaten from it and could not have listened to the Devil, or doing so is against God's will.

However, the creation story also sets the framework for what human will really is. It is either moving towards God or against him, or possibly a neutral option as well, I leave that up for debate. The modern view of free will I believe is too broad and unrealistic, we are constrained practically by our environment for most of decisions and by the temporal dimension. Plus God is an active part of our lives I believe, but that unlike the rest of creation we are able to disobey Him. He allows this to occur I believe because instead of getting meaningless creation that obeys out of compulsion, he gets a meaningful creation that obeys out of love. The problem was that the creation was beset by sin and therefore imperfect to be acceptable to God, which is why Christ in his perfection united choice to love God with the perfect holiness of spirit to be in union with Him.

Additionally,surely did Christ, manifest as Human, not choose to ignore sin and temptation, meaning he had the possibly of choice to sin? While God cannot sin, when God was united to the physical he tied sin to himself and its possibility, only to destroy it after conquering death and freeing us of sin's hold. Christ's sacrifice was meaningful only because He choose to ignore sin, otherwise why would the Devil have tempted Him for 40 days? And could God doom a creation to Hell for acting against Him if it had NO choice but to disobey Him? Could God create life that was doomed against Him?

I suppose those that argue that surely our good works cannot justify our salvation alone, and I would agree that we cannot "earn" salvation. However, any that have said that God is the source of all truth and goodness and try to honestly through the pureness of heart and expressed through the actions they commit will be spared from death through the blood of Christ, even if they are still deserving of death. To sum the above, none are deserving of salvation and therefore cannot justify being saved, but those that CHOOSE to call Christ King and LORD instead of the Devil will be saved through the Grace and Mercy of God, despite the iniquity that should preclude them from salvation. And they can only choose this if they allow the Holy Spirit to move through them to do good works and proclaim the Good News. 

The practical application is far more difficult indeed, and perhaps I am totally wrong about this. I am not a bible scholar by any means so please consult with other more reputable and dependable sources of gospel interpretation. It is only my way of helping understand a complicated topic. Finally, we need to live for Christ and through Christ regardless of how we are saved, for God deserves nothing less than our full devotion.

Your Right and I'm Wrong

As what happens often after church, there is refreshments and we have a college and careers meal afterwards. Its a time of fellowship and good cheer generally. It is also a time when some of the people engage in theological discussions, as it seems half the young people are in or where in philosophy or theology for their education.

On its own, it is a good thing people like to talk about and discuss these things. Certainly these types of discussions are good to have, but I find that they can never dangerous and unhelpful as well. What I mean is that while understanding more about the nature of God and how we relate and so forth is important to living more fully in Christ, the danger also exists that it prevents truly absorbing and living scripture in your day to day interactions as one tries to find the truly "absolute" truth of God and existence. To expand on what I am saying, a rather pedant view of the world can take hold if one believes only their perspective on theology is the "right" path to knowing God, instead of leaving open the possibility that parts of what we believe about God and the nature of existence could be incorrect or at least deviate partially from the actual truth. Otherwise  the case develops where only a very select few are privy to the pure truth, and other viewpoints border on or are heretical.

I should make clear is that the people I am talking about are Orthodox Christians, in that they believe in all the basic tenets of Christianity but differ on some of the more esoteric points of doctrine and such. I think the nature of Man's fall means that we are not perfect and probably cannot know all their is to know about God and the universe, but that we can still be saved regardless. So in one sense knowing about such discussions  in depth does not help us get saved, making ourselves into disciplines of Christ does. That is why I think that is why the difference between Catholics and Protestants is both important and immaterial to the task at hand, as believers of both sides are all spiritual body to Christ first and foremost. The way a Catholic and a Protestant (realizing both definitions of themselves are problematic) are expected to live their life is quite similar considering the doctrinal differences. The problems are people's individual life choices, not doctrine that is normally the problem.

The salient point is really that actions are the true mark of faith and one should focus on living as Christ did rather than trying to understanding completely the mystery of Christ. Whether or not works help in salvation or not, I think its undeniable that works mold us and mark us as pots of God's desire, as Paul alludes to in Romans 9. In Romans as well Paul describes the "marks of a True Christian", which I think helps but into focus the fact that true Christians can be seen, and that the differences in belief must be minor if two people both display these signs, signs that are lived and expressed to others in thought and deed.

"9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, [7] serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. [8] Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it [9] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:1-21)

What Paul is saying to us is a call to action and so rather I think a renewed focus upon being of Christ rather than merely thinking of Christ is in order. Otherwise we waste time trying to be "right" rather than being as righteous and holy as possible.

P.S. Check out (Romans 14: 1-4) as well, it is really a very concise and powerful summary of my whole point above.

Am I good enough?

I was thinking yesterday about someone I knew and the nature of our relationship, and I began to think about in general how I perceived the world has and continues to view me. In doing this, I came to realize a fundamental issue that has defined all the relationships I have had in my life, which could be summed up simply as "Am I good enough?".

The truth is that in general I desire to please others, usually before myself. While this is an admirable trait at times, it can also limit what one gets out of a relationship when you tend to do only what others want, thus denying yourself joy and pleasure from the friendship.

Thus, I feel like a good portion of the reason I am always trying to please others is that I do not feel adequate or "up to par" with them and feel I need to earn their ever elusive approval. This way of thinking has caused me much misery as I try to meet people's implicit or explicit expectations, which are sometimes good things to strive for and expectations held in good faith, but end up leaving me feeling inadequate and confident. While some relationships are worse than others in this regard, its hard to truly be open and honest and comfortable with someone you forever feel you must please to be worthy of their presence.

So I guess this is where God comes in. I think God is in one sense an entity that cannot be satisfied completely ever by us, in that he expects perfection, which we clearly cannot deliver, so our whole lives are simply failing less as opposed to succeeding in fulfilling His will. But at the same time He tells us we are good enough in that through the redeeming blood of Christ we have the burden of our sins removed and being made part of the body of Christ, saving us from death. If God never abandons us and blesses us with His grace and mercy then surely despite our sin and failing He must think we are good enough to be given salvation through His only Son?  Not that God does not desire us to become more holy, nor that in our love and devotion we should we not strive to act more according to His will, but that surely no act on our part will removed His saving grace (and His acceptance of us) once we have been saved.

Therefore, in all the moments of our lives, be it the quiet moment of pondering as you fall to sleep, before an important test, talking to a friend or whatever you might do, you can trust that God feels you are enough. For surely if Christ deems your salvation through Him is acceptable, even after the price he paid to make it happen then surely you are good enough, failings and all.

Rock 'n' Roll the Devil?

When I became a new Christian not so long ago, one of the issues I was faced with was my musical tastes. My musical tastes before being a Christian unsurprisingly included virtually no overtly Christian songs or bands, being a mix of indie music, classic rock, and 80's to early 90's alternative rock. While most of the bands are religion neutral, they are by no means spiritual either.

The problem is that outside of church events I rarely listen to Christian music, alternating instead between the sweet happy sounds of the New Pornographers or the loud, plaintive sounds of Nirvana for example. At the moment, I have no plans of getting rid of my secular music, I enjoy it and on its own I do not feel it is distracting me from God. However, I do feel like I need to be listening to more christian music, both to somewhat counteract the secular stuff and to help with building my relationship with God.

The major problem is that I find it hard to find Christian music I like. During worship at church i usually have no problems with most songs but alone I find many of the songs to have earnest if not somewhat facile lyrics and to be boring musically. That said there is some good stuff out there but I honestly have not looked that hard to find more and I certainly have not bought any Christian stuff, which is a problem because most of my musically listening is done through my Ipod.

I guess I wonder if I am making a fuss over nothing or whether there is an issue here that I need to address. I do not want to give up my secular music but can it co-exist peacefully in my mind with Christian music? I will need to pray about this and discuss this issue further with others to come to a conclusion.

How not to be a headless chicken

What is the plan for us? Is there a plan for us? does what we do matter?

The above are just some of the questions that have plagued society since the beginning. Different people come to different answers depending on the assumptions that they base their life upon. For the Christian believer, The plan is for all people to come to obey God's will through Christ and the power of the Holy spirit. While the actual plan is both more complicated than that and certainly not fully in our knowledge, the important thing is that God has a PLAN and a PURPOSE for us, and that through being a part of the body of Christ we can begin to fulfill it.

The real issue is how to go about fulfilling this plan in our day to day lives. While it is a multifarious issue, I think that a critical component is to be attending church regularly and being an active member as much as possible. A friend of mine directed be to a great resource on the subject, a series of sermons that can be found here (relevant sermons under the title THE CHURCH). They talk about how we cannot expect to grow and prosper as Christians without serving in fellowship with a community of believers, people to keep us honest and accountable in our spiritual walk, as well as to love and comfort and support us. Without a church we can too easily get separated from Christ and block out God's plan for us when we do not surround ourselves with co-heirs in Christ.

My point is not to judge the circumstances to others, only to encourage all to not only attend church but to be meaningful members of it. I think that if we cannot positively contribute to our church community and do God's where there then how less likely is it will we live and express God in all His majesty and glory outside church? In such an individualistic age as our own the temptation to drift from Christ perhaps make church even  more important than in the past.

What do you think?

**Update**
This update is in consideration of some of what i said in this post in regards to woman not liking my post because "...its not going to have flowers and a pink background". I realize that I was to some extent attacking my female reader's intelligence in assuming they read blogs mostly based on visual appearance rather than content. To any and all that might have felt I conveyed this I apologize. All the readers of this blog that I have heard from up to this point seem like intelligent and thoughtful people and to imply female readers might only read if the blog was prettier was wrong. 

For the few that have actually seen this blog before reading this post, you will note some small changes have been made in terms of design and whatnot, hopefully making the blog a little more viewer friendly. I would like to  add an image to the blog at the top at least, to make my blog a little more inviting looking so I will hopefully have that soon. I realize I will never be able to compete with the many blogs out there in terms of prettiness, but I don't want this to be an eyesore either. Therefore any suggestions in terms of layout or content as well are much appreciated.

As an aside, I have come to realize that a significant majority of bloggers in general and readers of my blog (or at least commenters) appear to be women. This is interesting on a number of fronts. First, being a guy, I wonder if what I'm writing is relevant to the potential readership of my blog in general and women in particular. Is there things I should be focusing on more, or less for that matter? Secondly is whether my layout is not as woman friendly as it could be in that its not going to have flowers and a pink background, but could be designed to be less minimalist?

Another issue is how people find this site and ways of making the site more accessible. I have attempted some changes already to this effect, but perhaps their is other websites or places I could get the word out in?

Also I realize that I need to post more to get people to come back so I will attempt a once a day schedule, or  something like 5 days a week type of thing. There is also the issue of when to post, and perhaps making it more standardized. we will see.

Finally I am going to try to find more blogs to read and comment on, i think being part of "the community" is a good way to improve my blog, increase readership, and just learn and grow and meet people.

That actually works?

Prayer is a mysterious thing. The cynical and/or the non-believers may say prayer is really just meditation for crazy people (religious people). But as move Christians know, prayer has wonderful power to heal and comfort and protect and guide us through all the good and bad moments of our lives. Prayer is no guarantee that bad times will never befall you or that whatever you prayer for will materialize, but God hears our prayers and I think he considers them indeed.

I say this because I think that my first prayer request came true. The funny thing is that it was not for me, but a friend(and roommate), and non-believer at that.  I have always felt that he would be receptive to the Christian message, but only in the right way, because I could sense their was some overt hostility, even if below that he agreed with many Christian ideas. Because of this, I began praying God would make it possible to give an opportunity for myself or   something to bring Christ into my friend's life.

I had just started praying to God about things of a more personal nature, as my prayers had been more general up to that point, and trying to really act and do God's will more often in my life.

So sure enough I'm in the kitchen yesterday eating crackers when my friend arrives from work. He tells me how work had been stressful then throws a bible on the table that he said he found on the subway. I replied half jokingly that it must be a sign from God, which he replied that he needed something to look to with work and everything stressing him and personal issues as well, and said he used to read the bible. We didn't really talk about it more, it didn't seem like the time to press the issue, but he did take the bible into his room.

In any case its good to see that God does work through us if we allow him, perhaps one could chalk it to coincidence, but one does not find a bible on the subway every day. So to all that feel that prayer is not working for you, look around and stay alert, the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways.

You ain't workin' til you start sweatin'

I think that one of the more important things I have learned in my time as a new Christian is that you have to work at it. In one sense, simply true belief is all you need to be saved. But if one is not compelled to really live and breath a Christian life then they really don't believe in the first place. I think this is because if you actually believe in God and that Christ died for our sins and all that is taught in the bible then clearly one would try to live those things as best they can. This is why i think the saved through faith alone or with good works as well is a misnomer, because good works are essential proof of true belief.

In any case, my main point is that living a life devoted to God is difficult. If you think of it, if it was easy then everyone would do it and Jesus probably wouldn't have had to visit all those years ago. Not to say that tremendous good doesn't come from a live in Christ, but one must find the constant temptations and distractions that draw us away from holiness. This is why I think it is critical that one sets aside time each day to God, or tries their best to, which is necessary especially early in your Christian life when it is easy to lose thoughts of proper actions and worship. Ideally as you grow in your spiritual walk this time devoted to God should consume your very being, so that every thought, action, and word is done in His glory. But for myself and my other new believers, we need to start small.

In terms of what to do with this time and how long it should be is something I cannot really answer, but I would think 30 minutes to start, which can consist of prayer, reading scripture or other Christian works, listening to worship songs, fellowship with other Christians even, although I think personal devotion should be its own time ideally. I am not being to preach or tell, but just to say what keeps me close to God, for indeed when I get lazy about devoting time to God I tend to see my faith weaken.

So hopefully what I say is meaningful and any tips or suggestions are gladly welcomed.

Commentary on the Prodigal Son

The following is based on a commentary i heard on the Parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15:11-32. The parable itself was tied to a study of the Tenth commandment, found Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21.

Short and Sweet

I had someone pray for me specifically yesterday. I think people have prayed for me before, but not while i was present. It helped to illustrate for me the importance of both prayer in general and a Christian community to support you and care for you. I say this because I know that I tend to merely intellectualize God without really devoting myself to him and good works in His glory. We need other people to keep us to account, and to serve as physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit in our lives, so that we can see how others emulate living in Christ. Prayer keeps us focused and connected to God, and I find when I pray less or even lazily I begin to turn away, if ever so slightly. What I state is mostly obvious, but I felt it seemed like something that probably cannot be reiterated enough as we continue on our spiritual walk. For the Body of Christ is not made of one part but many,  and how can we heard God's Wisdom and experience His Grace if we do not talk to Him?

To sin or not to sin, that is the question

While i will do a separate post on the subject in the near future, it occurs to me that if not obvious to the reader that this blog is not really about answering questions or understanding the complexities of theology, because there are several blogs that do that much better than i can hope to, but hopefully my thoughts and ideas can provoke thought and propel people to search for resources to answer there questions. And the blog is new, so there's  much i would like to add to it in the future.

It Ain't Me Babe

I in general will probably not too many "troubles of my life" kind of posts, but its the freshest thing in my head right now so bear with me.

Last night i got some news i have been afraid of for awhile. A girl i had liked and how had been a close friend of mine said she was not interested, and that basically we should not talk for awhile. The thing was we had gone on a date last week, even though she had never been particularly comfortable with the idea. The date itself, all things considered, was not too bad considering my lack of dating experience. But it was clear even at the time and certainly in hindsight that see was not interested. However, despite the obvious signs, my own greed and desperation meant I was determined to play my hand out to its losing end, hoping i hit on the river on long odds. 

She said the date itself was good, it was just that she didn't date friends and that i was not spiritually her equal/ was weak spiritually. I guess people can say worse about you, but the issue got me thinking about my faith and my friendship and many things. It made it clear that life is not a movie, no happy ending is required. In the moment of our life, we are so often unable to gain perspective of the truth, as our feelings cloud our perceptions and how we perceive others. It made me realize i know so little of romantic relationships and their intricacies. That my faith is weaker than i could have ever imagined, and my knowledge more shallow than i dare admit. In general I ate much humble pie, and i did not enjoy it one bit.

Beyond the rejection itself was the issue of how i moved on with my life. Last night i felt like renouncing God and throwing it all away to accept the cold and unforgiving void of space and time that seemed to dominant my thoughts in those moments. Parts of me wanted her to feel as I did, worthless and alone, unable to bridge the gap between themselves and the rest of humanity. Yet, I have not turned from God. I am unsure how to proceed, this person was in my aspects of my life the guidepost I used to judge my progress and to know how to proceed. Through them i allowed myself to take risks that i would have been too scared to do alone (Like dressing better or eating healthier). How I muster the courage now, through God or something else or not at all, remains to be seen.

In a practical sense, i should put aside romantic thoughts about woman from my thoughts as much as I can, since it just leads to more pain than anything, and until my social skills improve, trying to establish a relationship is likely a futile effort. As well, her assessment of my spirituality makes me wonder if i was ever really a Christian or just a boy with a crush. While I do not believe myself utterly faithless, its bad enough to wonder if I can ever be a "real" Christian, or just lazily intellectualize it. I feel like I'm an outsider to secularist who live without the restraint of Christian life, but that most Christians think i'm too secular or suspect because i haven't grown up in an evangelical setting and don't know the culture.  

On the other hand, perhaps this is what i need, less temptation and a greater focus on God and serving Him. I have never been good at being faithful emotionally and spiritually, i'm too cold and analytical usually, but maybe this time is different. A start would be to tell my parents, or my mom really, who is a Catholic and may feel i am betraying her. But i'm a fairly big coward so i don't expect to say anything. 

Finally, I basically lost one of my best friends. Mostly because of my actions. If I had continued with the cowardice I have displayed until the last little while then we would still be friends and we would be able to hang out and things would be better. Surely she would meet someone in the near future and left anyways, but I would have had a little longer. I know things happen as they do and not any other way, but its hard to accept that right now. The odds of finding that good of a friend, never mind a girlfriend, are quite small. But such is the way life goes.

In the end, I'll be fine. i will live my life, hopefully be better for it and maybe happiness exists for me somewhere. Until then I keep searching for apples of gold.

Growing Pains

                Before one becomes a great Christian thinker they must become a great Christian person. This is relevant indirectly in most professions, that excelling at the skills and work ethic of a craft comes before the success, at least long term success. But I think that the above is especially true for Christians in that Christian thought is more than an intellectual exercise but merely one expression of a larger pursuit of Christ and holiness. Theology is not the ends of the exercise, but merely a means of better appreciating God’s work and understanding His plan. Knowing Christian theology and truths is for all practical purposes largely a meaningless exercise if one is not already embedded in the Body of Christ.

                I state all this because this because this blog is mostly about issues and thoughts on Christianity, and it occurred as I have read other religious blogs that my own writings are not much more than surface level theology. I have come to realize that I have much to learn when it comes to my faith and that while this blog may be useful, I have a long way to go in my spiritual journey in both as a person and writer. The issue is that I won’t be solving any of the great theological issues any time soon, as capable intellectually as I am, until I know more about Christianity and more importantly, have grown as a Christian man. While I will keep writing, I feel my emphasis as a Christian needs to be on doing works and growing in my faith rather than simply analysing doctrine and Christian ideals.

Therefore, I hope that my writing will focus less and solving and proving and more on learning and growing in Christ, and I hope this will be a step in the right direction.

"Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do & die"

The title is an excerpt of the Lord Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade"


I suppose i should state first and foremost that i'm not really sure where i am going with all this, sort of like the protagonists of the poem cited above. Orders are to move charge and hope for the best, to put faith that what one does is for the right cause at the right time and that it is not all in vain. There is no guarantees, no promises of success, so why bother at all you might ask? Well i will let you know what i think tomorrow...

Can't buy me love

Western capitalist society is overall the wealthiest, freest, most privileged society in the history of humanity. While it is by no means perfectly equal, even the worse off have a chance, a small chance perhaps, but a chance indeed to better themselves economically and socially in ways that were impossible even a hundred years ago. Consider for a moment the last 3 or so years, having survived the “worse” economic disaster since the Great Depression, yet even at the worse of the economic crisis there was not a third of the poverty and chaos that the Great Depression experienced for more than half a decade. For all the talk of unemployment and banks folding and bailouts to the car industry, it seems that the hurt, while bad for those out of work or with foreclosed homes, is really in historical context laughable in the overall harm caused.   My point is not to argue about the economic issues of our day, but to put them in context and to deal with the real issue of my essay. That is, the real problems society faces in these days is the slow moral degradation of our society, the melting glacier that the effects of are slowly becoming apparent.

My reason for bringing up the economic recession that hit North America, Western Europe and affected in one way or another most the globe was that what became apparent was our moral depravity more than economic. A western society that has begun to shed its Judaeo-Christian roots for consumerism, with Capitalism as the new God and money as the means to glorify ourselves in its name. As a society with virtually no material needs that cannot be met, we have made the new survival social in nature, that food eaten is not a practical act as much as symbol of “traditional” living or modern liberation. The brand is as important if not more as the good that carries it, for the brand is infused with social capital that can be spent with family, friends, co-workers or the whole world through mass communication. Fame is no longer the merely the result of extraordinary talent and accomplishment but a means of its own, another skill like singing or dancing that can be utilized to build up immense social capital. Now I do not mean to say that the above are new phenomena per say, but that our narcissistic, hedonistic society has greatly multiplied the effects of this to more people in general and the ability of individuals to engage in such activity.

The problems with this become the most apparent at the lower income levels of society, not that moral depravity exists here more than in higher income groups, but the disease is more easily seen. This is because the people at the bottom do not have the ability to have their cake and eat it too in the way many wealthier western people are able to. What I is that these people must make a choice, between economic or social capital. That is, they can have blackberries and Plasma TV’s, or food on their plate and manageable debt. Now some at the very bottom can’t have neither, but even most of these can survive, however poor, on western nation’s social programs. So these people have a choice and the question is which to choice? Our modern media and culture promotes social capital accumulation, consume to keep the economy going, consume this pill to lose weight, this pill to feel better, where this brand or eat this food and be more respected. And if you are lucky and win the lottery, you will get on a reality show and become super famous and be lifted out of your meagre existence. Again I say that the above existed as temptations before the modern era, it was not nearly as prevalent or pervasive or as encouraged as ever before.

For those on the bottom, the alternative is to work hard, save your money, live rather modestly, maybe never much better your circumstances so your children or niece or just the next generation may be a little better off than they are. It means status symbols will be few and personal benefit will likely only extend as far as a little stability and a little better future. But in a globalized world with outsourcing and union busting and privatization, even the impoverished yet honest woman or man is increasingly unable to achieve such modest goals. So it is of little wonder that many go for the easier lifestyle and more self-indulgent existence, especially when morally is an increasingly relative term. This helps explains the failure of easy capital and easy pleasure in term so of lower income people. This is because what drives people to massive debt is rarely driven my economic ideal as much as social ones, the idea of social capital accumulation that comes with a bigger house and nicer possessions and the “American” dream, although most of western states could have their country name substituted into that. There is also the problem of deception involved by unscrupulous bankers and lax government regulators that allowed for practices to continue and sold an idea of every individual deserves success and the good life, largely regardless of their actions or behaviour.  

So the crime and family breakdown and that make the poor the story so often the story of the nightly news is really just a reflection of being unable to hide their malaise. The middle/upper classes of society suffer just as greatly if not worse; however, in their collapse of moral respectability. Since their economic needs are essentially met at a basic level, the goal then becomes rather simple, which is social capital accumulation, when has no God to consider but themselves. They act essentially the same as the lower classes, but look better doing it, without suffering from poverty issues in the same way such as poor health and education and can hid the drug addicted kids and abusive or uninterested  parents with cars and good schools and BBQs and therapists and the like. The unwanted pregnancies are aborted, the career parents hires nannies and buy video games for the kids, the lying and cheating and stealing are just children being “unique” individuals that should be set free or adults doing their jobs well. Are any willing seriously to argue that the sexualisation of our youth or the dissolving of marriages has no negative effects? That economic growth can hide sad lonely children desperate for love and sad lonely adults searching for meaning in it all? For all those that say that I exaggerate or am being an alarmist, I say our entitled society has yet paid our dues for its sins and the real crisis lay ahead.

In any case, the indivisible unit of modern society has become the individual, not the family or society. In the Christian tradition, the individual is really just one organ of the body of Christ, in theory not greater or less than another person, and the goals of people were not meant to be solely focused on ourselves but the other and most importantly to God. The Christian tradition is one that values helping others as greater than helping the individual, and that searching for the meaning of life without God leads to staring in a hopeless empty and lonely void, devoid of meaning or purpose. The Christian tradition is restrictive in the sense that you cannot always do what you feel like doing, but has doing everything you feel like doing made us any happier or content as a society, or only increased our guilt and sense of loss? For whatever brief hedonistic pleasure one loses in propelling oneself towards God and the spiritual life, he or she will find a lifetime and beyond of simple, glorious grace and beauty that will fill one’s heart and soul, giving them something they could never buy or find at the store.