I’ve always been told that animals don’t go to Heaven. I don’t like this idea… mainly because I’ve had so many pets that I’ve been close too. But I wanna know where people get this idea that animals don’t go to Heaven.

I have a friend who calls me an idiot every time the conversation get’s brought up. He doesn’t mean it… he just doesn’t know how to argue a point…

… but his belief is that animals don’t go to Heaven because they don’t have souls.

“Where do you get this idea from?” I’d ask him.

“Well, how do you know they do have souls?”

“I can’t know for sure” I’d say, “but does it make sense for them to just cease existing?”

That is my biggest hang up. God created all things (originally) to be eternal. Why should that stop simply because of Adam and Eve sinning? And if they don’t go to Heaven, where do they go? To a place of nothingness? Does that make sense?

“Well, we have been given the command to rule over them because we are different than animals. We are created in the image of God.”

I understand that humankind was given dominion over the animals… but that doesn’t tell me where the bible says that no animal has a soul.

I would make the conjecture that animals do have souls. I don’t believe they are like man’s, who is created in God’s image… I don’t believe Jesus died for their salvation… but I remain certain that I will see my pets in Heaven.

John’s Revelation shows Christ and the armies of heaven riding down on white horses (but who can be sure this isn’t some sort of obscure analogy of some sort)… and the bible also depicts animals in the time when the new Heaven and the new Earth will be here.

So, what do you think?

Where will she go when she dies?

My last post was designed to help me to get over my writer’s block. I asked the Xanga community if they had any questions they’d like me to answer about myself.

TheGreatBout responded with these questions:
“How are you transitioning into married life? How is this new adventure reshaping your knowledge of God?”

This isn’t as easy to answer as one would think…

I guess I can say that I don’t feel any different being married. All I know is that I am happier than I’ve ever been my entire life.

I’m almost 24 years old… and for the last 9 years of my life, the thing I wanted more than anything in the world was to marry Tesia (my wife). When that finally happened 2 months ago, I felt as if I was finally made complete. At the same time, I don’t feel any different. She doesn’t either. It is what it is, I guess… and it’s great!

So since I don’t feel that different, other than a fine sense of accomplishment, you can probably imagine that transitioning to married life hasn’t really been that difficult.

The most difficult part is probably the idea that we are sharing a house with 4 other gross men who love to party. It’s annoying, but it rarely causes friction in the relationship. Oddly enough, it isn’t hard to get the privacy we need as a newly wed couple. Our room is set up almost like a studio apartment, minus a bathroom… We don’t need to leave our room for a lot. And when we turn the fan on in our room, it blocks out most of the sound from the rest of the house. So it really isn’t so bad.

So the transition, thus far, has been pretty smooth… but that could be because of the fact that we’ve been with each other for the last 7 years of our lives… We’ve gotten very comfortable with each other over such a long period of off and on dating.

Now, as far as this new adventure reshaping my knowledge of God goes, I am starting to realize the importance of my private time with God. Ever since I’ve been married, I haven’t had that time, let alone much free time, period! That’s probably why I’ve had writer’s block, lately. But I’ve realized that I don’t read anymore. I’ve stopped studying. I’m just busy doing things that in all reality, don’t matter… So I need to start setting a time aside to do my studying.

It’s so easy for her… she’s in seminary…

Marriage really does clear up an image in my head of what the church is supposed to be though… Being that we are the bride of Christ, I can totally see how much God really loves us…
It’s the idea that I will always be there for my wife… and I would never leave her side… and I will always have her heart… and she will never have to go through anything alone… and I will always love her… and I will always protect her…
This is one of many images God has given us, showing his love for his church. And that’s a clear image… but marriage helps me to actually feel it. It’s beautiful to say the least.

I’m in a season of writers block. I’ve been wanting to put up posts so bad, but I’m lacking ideas. So I have a few options for my next few posts.

1. Guest blogs- I will let a few chosen people write up an entry and I will post it to my site. It may give me a little inspiration.
I’ve never really seen the point of guest blogs… but I know people love to have their posts up on another’s page for some reason. But if anyone is interested in this, let me know.

2. Topics- You (the reader) throw out some topics that you think I might be interested in… Or maybe you’d like to know my point of view on a certain subject… This will give you the option to get to know me a little more.

3. Questions- You can ask me any question(s) you want and I’ll answer it (them) truthfully. This will be another way you can get to know me better.

Well, let me know what you think!

Thanks,
-Jimmy

For those of you who don’t know, I am an adult leader in my church’s youth group.
On Wednesday night, I was hanging out with some of the students when I overheard Ashlynn, a girl in my youth group talking to my cousin about homosexuality… I heard her use the name of another youth leader in my town, Phil, and it immediately caught my attention.

Phil is an ex-youth leader in my town. The pastor of his church was recently fired for his unorthodox practices. I won’t get into that today, but I will let you know that just about all of the sermons preached at this church were centered around either homosexuality or abortion and how evil they both are. Well, when the pastor was fired, the youth leader left along with him.

I walked over to join the conversation and Ashlynn was talking about how Phil came to their school, sat at their lunch table and began talking about homosexuality. He’s done this before. Apparently, he is the youth leader of a friend of hers that sits at the lunch table.

Anyway, Ashlynn chimed in with her opinion:
“I don’t have a problem with homosexuals. I love gay people!”

This set Phil off.
“The youth of this generation don’t understand what those people are doing to this country! It’s ungodly and it needs to be looked down upon. They are ruining everything and it needs to be stopped immediately!”

Ashlynn began to explain to Phil that homosexual’s are still people that God loves no matter who they may or may not be attracted too, but Phil was still flustered and kept babbling about how homosexuality is a sin and how it is ruining our country.

I wanted to share this story because I think it illustrates a very good point.

God loves mankind- even if mankind won’t obey Him, nothing will separate us from that love. So I would like to know, when did mankind become the enemy?

I deduce that it is Satan that is the enemy. It is the devil and his works that we stand against. Nothing more.

To quote Donald Miller from his book, “Searching for God Knows What”.
“In war, you shoot the enemy, not the hostage.”
When we look at other’s sins in any other way, we miss the point. We miss the target and we become hypocrites… because hatred of homosexuals is ruining the country just as much as homosexuality. Anger is ruining this country just as much as abortion. War is ruining this country just as much as atheism. Capital punishment is ruining this country just as much as fornication. Divorce is ruining this country just as much as greed- The list can and will go on and on.
It’s because our sins are just as bad as other’s… no matter what the sin or sins may be, and whether we like it or not. 

All this is to say, let’s not attack those that we believe are ruining this country because of certain struggles. Let’s remember who the real enemy is and do what Jesus commanded- To love each other.

   Today is Good Friday.

I hope you are practicing communion.

This is the day we celebrate:

Betrayal

Denial

Injustice

Being Spat on

 
Being hit

Being Flogged

Being Crowned

Being Crucified

and being mocked, all while this was happening…

Jesus suffered and bled so that we could be free. He was killed to provide a path to God.

“This is my body, which is broken for you. Eat this and remember me.”

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. When you drink this, remember me.”

Brothers and sisters, remember Christ today. And remember that his death is a celebration… Celebrate the death of our sins by the body and blood of the lamb of God.

When I was in high school, I had self-esteem issues. Some of them have carried on to the present, but not many. I like to think that I am a strong person now, but no one is perfect, right?

Growing up, I never really had a person to tell me the good things about myself. My dad would often let me know he was proud of me for whatever it was I did (I never knew), but sometimes, one parent isn’t enough to make you think differently about yourself. I had no idea what I was good at. I sucked at sports, unlike my younger brother who was an all-star athlete. I wasn’t a great artist like my older brother, and I absolutely sucked in school. I pretty much hated myself. I slouched terribly, when I was being talked to, I never looked anyone in the eyes, I was pretty depressed, and I never ate. I thought I was fat…

There was one place I knew I belonged— The Punk Rock scene.There, I felt like I could be myself. I could dress however I wanted, I could spike my hair, I could mosh, I could spit on people, and no one cared… because we were all feeling the same thing. We were a bunch of screwed up teenagers. We were the outcasts in our schools. We weren’t understood and we weren’t going to care. We supported each other in our own way- knocking each other around in circle pits…

Of course, outside the scene, I was still this weak, slouchy, dirty boy. Nothing could change that… and I got to the point where it didn’t even bother me anymore because I felt accepted.

At the very end of my junior year of high school, I started dating a girl (who is now my wife) who was a lot like me in such a different way. I had the biggest crush on her for at least two years prior, and she was my goal in life. I wanted her and that is all I wanted.

She was a punk rocker like me. She was gross. She was dirty, and I loved it. She was so smart and beautiful… she could have been anything she wanted to be, but she chose to be different. She chose to be an outcast, much like me, only mine was out of the cards dealt to me.

Well, being the weak, insecure boy I was, I was too afraid to ask her out. But she became my best friend, and eventually, she came to her senses and asked me out. I had no idea that this would change everything about my life.

I was going to church because of her. She was such a great singer, and for the first couple of weeks before we started dating, I went to her church to hear her sing in the praise band. I loved her voice. I still do. But at this church, I felt a sense of belonging, much like my punk rock venues.

Over time, the punk rock scene was being slowly replaced by church. I started loving church more than anything else. I actually began to look forward to Sunday mornings- a time I used to loathe. I learned much about what it means to be a man and a man of God… I began to learn, but I still felt gross on the inside.

One day, my (then) girlfriend confronted me about my lack of eating. I never really told her that I didn’t eat because I was depressed and how I thought I was fat. That came much later… instead, I forced myself to eat, gaining more strength, gaining more weight, and gaining color in my flesh, once again.
Around the same time, she got on me about my posture… how I always looked at the ground and never looked up… how I would constantly slouch… people talked about it… but I didn’t know that I was slouching. I thought I was normal.
She told me to stop arching my back one Sunday. It was so uncomfortable, but things looked so much different. Since then, I taught myself to straighten up. It wasn’t easy, but over time, my posture improved by at least 95%.

From that moment on, I had a different attitude. I began to feel like I was a equal with everyone else. I felt like I had opinions that mattered. I felt like I was intelligent, bold, creative, and much more confident. Over the years, it developed into this overconfidence… I felt like I was right about everything… something that still haunts me (although I’m trying my best to improve). I also began to notice something I’ve inherited from my dad, who inherited from his dad, who probably inherited it from his dad…  stubbornness. I became so stubborn. But I didn’t care. I was confident finally, and that was all that matters.

I guess we will always be working on something to improve ourselves. Now, I am working on humility and flexibility. But I am still thankful for my wife who helped me to understand how to handle my self-esteem issues. Every now and then, I still battle depression, but it isn’t as bad as it used to be… and I still can’t look people in the eyes when I talk with them. I feel like I’m a threat and I don’t like that feeling… but as I’ve said, we all have things we need to work on to improve ourselves.

Do you consider yourself to be a confident person? If so, how did you get that way? What are you working on to improve yourself?

I’m now a married man!

I’m getting married tomorrow!

Don’t laugh at me. I didn’t know any better.

It scares me to think about it…

When I was in the sixth grade, my dad enrolled my younger brother and me to be Boy Scouts of America. We went to our meetings every Monday, went camping and the works. I can’t speak for my brother, but I kind of enjoyed it. It gave me a sense of duty and service- It helped my self-esteem, which I believe is the reason why my dad enrolled us to begin with.

I still remember the Scout Law:

“A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.”

And the Scout Oath:
“On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the scout law; to help other people at all times; and to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

And the Boy Scout Motto:
“Be prepared”

And of course, the Scout Slogan:
“Do a good deed daily”

I took this seriously. I felt, even in the sixth grade, that these were good values to have and I knew that by following these, I would grow into a decent young man.
I don’t know if the others in my troop took the scout law seriously though. It seemed as if it simply became empty ritual, repeating these same things every Monday night.

As I was getting older, however, I began to pick up on how most of my friends (and other acquaintances) viewed the scouts. It was something for nerdy people. You would have to be a dweeb to join such a waste of time. Who goes camping anymore? We have access to a television set with all the entertainment we need to be satisfied…
And good deeds? Why can’t everyone just fend for themselves?

Let me tell you… I was not about to admit to being one of those nerds… I’m no dork, or dweeb, or spaz. No. I’m Jimmy Mallory. I’m a punk rocker. I’m cool.

It was then that I realized that I needed to escape the scouts… somehow.

The time came for our pizza sales to raise money for our troop. Our troop leader told us that if we sold over 60 items, we would get an air mattress. If we sold 80, he would shave his head.
My brother and I both sold around 90. Not combined. We each had over 90 items sold.

After months of asking, we never got our air mattresses. The leader never shaved his head.
My brother and I both saw this as a violation of 90% of the scout law. I finally had a reason to leave the scouts.

It was a society filled with hypocrites. They didn’t take there laws to heart. They didn’t take the motto seriously. They didn’t obey the oath, and they certainly didn’t believe the slogan. They let it all become empty ritual- and stayed in the scouts only because it feels good to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

They lured us back for two more weeks. They offered to “discuss our differences and dissatisfactions.” We bought it for one week… But my brother and I just couldn’t do it anymore.

Our churches are dying. I believe that one reason is, people want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, but they forget why they feel that need. The key is to not let our beliefs become empty ritual. When we say we believe something, we have to make sure we walk the talk.

Try replacing the scout law with the fruit of the spirit. Switch the Scout Oath with the Beatitudes. Substitute the Slogan and Motto for any number of bible verses. Are we keeping ourselves in check with our spiritual lives? Could this be the reason why numbers in mainline denominations are declining?

I realize now how selfish I am by leaving the group for not living up to their promises. Oh, how our sinful nature follows us wherever we go! But consider this. Are we pushing others away by not living up to our beliefs? Have we gone on following empty ritual? How can we keep our faith alive?

My wedding is in less than three weeks. I have all of these people asking the same question. “Are you getting cold feet?” I always tell them no, that I just want it over with… Which is mostly true, but I admit I am getting a little nervous. What a lot of these people don’t realize is, this whole wedding thing is bringing out a wide array of emotions for me. Really, I’d expect them to know this… I mean, most of these people are or  have been married before and I’m sure they know how the entire process is emotional.