Now Writing for the Examiner.Com

New Posts will now show up at Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/x-12015-LA-Christian-Issues-Examiner

Please note a lot of material from this Blog will be revised and edited for that site so repeats may appear to the reader.

Why Does God Allow SUFFERING?

This was a little unexpected. I ran across a Near Death Experience website and one of the people recalled an out -of-body conversation.

the presence was prompting me into a dialogue. I remember bits and pieces of a "conversation" without words. I remember asking questions and receiving answers. The first question I asked was very impertinent. "Why is there so much pain down there?" (meaning on earth). The answer was laughter. So much joyful laughter like a mother laughing at the amazing questions only a small child can ask. The laughter was followed with something like: "Don't you know I have the power to take away all the pain? I can rewind the universe and start all over again with one simple wish. The pain is left behind on earth. It does not travel with us but the lessons we learn from it are eternal.

Yeah. I never would have expected laughter as a response to that age-old cry of "why?"

Carrie Prejean Should Not Speak for Christianity

I'm sorry, I just can't keep my mouth shut on this one.

Does anyone not see the irony inherent in targeting homosexuality as a sin (and defending the wholesome goodness of "opposite marriage"), whilst aspiring to thrive in an industry that promotes a purely sexualized ideation of the feminine which in turn fosters marital infidelity as dissatisfied male partners seek Carrie Prejean lookalikes over their dumpy brunette wives???

If you're going to parade around in front of the world showing off your flesh, and pose for photos with half your tits hanging out, and your goal was to be a VICTORIA'S SECRET lingerie model - I'm sorry but I have to tell you that you really aren't standing on any kind of moral ground whatsoever.

Do True Christianity a favor and shut up already Carrie Prejean! People are not targeting you for standing up for what's right - they are targeting you because you are perpetuating not only a false, hypocritical idea of Christianity but also the notion that California blondes are stupid barbie dolls!

This is not Christianity, people. Please don't let this woman and "Christians" like her be your gauge for what Christ really is about.

To Gay or Not to Gay ...

Oh, boy. So Miss CA apparently lost the Miss USA title because she commented that she believes marriage should be between a man and a woman.

First of all, and I have said this before - I find it hypocritical for Christians to pinpoint homosexuality as a political battleground. Biblically speaking, homosexuality is one of many, many, many, MANY sins to which human beings fall prey. A couple of HUGE omissions I see in the Christian community are divorce and fornication. The bible states that a divorced person who re-marries is committing adultery which, biblically speaking, is punishable by death (specifically, stoning). Same for fornication. So for all those divorced and remarried Christians out there, sorry...and if you are having sex outside of marriage, sorry...here come the stones!

For the past few years the raging battle (which is now escalating) has been over homosexual couples getting married. The big P, Prop 8. (I was frankly shocked when it was approved in CA but I've no doubt it will quickly be overturned.) On this I say to the Christians: If two people want to be united in a legally recognized union and by so doing obtain the health and tax benefits afforded to heterosexual couples, why would you want to stop them? Yet I have this to say to homosexual couples who want a Judeo-Christian marriage ceremony: Read the Torah. Read the Bible. The God in these books does not like homosexuality. The Judeo-Christian religion will not recognize a gay marriage as valid.

Regarding the condemnation of sexuality - frankly, I really don't think gay people wake up and decide, "hey, I've decided I want to be gay just so I can annoy all the Christians out there!" (Well, maybe Perez Hilton does ;) I don't think I have the right to tell someone they should try to stop being gay, unless they want to become Christian and ask what the bible says. By the same token I don't think I should be encouraged to have sex with a woman (or anyone for that matter). You are what you are and you must live peacefully with your neighbor if you want to participate in society.

Additionally, as to all the "it's a sin" business, GUESS WHAT, Christians, the bible also says that ALL have sinned and ALL fall short of the glory of God. To God, your little fantasy about having an affair with that cute secretary is just as disgusting as homosexuality is to you. So can we all just get off this trying to convert each other's sexuality already and get to the part Christ came to relay - the LOVE??? How about accepting one another as we are, with whatever faults and sins we think the other has, and let God do the judging?

America is Headed for a Fall

...and Americans are paying the Chinese to chop them down.

I feel a sense of deja vu when I see the headlines lately. It looks like Marx and Nietzche are staging some comebacks. Newsweek decries the new Death of Christianity; the Chinese, seeing our Western economies collapsing, are buying up all the copies of Marx they can find (have they already forgotten Mao?) ...

What the Hell would happen to America if we stopped buying products made in China?

Seriously. Next time you go out to buy something, check to see where it was made. Walk around your house and look at your stuff and check to see where it was made. Look in your closet, look at the tags on the clothing on your back right now. Your shoes. Where was it all made?

For the average American, if it wasn't made in China, chances are very good you probably can't afford it. Walmart. Target. Toys R Us. Any given store in your city's malls. If you removed the stuff made in China, you'd be left with virtually NOTHING.

Americans are inextricably entwined in Chinese economy right now. We are dependent on a country that only recently stopped mass killings of its entire educated populace. A country that continues to jail people who speak against the party politics or for freedom of religion. A country that supports a fascist regime bent on murdering its entire population at the whim of a lone madman. A country that does this: http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?&next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DO_8Ko-9uKRs%26feature%3Dchannel_page -- to produce the fur coats that Americans want to wear.

We wanted to live large. We wanted our big screen TVs and our McMansions and gadgets and toys for our kids, and we wanted it cheap. We got it all. From China. On credit.

And now, our big corporations and financial structure are collapsing around us. Our elected officials' solution is to inject trillions of dollars to "save" these behemoths. Does anyone seriously think that we are ever going to recover from a MULTI-TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT?

So...what do you think is going to happen here? On the one hand, we have a proud nation of self-centered, materialistic celebrity-worshiping zombies who are suddenly losing the sleepy comfort of working mindlessly for corporate behemoths that are now abruptly kicking them out the door.

On the other we have literally billions of uneducated post-communist hordes who are for the first time in their history as a population, tasting the saccharin-sweet temptations of living above the poverty level, and are willing and able to do anything - anything - to keep from returning to the tortured deprivation of their former lives.

Is this what the future holds:

-Racial unrest, increased brutality against minorities in the U.S.
-Disappearance of a middle class
-Foreign occupation of the U.S., loss of religious freedom
-War between China/North Korea, Middle East and the EU over control of the States?

Because I really don't see Americans adopting a new minimalist lifestyle any time soon. Not by choice, anyway.

So How Do You Help Your Fellow Man?

When I lived on the East Coast I constantly traveled in and out of Manhattan on business/pleasure, and lived in Greenwich Village for two years. So homeless people were certainly never a strange sight to me. I was not a novice or bleeding heart; I had known people who had been physically accosted when they tried to be merciful givers.

Nevertheless, I did often buy food for the people standing around or sitting begging. I don't give money because I don't want to support someone's addiction but no one should have to go hungry, right?

Where I live now on the West Coast, one thing that surprises me is that most of the people I see begging are Caucasian men, many of them young. This afternoon I was stopped at a light and noticed a fellow I'd seen over the past week, standing there with his "Hungry" sign. I looked at him. He looked directly back at me hopefully. I angsted. The light changed and I drove away, feeling an inordinate sense of guilt and obligation.

Should I have pulled over and taken him to a diner? Gone to the grocer's and gotten some bread? (But I did that once. I saw a man begging in the parking lot of a grocery store so I bought a loaf of bread and came out to give it to him. He refused it. He wanted cash.)

I ran my errands and by the time I passed the corner again the man was gone. I pulled into a store to pick up some sushi for a quick dinner. As I came out, I saw another Hungry person standing on the curb, and this guy had a young pit-bull mix with him. That pushed me over the edge. Thinking I could redeem myself for the other man I had not helped, I handed my sushi over to this fellow.

He was again, Caucasian, and looked like he was in his twenties. He was filthy, and he had that spaced out look of the long-term user. When I asked him what his story was, how he'd ended up begging on the streets (in so many words) he rambled on about how he used to own some sort of a shop and then the owner (?) turned it into an Ecstasy Lab (?)

I was starting to regret my action. I even felt a bit angry. Here I was talking to this tall, white young man who was- to be honest - coming across to me like a total slacker who begged during the day so he could spend his nights getting high. I wanted to ask for my sushi back.

I looked at his dog; it was barely out of puppyhood, with a wrinkly brow. It jumped up and slobbered me with kisses. I wondered what would be the dog's ultimate fate. Would this man abandon it on a whim? Was he just using it to gain sympathy from foolish dog lovers?

Then I thought, if I analyze every needy human being, I will inevitably come up with their faults and decide that they don't deserve my help. Jesus didn't judge. He just helped. He gave at their point of need. If HE held back His Grace based on worthiness, none of us would qualify for even a cup of water. He didn't continue helping over and over, though. He got them on their feet (literally) and in many cases, told them to "sin no more." Jesus wasn't a sap.

As I drove back home I felt like a Lolcat FAIL: "Giving to Homeless: UR DOING IT WRONG!" Wouldn't it be better to volunteer at a homeless shelter instead of randomly buying meals for people on the streets? If I really want to help, shouldn't I get a degree in social psychology and provide counseling for these people?

At the end of the day, does a bowl of sushi really help anyone?

It's Okay to Hate God

(GASP! SACRILEGE!)

How dare a Good Christian ever say that???

Well, you know, I'd be lying through my teeth if I pretended I never sat in tears and screamed, "I HATE YOU! YOU SUCK!!!" (And worse) To God Almighty. Whilst trying desperately to understand Him.

He already knows what you're thinking. He can SEE INSIDE your SOUL, for crying out loud. So if you think He can't handle a temper tantrum, you really have no idea who you're dealing with. Of course He could very well just zap your ass with lightning for it, but that's because He's God. He can do whatever He wants.

So if you sit and think about this crappy world and all the horrible things human beings do, your mind starts to get clever. Okay, if God exists and He is almighty and all-powerful and He invented us, then ... EVERYTHING IS HIS FAULT. Our nasty characters, all the crime, abuse, death ... ALL HIS FAULT. Any reasonable person who believes in God would come to this conclusion.

So it's up to Him to fix everything.

Yup. That's right.

How does He do that?

Through this magical mystery-tour called Jesus Christ.

Excuse me, what?

Christ is the Key. Like (get ready for Nerd attack in 3-2-1...) Buffy's little sister in the Vampire chronicles. The magical key to the Universe.

Didn't expect such a unicorn theory for an answer?

Well, I explain it more in terms of Quantum theory (I love Quantum Theory because it just lets you make up any crazy s*** and sit there going, well it's ALL POSSIBLE - JUST LIKE GOD) in other posts.

Whatever you wanna call it, for some frigging reason, Christ is the key to entering this Quantum dimension we call Heaven. I think it has something to do with the Old Testament being a demonstration of a certain kind of static, mathematical sin-punishment (action/reaction/balance cancellation = zero or death) dynamic that exists in a 3-dimensional world, whereas Christ represents the more fluid, infinite-dimension of Quantum creation that exists outside reason/law/math.

So, when you go toward the Christ end, it's okay to hate God. He understands. It' all good.

Quotes & Insights from 100 Prison Meditations by Richard Wurmbrand

I have always had deep respect for the Jewish religion. As a Christian I consider the Israelites my precursors and their history is mine (my apologies to the Orthodox Jews for whom that is blasphemy). Upon reading 100 Prison Meditations I know that I must eventually get around to reading the Talmud.

The Hebrew language is magical to me. The fact that one word can have a multitude of meanings (some directly contradictory) and that the bible was originally written with absolutely no punctuation, opens a whole new box of possibilities to my conviction that the bible is an organic, mystical text with hidden powers. Meaning will change depending on where you breathe or pause whilst reading the text. To me this adds to the extra-dimensional quantum mystery that is the bible. Sound, language, song, and String Theory become increasingly interesting when I learn more about ancient Aramaic and Hebrew.

I also feel an odd sense of tingling when I speak in this language. 3 phrases that have really struck me:

"Talitha, koum!"
"Eli, eli, lama sabachthani"
"l'shanah haba'ah birushalayim"

I will not translate these phrases. They can be interpreted in different ways.

Quotes from Wurmbrand:

"The whole Bible is an inimitable symphony...Letters, syllables, and whole words could have been written in the Bible just for the splendor of the sound. Anyone whose ear is attuned will enjoy them. They cannot be translated."

"With men who remain in the sphere of words, discussions lead nowhere. Words are useful only if they lead out of the realm of mere chatting to the davar - to the reality-word."

"The atom, the nature, the individual - all are unities. Parts in a state of extreme tension achieve the miracle of oneness."

"Love is a sentiment shared by humans and superior animals. But is God merely a human sentiment? Because love was the highest thing the Greeks knew, John said 'God is love,' just as Livingstone said, 'God is unboi,' for those who knew no better."

"tachyons...Once man is able to handle them, mankind will be caught in a paradox. It will technically be possible to communicate so that answers will precede questions, which could mean the cessation of communication."

"A second is no longer defined as a fraction of time in which the earth accomplishes an orbit, but is the time that an electron near the outer edge of an atom of cesium wobbles: 9,192,631,770 times. This figure is a multiple of the sacred 7, which is the mathematical seal of God's creation."

And from the bible, this which was whispered to me personally: "for God is King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise." Sing. Make a joyful noise. Create. Embrace the power and the energy.

MY GOD VS YOUR GOD

So I blogged earlier about this mysterious organization called Voice of the Martyrs which I initially accidentally mistook for Sacrilegious S&M Porn -- anyway, against my reason I ended up ordering some books and thus far have read 2 of them and feel quite enriched! Impressed enough, in fact, that I am going to post some excerpts here.

100 Prison Meditations is a collection of thoughts by Richard Wurmbrand. He was a Jewish-Christian Romanian pastor who preached Christianity during the Stalin regime and as a result served a total of 14 years in prison camps, 3 of those years in solitary confinement.

Wurmbrand noted: "A person must be very daring to assert that he has the final objective truth in religion. Northern Europe is Lutheran; the Southwest is Catholic; the East, Orthodox; India, Hindu; and the Middle East, Moslem. Can truth be geographically conditioned? The most murderous influence in religious history has been the assumption of objective truth in religion. We have to live with relative truth, accepted by our minds as the result of long heritage, education, circumstances of life, and the interplay of historical events. As in other domains, we must rely largely on probability in some religious matters, too."

I will add to this what I've said before, that I think people get stuck in syntax when it comes to arguments over religion. I personally suspect we are all talking about the same God - it is one God who has revealed some mysteries of the Universe to Monks, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, Scientologists and whatever other multitude of spiritually enlightened doctrines exist. The bible itself states in Mark 12:29, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one," and in 1 Corinthians 8:6, "there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came, and through whom we live." What we choose to name this God is I think where human beings go into battle.

Not one human being or religion has unlocked the secrets of the Universe, so to argue with hatred over who has the ultimate Truth, is useless and harmful. We're all just the proverbial monkeys trying to type out Paradise Lost, when it comes to understanding God.

The reason the bible is my study of choice is because I find it fascinating and astoundingly relevant to my personal life, millennia after the original writings. Whether one chooses to see the information it contains as myth, old wives' tales, metaphor, allegory or literal truth, you can't deny that it does contain elemental guidance for life in a world that is seriously confusing. And I do think it contains some Universal secrets we will probably never unlock. Still, it's fun (maybe even compelling) to explore.

As Wurmbrand states in 100 Prison Meditations, we may not get all the answers but it seems we can't help looking: "Woe to a faith that does not question. Reason questions almost everything it sees and hears. Only a reason undedicated to God does not question who He is and what He does and what His intentions are. The answers we receive are an inconclusive as those of science. If matter and its constituent particles, the atoms, are mysterious, the more so is God, their Creator. He has given us a revelation that would not be worthy of Him if it were not also enigmatic."

What is the Role of a Pastor, anyway?

"I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done - by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit." - Romans 15:18

"It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation." - Romans 15:20

"Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand." - Romans 15:21

Two very important points for preachers to take from Romans 15:19-21. There are signs and miracles to be done. Even Christ Himself performed some dog & pony tricks to get people believing. Although the point of the miraculous healings and feedings was not their own end, no one would listen to Him if He just ran around talking, right?

In the OC I have seen too many pastors sitting preaching to the choir so to speak, like standup comedians, while so few sacrifice their own comfort to go gonzo in places like China, North Korea, Pakistan and Iran. (Incidentally it has not escaped my attention that the most atheist governments are also the most categorically inhumane to both people and animals.)

I do not wish to speak against men of God. In fact, many churches are doing good works for their communities and Christian organizations are often the first on the scene during disasters and times of need.

But having been to a lot of churches I can't help seeing how Pharisaic the leadership roles have become. There is great corruption of God's Truth by so-called Men of God. I have seen too many pastors who are weak, snivelling cowards whose faith is compromised by their fear. They want to live comfortably. They want to live happily with their wives and children, administering salve to other snivelling "Christians" whose greatest struggles are fighting their desire to screw with the neighbor's wife/son/daughter/dog, or trying to squeeze some joy from their crackerbox-cubicle lives, or whatever other pathetic 21st-century American malaise they can dream up.

Where are the miracles, where are the true Men of God whose very handkerchiefs will heal the sick?

In my BSF study of the Levitic priesthood I am seeing the progression from Aaron (chosen by God to intercede and to demonstrate the insufficiency of a faulty, mortal human mediator between God and man) - to Melchizedek, totally not from the Levitic line but chosen by God as a precursor to the new covenant of Grace over Law in Christ (I'm still not really clear on who this Melchizedek was exactly) - and finally to Christ, the last priest necessary, a Forever Priest who would never die and who could eternally act as an intercessor between God and man for man's mortal failings.

"The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless" - Hebrews 7:18

So, are pastors just wrong altogether? I already think Bishops and Popes and Cardinals are ridiculous. Aren't pastors similarly silly? After Christ there is no religious leader greater than his followers. He said it Himself and demonstrated it by washing His disciples' feet, then going to die for everyone.

Aren't we all Disciples ordained to follow after Christ if we accept His Sovereignty? And isn't it each of our roles to study Scripture, test it against other doctrines, see which is true by firsthand scrutiny and experiencing what happens in our lives as we ponder, compare and seek with open minds?

So, if a pastor has any true role for which he should be supported, it is to spend all his time becoming an expert not only on the Biblical Scriptures but also in weighing them against opposing religions, to see what proves true and consistently correct.

I have yet to see a pastor doing a series addressing the most common challenges from Atheists, Buddhists, Muslims, etc. Why do churches never invite them for an open panel discussion with analysis and prayer that Truth be revealed? Are we so scared our God will not come through?

George Carlin went on stage and asked God to strike him dead with lightning if He exists. Why didn't God do this? Did He want George to keep on living for another 40 years to give him a chance to acknowledge the truth before he died and went to Hell? Did George even go to Hell? Surely Christians have asked this same question and more, of God. I know I have.

Why don't pastors pick a question a week from an Atheist forum or even from within the church itself, and address it? That might incite me to go to church.

Scientific Breakthroughs for the Average Jane

"50 is the new ... 7, you know."

Sometimes I wonder if "technology" and "progress" are really so great for mankind. Sure we live longer - that means more of us scrabble for less resources in a dirtier world. What's so wrong with living in tents and caves and dying young? I'd rather live hard in clean wilderness and die at 30, than live like a slug in cancerous fumes and hang on uselessly til I'm 98.

Then again I can definitely see a future where we really don't age. Have you ever noticed that if you don't go out into the polluted atmosphere you don't really need to shower daily? And I know a couple of doctors who told me about how incredibly young some patients in psychiatric wards looked: 80 year-olds who looked 30. Makes me think about the characters in the OT who lived to be 900 and beyond.

I figure scientists will eventually invent some sort of molecular repellent that prevents molecules of dirt from hitting our bodies. They might even be able to use that technology to eliminate the need for umbrellas, sunscreen or scuba diving equipment.

Of course, we are already on the cusp of using our bodies as portable computer chips so we can plug in anywhere, be identified, use our personal electrical codes in place of keys and locks. If we can figure out how to harness our body fat into energy & fuel a la the Matrix we will have portable renewable resources as long as we are alive.

I'm waiting for holographic two-way communication so I can sit at a cafe in Malibu and have lunch with my buddies in Brooklyn or Hawaii, or watch my nephews skiing in Montana (whilst wearing a bikini since my body fat would have been converted into fuel for my solar vehicle and the molecular ultra-v repellent would keep me safe from malignant melanomas). That would be awesome.

And they're already working on cultured meat - flesh without the whole slaughtering-someone-with-eyeballs-who-is-screaming-in-pain part. That brings up some interesting ethical questions, including would I continue to be a vegetarian?

Hmm. Maybe this whole science tech thing does have some redeemable value...if we don't blow each other into a nuclear holocaust first.

i am not I AM

i am slow.

i am proud.

i am broken.

but i am Yours,

and that

is all.

Grateful Perspective

I love where I'm living right now. It is cozy but there is an underlying glamour to it, especially at night. It is really safe, I can walk to the ocean and the air smells like the sea.

When I look out my balcony I see palm trees outlined by bright blue skies and rustled by a loving breeze, or (at night) the soft twinkle of a multitude of lights from the little boats docked across the inlet. Peaceful yet thrilling.

In six months I may be roughing it in a hut in Zimbabwe or dodging bullets in Compton but right now...I'm enjoying some dreaminess.