|
Ben2theEdge
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Ben
Gender: Male
Interests: Anything that involves even a small amount of creativity; Finding the perfect pair of jeans; Figuring out what makes people smile and exploiting it; Understanding the complex infrastructure known as the female mind.
Expertise: Recieving God's perfect love 24/7. Dishing it out turns out to be a little harder but I'm workin' on that, too.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Art
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  ben2theedge
Member Since:
3/9/2004
|
|
| Trying something new... head over to ben2theedge.blogspot.com to see what's going on. Goodbye Xanga 
| | |
| "I find it hard to believe that just because something was recorded in
the Bible as God saying it or God doing it or someone doing it as the
result of God telling them to do so, that that was really the case.
Also, certain elements are certain parts of narratives seem so absurd
or so atrocious and seem to be so antithetical to the nature of God as
I sense Him to be and as I find Him in Christ, that I really wonder if
a descent amount of stuff has gotten mixed in with writings that also
do contain God’s revelation and records of God’s action or action
through people.
A few things that come to mind, most of which are in the Old Testament,
are the massacres and takeovers of several nations, where every person
was slaughtered, including infant children, certain parts of the Hebrew
law that seem to be very biased against women, and maybe even slaves,
and this: faithskeptic.50megs.com."
-A fellow truth-seeker.
This is probably going to sound like a cop-out, but you will have to
believe me that it's not: Not only is God real, but we are not always
going to agree with him. God has infinite knowledge, wisdom and power,
and we don't. Because we are imperfect, we will not always agree with
what God does. However God says that He is good, and that He
works all things for good. This has to be true because God, being all
powerful, would not have to lie to us. If He were not good, he could
just come out and say, "I'm not good but I'm God and you have to
worship me anyway or I'll call fire down on you." So if God says He is
good, it must be true.
Having said that... there is a reason for everything God tells people
to do in the Old Testament. There is a reason for every law. Do I know
them all? Nope, but that's part of learning who God is: learning why He
did the things that He did. I would say that by rejecting the history
of God, you are in danger of defining a new God for yourself that
doesn't actually exist - you would just be taking the bits and pieces
of the God of Abraham that you like and inventing your own. That god
would be a god that you could control, but it would also be useless. I
don't wanna delve to much into philosophy here but basically, a god
that fits perfectly into what we expect a god to be can't possibly be
real because we could have made him up.
We know that the Israelites were God's people because Jesus said so,
and we know that they did the things they did because archeology says
so. And we know that the kings of Israel were expected to obey God by
listening to the prophets. And we know that the Holy Spirit spoke
through prophets, and that the prophets had no reason to lie because if
they got caught making a single erronious prophecy, the penalty is
death under Jewish law. To deny prophecy would force us to deny the
Holy Spirit which Jesus says is real, so we have to assume Jesus is a
liar, too.
The answer to your questions will require much more than the rejection
of the obstacles. In order to know the truth you must first accept it,
and then beging the long and arduous process of coming to comprehend
it. If it required any less of you, it wouldn't be worth your while.
That is the best advice I can give you on your spiritual journey.
| | |
| Last night my church's college and careers group watched a video that I guess could be described as a "highlight reel" of a high profile evangelist. During the video I leaned over to my friend and commented that you could basically track every tacky expensive suit trend of the last decade by watching this video. This actually caused me to really start thinking about this peculiar paradox... So why, with so much famine, hunger and injustice in the world, do our most allegedly spiritual people have the funding to pursue the latest fashion trends with budgets that could supply a free lunch to an entire third world country? 'Cuz they want to look good in front of huge crowds of people. This raises a far greater problem than Rev. Prosperity from Tulsa Oklahoma's wardrobe: Are Americans so materialistic and shallow that we expect spiritual people to be well dressed? Should we expect them to be wealthy? Should we expect them to have perfect teeth and a southern accent? Now don't get me wrong... I don't think this guy is evil or something. He has some wisdom in his words and I'm sure his faith in God is legitimate. I just think he and many others are doing to their bodies what the Catholic church was doing to their cathedrals a hundred years ago: Trying to impress people in all the wrong ways. Everything I've read would lead me to believe that a person who truly took Jesus' teachings to heart, who truly converses with God on a regular basis and obeys him would lead as simple a life as possible. When they were in public it would be God's wisdom in their words, and not a tacky, trendy suit that remains in people's memories. If someone has the answers to the big questions of life, it should be their answers that stand out, not their appearance or demeanor. So here's the question: It's not, "What can we do about Rev. Prosperity." The question is, "Who put Rev. Prosperity in charge?" The shocking answer is that we did, every time we "plant a seed" of five dollars in his ministry so he'll pray for you to have a Rolls Royce and a private jet just like he does. Our preceeding generation demanded flashy rock show evangelists with awesome clothes and moviestar smiles and perfect slicked hair who are more interested in reading the "next step of prosperity" between the lines of scripture than the blatant message to "LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR." I hope as the new generation of believers, we've finally outgrown this silliness. Just something to think about... | | |
| "he sat and shined a shoe, that’s all i ever saw him do. he must have
been 10 and he sat right next to his dad, imitating his dad while he
scrubbed then shined shoes right outside the location on sutter street
we were staying at in kalcutta, india. they had a very meager set up,
with only a wooden box the size of a shoebox to conduct business, and a
sheet that had been torn through to sit on while tourists such as
myself walked by. i always noticed how both father and son alike would
stare at peoples feet as they walked by, maybe to evaluate clientele,
or just the simple fact that shoes and shine were what they knew, and
what they knew best.
through a translator i began to build a
relationship with both father and son, i would share my cliff bars with
them in the morning, they thought they tasted funny which made me laugh
(because i think most health bars taste like chalk as well), not like
the normal "candy" that they probably had before from other tourists or
maybe a special occasion or two.
i asked the boy what he wanted to
do when he grew up, and he said he wanted to shine shoes just like his
father. i asked again thinking that maybe he thought i meant "what are
you going to do," and not my original question of "what do you want to
do when you grow up." the boy once again repeated that cleaning and
shining shoes is what he wanted to do, just like his father, right here
on the street he had grown up on and known his whole life.
"success"
is a funny word. it is a topic i struggle with because everyone seems
to be chasing it but i don't believe that i have ever met anyone who
will self admit tingly say they have found or achieved it. for me
though i believe that i have defined it as obtaining enough material
possessions that one can afford luxury and the comforts of life can be
obtained with minimal struggle. i know this sounds as cued but isn't
that what we are taught by society, the "american dream", and
advertising?
this boy had purpose. it may have not been the life i
have chosen but he had purpose. he was going to shine shoes like his
father before him, and to the best of his ability. the boy taught me a
lesson this past couple weeks, success is not defined by what you can
obtain but by the pursuit of purpose with all your soul & mind.
success to me is finding ones purpose no matter how obscure, different,
or grandiose, and setting out whole heartedly to achieve it. what made
shoe shining so insignificant in my eyes the first couple of days? it
was because i saw no monetary outcome proceeding. what makes his job
any more important than the ceo of a car company, a musician, or the
senior editor at the new york times. nothing. it took a ten year old
boy on the streets of kalcutta to show me that success is not defined
by the amount of products we can consume but by the souls task of
longing & belonging to what we set our hands out to achieve."
Stephen Christian, frontman for the band Anberlin
As Americans we sometimes have a very unbalanced view of success. Nate, Dave and I were just watchign the movie "Family Man" the other night with Nicholas Cage and I think everyone should watch this film by the time they finish college. It's a very emotional defense of the true American Dream (life, liberty and happiness), and an equally vicious attack against the contemporary one (nice cars, six-digit paychecks, and constant sex). Life, liberty and happiness can be found today - it's not something that comes printed on a paycheck. It's not a perk that your employer gives you.
Value is not something you find. Value is something you assign. Start assigning value to the things in your life right now. Redemption begins when value is recognized in things which seem unvaluable to all others. Because of my faith in Jesus' sacrifice, I believe that's what God does with people, and that's what we can do with our lives.
Tomorrow you only have potential. Today, you have purpose.
-Ben Berntsen, 11:30 A.M., 01.27.07
| | |
|
