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.