The video above, I first watched on MSNBC while I was at work, but then, @BenelliMan made a pulse about it. You can find it on this LINK.

Some of you know that I have a lot to say on this subject. Well, the subject of merging politics (government) and religion, that is. Should it be done? Can it be done? I answer these questions with a flat out NO! Now, in my perception of government, any government at any given time can have elements that are part of the makeup of the Christian faith. Sometimes, it can appear that some of the moral issues of the political realm are in the light of a Christian understanding. At the same time, however, government will always be completely secular. This video, I believe, is a great example of why a politician shouldn’t use “Christian values” as a platform in any political race. The finger pointing and the hypocrisy always come full circle.

Let’s start with what Martin Bashir starts with in the video. Every person running for president claims to be a Christian. John Huntsman and Mitt Romney are not, however they are Mormon and Mormons, themselves, believe they are Christians and hold to the Christian values. What are these values? Some would say Pro-Life and Anti-gay marriage. This year, the HPV vaccination and the theory of evolution were also challenged as anti-Christian. These are not matters that really should be brought up in the political arena, in my opinion, but in the home, maybe even in the Church.
The problem with these being considered “Christian values” is in the idea that some of these, many churches accept, and some of these many churches don’t accept. The Church is a very diverse realm. Often times, a Christian would hear what some of these republicans have to say and take it at face value. So, I can picture a 50 year old Christian man who may know some about the teachings of Christ, sitting at home, watching the debate and thinking, “Yeah! Michele Bachmann believes that vaccinations cause mental retardation, and Rick Perry says that God did not use evolution to create humankind, so these must be Christian values because the Republicans are Christian candidates!” All the while, he ignores asking the pastor of his church where his denomination actually stands on such subjects. This makes me shake my head at the GOP.

This is the very example of the well known Rousseou quote: “God created man in His image, and man, being a gentleman, returned the favor.”

But the best “Christian values” issue of all is healthcare. Should the taxpayers be paying for the health and well-being of every individual in the country? The democrats of course say yes while the republicans say no. Both sides claim the majority of the country agrees with them. However, the democrats are standing up and saying things like, “There are over 2,000 verses in scripture that demand we help the poor!” And they are right. Christians need to help the poor. We are supposed to have an identity in “the least of these”. And it is issues like this that make me upset with the liberals because they too seem to miss the point.

Helping the poor is great. Should the government be doing it though? I’m apolitical, so I don’t have much of an opinion, but I will say that Republicans, Democrats, Christians, Atheists, whatever, should not be using God for political gain. I can’t speak for the government. I can’t speak for atheists. I can’t speak for republicans and democrats, but I will speak for Christianity. So, to the church, I feel compelled to say stop using God, your master, your savior, your redeemer, for your own interests. I of course am speaking for myself as well. That’s hard to do when it comes to politics because we all have our opinions. That is one reason why I try to stay out of it as much as I can, but when hundreds of people clap their hands and cheer regarding the hypothetical death of a man who wasn’t “responsible” enough to get insurance, it is sickening and the Church can not stand behind that.

I take that a bit personally as my wife and I cannot even afford insurance ourselves.

So what’s the solution to this healthcare problem? You. Whether or not it is taken out of your taxes, as Christians, it is our duty to take care of each other, inside and outside the Church. Why should we rely on the Man to fix our problems? We should look toward the Son of Man, who would say to his pastors, “feed my sheep” and to his sheep, he would say You were there for me when I was hungry. You were there for me when I was naked. You were there for me when I was in prison. You were there for me when I was sick! You were there for me when I was a stranger, beaten, dying at the edge of the road! You were there for me, brothers and sisters. Well done, my good and faithful servants!

Government waters down what the church is supposed to be doing anyway. Stop worrying about your money. When you gave your life to Christ, you gave everything to Him, including your money! Give it to those who need it! If you know a person without insurance is sick, help them out! That is what the Church does. We can’t be lazy anymore. We can’t force our beliefs on others. But what we can do is so much better: loving God, loving our neighbors, loving our enemies.

Today was the first day of lab for my geology class. I sat at the far end of the row of tables, the furthest end from the door. The lab was starting to fill up one by one and then a guy about 19 or 20 years old sat next to me. We didn’t talk much. He just turned, told me his name was Sam, I said “I’m Jimmy”, and we started our lab assignment.

As I was dropping hydrochloric acid on Calcite (a mineral that reacts vigorously to hydrochloric acid) Sam LOUDLY asked, “DUDE, ARE YOU JEWISH?”

I thought that was such a weird question. My first thought was that he wasn’t even talking to me. When I was done observing the reaction of the acid on the calcite, I turned around and saw he was looking at my arm.

I have this tattoo on my right arm. It’s in Hebrew. Right to left, it reads Yahweh Nissi. It means “The Lord is my banner”. Sam recognized the Hebrew writing. As soon as I realized he was talking to me, I said, “Oh… You saw my tattoo! No, I’m a Christian.” (I showed him my left arm which has a tattoo of the United Methodist Logo, the Cross and Flame). I turned back around and started to record the results from my science experiment.

I was beginning to piece this all together. Sam had thick hair, though it was a bit blonde. He had the stereotypical Jewish nose. He recognized the Hebrew on my tattoo. “Wait” I turned back around toward Sam, “Are you Jewish?”

“Yeah!” he grunted. “I don’t know what it says or anything. I just saw the Hebrew.”

I my excitement, I told him that it says “The Lord is my banner”. My excitement came because I’m from a small town. There aren’t many Jews where I’m from, so I’ve never in my life had a face to face conversation with a Jewish person before (outside of the internet)… and though that is about the extent of the conversation I had with him, I’m looking forward to talking with him a bit more. I’m curious as to whether or not Sam is a practicing Jew, or just a secular Jew by heritage. Either way, I hope he knows about the Jewish faith because I’d like to learn more. The more I learn from Sam, the more I can learn about the faith that Jesus came out of. The more I understand that, the more I understand Jesus… and there is nothing I like more than understanding Jesus.

Do you converse with others outside of your personal beliefs? (the internet doesn’t count)

My 9-11 story isn’t interesting at all. I was 15; a sophomore in high school. My third period class (Phys. Ed.) was about to get out. Across from the gym was the cafeteria, which at the time was holding a study hall period. My class was standing at the door, waiting for the bell to ring, when those in the study hall were doing the same. The difference was, while we were waiting silently (as silently as high schoolers can, anyway), the study hall students were making a lot of noise. One of the students shouted across the hall, “What’s going on?” I didn’t hear the response, but someone in our class relayed the message he received: Someone flew a plane into the Capitol building.

Of course, the day went on. Every classroom at Celina High School had a TV. Every TV in the building was on. We were all watching the news to see what was going on. Of course, I eventually caught on that the Capitol building wasn’t hit, but it was believed to be a target. The day continued. We all went home that day and watched more TV. We kept our eyes glued, seeing these planes with passengers fly into the twin towers… Watching the towers burn… Seeing people jump out of the buildings… Seeing the buildings collapse… Seeing people running in the streets in fear… We couldn’t keep our eyes off the mess. And we watched it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over… as if we couldn’t believe what we were witnessing…

And it’s still true today… For some reason, we can’t believe that something like this could happen to the US. Some still refuse to believe it… and get themselves looped into senseless conspiracy theories… This way of thinking that says “This is something so evil, it had to have come from ourselves.” And in a sense, it did…. but not in the same sense that it was our government behind all this mess…. but more like the events leading to that terrible date.

Regardless of where this came from, it was a life-transforming day… but life still goes on… We have all been changed… some for the better, some for the worse.

In the following months from that day, the US was the strongest it could ever be. No one used the attacks for political gain. We had a sense of brotherhood about us. We were united, as our name suggests. Today, who can see that? As changed as we’ve become, we’ve still gained nothing. That’s from my perspective anyway. It’s sad that it takes something as devastating as 3,000 deaths to bring us all together.

Since when has Christianity been about, “You’re wrong, I’m right, and I will only pretend to listen to your arguments, then tell you that they hold no weight…”

What do most creationists give to the evolution debate? A classic case of, “I don’t understand it, so God did it!”

The answer is yes, God did it… God also gave us the power to reason… and we have, and look what it brought us too… a deeper understanding of how God creates!

It’s a good thing we worship a God who’s been revealed through the Bible, but is not limited to the stories that revealed him.

Shalom.

The pharisees were a small, but vocal group of Jews in Jesus’ time. They were known for following the Torah precisely; so much so that they would make up laws for the laws just so they wouldn’t break one. It was all up to interpretation, really. For instance, what constituted as “work” on the sabbath? The tradition in which questions like these were interpreted was written in what is called the Talmud and the Midrashim.

Jesus accepted and followed the Torah, but rejected the Talmud (spoken, but not written at the time) and the Midrashim. We know this by the way he interpreted the law of Moses. He showed that at the very center of the Law wasn’t pride, but love for one another and for God. This is something the Pharisees had a hard time understanding. They tended to be rather pompous when it came to following the Law. They walked around and condemned those who didn’t commit themselves to it the way they did.

Jesus told a parable that ousted the Pharisees from their high horse. In this parable, he tells of a man, a pharisee, who went to pray at the temple. While there, he stood up and loudly proclaimed “Thank you Lord, that I am not like the other men- robbers, evil doer, adulterers- or even like the tax collectors! I fast two times a week and I tithe ten percent of everything that I make!”
There was a second man there, at the temple, who happened to be a tax collector. He stood far away, wouldn’t even turn his eyes towards God, and as he sulked, he beat his chest and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Jesus said that it was the second man, not the first who went home, justified before God. To sum up the story, he said, “All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Jesus was clearly not impressed with the way the Pharisees handled the Law, nor themselves.

And yet, some things never change. I see many Christians exalting themselves over atheists and other non-believers. I even see Christians exalting themselves above other Christians. One thing Jesus made clear is that none of us are any different from each other. One who knows Jesus is in no way more moral than one who doesn’t know Jesus. The difference is not in what we do, but in what Christ does in us.

It’s amazing. When Jesus spoke to a certain group of Jews in his day, the message became timeless. As an exercise, read and consider the Seven Woes Jesus preaches. Much of it, we can still apply to many Christians today… It’s funny… We Christians tend to look at the Pharisees as the bad guys in the bible… but it turns out, we too are the bad guys of the bible… We are exactly like them.

What fixes this problem?

The Pharisees and Sadducees got together to try to trap Jesus in his words. They asked him, “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This answer would have been good enough for the Pharisees and Sadducees. They really believed they loved God. But Jesus took it a step further saying, “The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.” This was an incredible revelation on Jesus’ part. It shows that we can not possibly love God unless we are loving our neighbors too… this is what shows our love for God. And this, we have the tendency to turn upside down- making enemies with those who don’t believe, condemning those who read scripture differently than us, exalting ourselves above others… This is what makes us modern day Pharisees. The solution to this problem, as Jesus has stated, is all held in the secret of love for God and love for others.

Are you a modern day Pharisee?

From the Journal of John Wesley- May 24th, 1738

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

I began to pray with all my might for those who had in a more especial manner despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all there what I now first felt in my heart. But it was not long before the enemy suggested, “This cannot be faith; for where is thy joy?” Then was I taught that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith in the Captain of our salvation; but that, as to the transports of joy that usually attend the beginning of it, especially in those who have mourned deeply, God sometimes giveth, sometimes withholdeth, them according to the counsels of His own will.

After my return home, I was much buffeted with temptations, but I cried out, and they fled away. They returned again and again. I as often lifted up my eyes, and He “sent me help from his holy place.” And herein I found the difference between this and my former state chiefly consisted. I was striving, yea, fighting with all my might under the law, as well as under grace. But then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now, I was always conqueror.

Has your heart been strangely warmed?

I believe that many Christians have a false idea about the theory of evolution. I believe this, because I had a false idea about evolution.

From what I understood- and what I was taught by my church- and what my friends told me- and what I read in certain creationism books, evolution was this idea that humankind came from monkeys. I thought that sounded a little fishy… Obviously, something didn’t sound right with that. So I always believed what I was told; we came from Adam and Eve no more than 10,000 years ago.

I kept hearing what evolution actually was, but I kept plugging my ears while screaming “LALALALALALALA”. Humans. Don’t. Come. From. Monkeys. I even picked on the Christians who did believe in evolution.

It took awhile for me to open up, but I finally did… first, I had to get comfortable in my faith in Jesus Christ before I could come to such a conclusion that we did, in fact, evolve. And No… Humans. Don’t. Come. From. Monkeys.

We all have genetic mutations. They happen every day. Some are inherited. Some aren’t. Some are harmful. Some aren’t. Some are irrelevant. Some aren’t. But some of these genetic mutations are passed along to future generations. This is what we call “microevolution”. This is something that has been observed, and hardly anybody disagrees that it happens. The thing about this is, that given enough time, microevolutions eventually add up into macroevolution. Macroevolution being the idea that one species can eventually evolve into something different. This would not be possible without microevolution. And this makes complete sense. It isn’t that we come from monkeys. It’s that we share a common ancestor with monkeys. Just like dogs share a common ancestor with bears and mice share a common ancestor with rats. We see it all over. But does this idea fit our Christian worldview?

What About Adam and Eve?

First, I think it’s important to realize the culture in which the Old Testament was written. The creation story mimics many stories from the surrounding areas in the middle east. Ancient Samaria is a great example as they share not only a talking, evil serpent in their creation story, but a flood story as well. It is my belief that the story of Adam and Eve was never meant to be taken literally, but to show the dominance of the one true God- the God of Israel. In other words, it shows that it wasn’t any of the Samarian gods that created the world. It was the God of Abraham. It wasn’t any of the gods of the land that hold the power to destroy humankind and the earth along with it. It is the God of Jacob.

I believe that the story of Adam and Eve gives us an important notion. It is our own fault that we give in to sin. It is our option to do good or to go against God.  This is not to say I don’t believe in the spiritual side of Christianity. I believe in influences, both by the hand of God and demonic. I believe that at the heart of every temptation is a tempter and in the heart of every good action is God. I believe that apart from God, we can do no good.

I think one of the important things to note is that a story doesn’t have to be real in order for it to be true. The truth of the stories of creation and Adam and Eve is one that is timeless. One question to consider is this: did every story in the Bible have to happen in the literal sense in order for the story- the entire metanarrative- to be true?

Creation

I consider myself to be a creationist. I believe that a designer created everything we know and don’t know. I believe that includes a spiritual reality as well as a physical reality. I just believe that the theory of evolution is accurate. All biological studies are done in light of evolution. And this is an idea that isn’t going away. The great majority of biological scientists believe in it. So much so, that it is almost guaranteed that you will not come across a biologist who does not believe in evolution. And with each passing day, they are finding more and more evidence that evolution happened.

This is just a tool God used- and is still using in God’s method of creation. Honestly, I’m surprised that not enough Christians back this up with all of the evidence pointing toward evolution. I mean, I don’t want to be the one to tell God that He’s wrong in the way He chose to create. Would you?

What we need to consider

If the story of creation happened exactly the way the Bible records it, we need to consider so much… First, we have to believe that all of us came from Adam and Eve… all 6.5 billion of us and all our races and nations. We also have to believe that stars aren’t really millions, even billions of light years away (because it take billions of years for the light to reach earth). We also have to believe that Dinosaurs and Man walked the earth together- despite all evidence that it didn’t happen that way. We also have to believe that somehow, other nations existed even when Cain was around (Gen. 4). There is so much more to consider too…. But God is a God of Order, not disorder. It makes sense that God would allow us this gift to figure out exactly how he created everything, being that we are in His image. We should not take what we now know for granted.

What’s really important

It doesn’t matter how one believes God created the world. If one wants to believe the way the Bible tells it, that should be one’s own prerogative. But one has to understand that what we know now is complete human progress. It shows what we are capable of, not only as human beings, but as creations of God. In all, just be faithful to God in however you believe God created us. Be careful of how you disbelieve though… because you’ll never know… It may be the method God used in creation.

I just thought I’d post a few 90′s alternative songs Enjoy.

I get really confused with the term, “Christian nation”. I really don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. I mean, what does a Christian nation look like? How does a Christian nation reflect Christ’s teachings? What role does the “freedom of religion” play in a Christian nation? What theology does a Christian nation prescribe to?

I believe that God is too big to be reflected by a single nation… or even many nations for that matter. No nation can really represent God. God tried that once before, and it didn’t work too well. One of the great things about God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ is that there is no longer a nation where God is manifested. Instead, He becomes manifested in the individual, and in a larger scale, the church.

When you hear the words, “Christian nation”, what do you think of?

… you’ll pray for me.

Today, I have an interview for the campus ministry position at Wright State University. This is a big deal to me. Please pray that this goes well… even if it doesn’t go my way. Thanks a lot!

-Jimmy