Now that I got your attention, (I’m not really leaving Xanga) I just wanted to say that my friend, Tesia, has a birthday today. If everyone would like to go to her site and tell her happy birthday, it would be awesome! It’s t-sheffield.xanga.com
Please Rec this!!!

-Jimmy

Shalom,
One of the pastors at my church wrote a blog about the role a pastor plays in caring for the church. The big point was that she is there to equip the saints to do ministry (here is the link). This Sunday, she actually preached about it. Sunday, after the service, someone from the church commented on her blog:

Reader, in order for the second question to be clear, it needs to be understood that, currently, our church is going through a huge transition. We used to have three services. First was at 8:45- Traditional. Second was at 9:30- Contemporary. Third was at 11:00- Traditional. Our church decided to experiment with having 2 services instead of three (for many reasons, but mainly, it is a HUGE convenience). We are also planning on building onto our church- all in all, a $7,000,000.00 project. So there is a lot going on as far as change goes. Many people in our congregation are disgruntled about it.

In any case, this was my response to the commenter:

Kim is a pastor, which means she is there to lead the flock- or teach… She is doing exactly what she is payed to do. That is, teach the congregation. And there are many other pastors in the church… it’s just that some aren’t payed. It is a gift that many people have. (Check out Ephesians 4) Also, it might interest you that that is exactly what Jesus did with his disciples… and what the disciples did with their disciples and so on and so forth.

This phrase, “why do we pay you?”, really alarms me as well. First of all, the money you tithe is set apart, not for your needs, but for God’s. When you give your money, you are giving it to God… God will do what he wants with it. Sure, some of it goes to pay the pastors, but church isn’t a club. Your tithe is not a membership fee. It is something you are supposed to be giving with a joyful heart. (Look at 2 Corinthians 9:6-15).

And Finally,

2.) We can’t stop hearing about change until we can embrace it. If things don’t change and adapt to their surroundings, they die off. How sad would it be, if 50 years from now, St. Paul’s is looking at closing it’s doors because the people no longer see it as relevant to them anymore. This will happen, and the surrounding churches who have adapted and are continuing to adapt to their culture will thrive and continue to grow and grow… that is, unless we become all things to all people (1 Corinthians 9:22).

I understand that change is a scary thought, but there is nothing to fear when the Holy Spirit is leading it’s church. And that is exactly what is going on here. It all comes down to trusting our leaders, mainly PJ, Kim, John, and Karie. These are all spirit led people, and I wouldn’t doubt the direction in which the Holy Spirit is pointing them.

The biggest thing is this: there is nothing the church plans on changing that goes against what God has instructed through His word. If there was, then, there should be a cause for concern. But since there isn’t, accept the direction the Holy Spirit wants to move. And you can look at it like this, we still have the traditional service, and there are no plans to get rid of it. We still have the contemporary service and there are no plans to get rid of that either. There is nothing wrong with either service. Both are currently serving the purpose they were intended to serve.”

The pastor also commented on her behalf as well… but I will let you check out the link for that. 

The questions I have for you are, “What do you expect from a payed minister in your church? ” or in other words, “What do you believe the role is for a pastor?” and “How threatened are you by change?”

Today, I noticed that my eyes had drifted over to the right hand of my computer screen. I don’t know what caught my eye, but I scrolled down wondering, do the plugz still drive traffic to the pages of those who use them?

I used to plug my site. I don’t really know why I don’t anymore. Waste of credits, maybe? I don’t know. But when I did plug my site, I got a huge increase of traffic to my page. For some reason though, I stopped. I also stopped looking over that way and just ignored the plugz all together.

I guess I want to know, is it still worth it? Is it a blessing or a nuisance? Or are you like me, and have, for some reason, ignored them?

The argument for whether or not it is a Christian’s duty to remain passive in any and all conflicts seems to be a never-ending one. I, for one, am convinced and convicted that if I am calling myself a Christian or a follower of Christ and his teachings, if I am struck on my right cheek, I should turn and offer my left to be struck too, as Christ instructed.

Now, we can get into the hermeneutics of that specific scripture and we can go through an entire exegesis of it until the topic is dead, but it still won’t change the fact that Christ is telling us to turn an act of violence into an act of loving our enemies. And loving our neighbors as ourselves is the second greatest commandment.

The scriptures say, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” When we strike a foe, are we acting in love? Absolutely not. Now, praying for them… yes… there is nothing greater we can do for our enemies to show we love them, than to put them in the hands of God. Then He will sort out the mess and He will judge righteously… more righteously than we ever could! It is only when we let go of all control and hand it over to God that we can fulfill that which Christ tells us to fulfill.

Let’s look at this from Christ’s eyes, rather than man’s:

The fruit of the spirit- Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Goodness, Kindness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. Every one of these fruits show themselves in the very act of pacifism. Redemptive violence, on the other hand, does not promote any of these fruits. In fact, it shows the exact opposite of all of them. How is it possible for a Christian to obtain the fruit of the spirit and act in such an opposite manner? It isn’t possible.

Of course, we let Satan creep in our hearts sometimes. “Well, if we were pacifists, how would we have been able to stop Hitler in WWII? Surely, God didn’t want 6,000,000 Jews to be tortured to death!” No. God wouldn’t want that. However, WWII didn’t involve Christians vs. Germans. It involved Americans vs. Germans. The important thing is that it was stopped. How it was stopped doesn’t matter, but I can tell you now that I believe that it is the Christian’s duty to stay nonresistant. In other words, let the world fight the world. In the end, they will all destroy themselves and put themselves to judgment. I will be the one trying to improve it, not by weapons, but with the help of the all powerful love of God!

What I am saying is this: undoubtedly, pacifism is the best way to go, but it will only work by prayer and action. It is a discipline that we must embrace if we are living to build the kingdom of God. Redemptive violence will never point to Christ.

My roommate and I got into a bit of a debate the other night. It was regarding communion.
You see, I grew up as a Methodist. The United Methodist Church teaches that anyone, no matter what they believe, is invited to the table for the Lord’s Supper. I’ve never thought of it differently. He, on the other hand, grew up in a missionary church. His church taught that communion is a practice that is sacred to the Church (something I agree with, whole-heartedly) and that it should not be shared with an unbeliever.

I have a hard time believing that. First of all, the bible never once condemns the practice of sharing communion with a nonbeliever. You can read it over a million times and you will not find one condemnation for it anywhere… which tells me, that if someone would like to share in communion with me, there is absolutely no harm. It doesn’t hurt me. It doesn’t hurt the nonbeliever. And it doesn’t hurt the church as a whole.

One argument could be that it does hurt the church because it waters down the meaning behind communion.

“Really? How?” I might ask.

One would then say, “Well, communion is for the believers and is sacred to the church. A nonbeliever doesn’t understand the importance of it. It is for remembrance and if they aren’t remembering Christ as they take communion, then it is pointless.”

But see, I don’t think it’s pointless. It actually reminds me of what Paul said in Philippians 1:15-18. In this he was saying how Christ’s name was being spread around the prison like wildfire. He said that some where doing it in the love of Christ and others were doing it to cause a stir. But he said this too, “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether in false motives or true, Christ’s name is still being preached. For that I rejoice!” So should we be rejoicing when a nonbeliever takes communion too? Let’s look at it this way: Christ broke the bread and said “This is my body which is broken for you.” He then poured some wine into a cup and said, “This is my blood which is poured out for you. Whenever you eat and drink, do it in remembrance of me.”

Now I want to highlight something here. Who is the “You” Jesus is talking about? Jesus didn’t die to save Christians. He died to save the world. Whether or not we accept that sacrifice is a different story. But the idea is that he still died for the world. So if the world would like to take part in communion, it should be able to… because his body was broken for the world. To me, if I deny a person communion, I am denying him Christ. If I can’t offer him Christ, symbolically, how can I even try to do so in the literal sense?

This is how I would handle such a situation:

If a nonbeliever came into my church and communion was offered, I would go to him and invite him to come celebrate communion with me. If he declined, I would leave it at that, but if he wanted to come, I would explain to him that Communion is a sacred celebration within the church. It is a celebration to remember that Christ came to die for us so we may have a way into heaven. The bread symbolizes the body, which hung on the cross and suffered. The wine (or grape juice) is his blood which was poured out, washing away the sins of all those who believe in him… because his blood was pure as he was God and man, yet had no sin.
I would then allow him to eat the bread and drink the wine (or grape juice). As he is doing that, I would also partake in communion. I would watch him and remember not only what Christ did for me, but what he did for the entire world. I would remember why we need him and why we are to make disciples and baptize others into the fellowship of the believers and the Almighty.

I really feel like it would be a sin to deny anyone the body and blood of the Lord.

What do you think about nonbelievers practicing communion?

Shalom.

1. We are not under the headship of a pastor- we are under the headship of Christ. The pastor can’t do everything, but Christ can.

2. We do not follow our selfish desires. Instead, we follow the holy spirit and make our decisions through His guidance.

3. We don’t turn people away for worship. We bring them in. We care for them. We comfort them. We accept them, no matter who they are and what they believe…

4. Our Altar isn’t the table on which the bread is broken upon, or a surface holding the cup in which the wine is poured into. It doesn’t hold the money we give to the church. It isn’t surrounded with candles. The altar is the cross that Jesus died on. That is where the ultimate and final sacrifice was made. The altar is our hearts where we constantly make sacrifices based upon the convictions and disciplines the Holy Spirit puts us through.

5. It is NOT the house of God. It is NOT a sacred place… however, wherever we go is sacred ground, for we carry the Holy Spirit- the one true God. If our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, then every step we take should be a step taken in reverence, honor, and obedience… because where you stand, where you move, where you lie down, where you dance, and where you sit is the house of God. 

6. It does not hold a lectern, a fancy looking cross, pews, an altar, candles, an organ, guitars, drums, microphones, stained glass windows, or anything like that. It doesn’t have bells, a steeple, or a rotunda. No no no… instead, it is made up of many gifts and talents… standing on top of Christ, the solid rock. Yes… we, the Christians, are the church.

The church is a living, breathing, organism. It isn’t anything that man can make. It has to truly come from God. It’s organic. Some things may help us worship God… but those things will decay. God is too big to be confined to a building, or a sanctuary, or anything man has made. He lives in the body of believers. He lives in his creation.

When our churches get in petty arguments about how church should be run, which style of service is better, which pastor is a better speaker, how we should dress in church, or anything that isn’t purely organic to the church, let us remember how big God is… and where his house truly belongs.

Shalom.
The last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking about the importance of loving my neighbor as myself and loving my enemies as well. I don’t have any enemies per se… not to my knowledge, anyway, but nevertheless, the words, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” have been in my head.

I’ve decided to meditate on this… and what I’ve come up with is this:
“Justice is in the hands of our El Shaddai.”

This is an important thought. We gain enemies when we feel like we are owed something and our payment isn’t coming our way. This is the very reason we are to ask God for the forgiveness of our wrongs as we forgive those who do wrong to us. It’s because judgement, justice, and vengeance don’t belong to us. They belong to God. If God feels we are being persecuted, he hears the cry of the oppressed and he will act justly. This is something I rarely think about, but He will come through for us.

At the same time, if he sees us humbling ourselves, acting as if we are owed nothing, praying for our enemies, and showing agape for those who, in our eyes, don’t seem to deserve it, he will exalt us… because this is exactly what Christ did for us. And that is a perfect example of acting as Christ.

Jesus, himself, put it perfectly as he was dying, “Father, forgive them… for they don’t know what they are doing.” If we are being persecuted, Christ is being persecuted with us… so we pass all the debts others owe us onto Christ, and He judges accordingly. This gives us absolutely no reason to have enemies to begin with.

I guess my main point is this: when we allow God to hold everything in his hands, things seem to fall into place. When we act humbly, forgive, love, and pray for others, God will exalt us and his justice, not ours, will reign supreme. And that is the kind of world I would love to live in.

I voted for the idea of an “Atheist-ish” site. I’m a Christian, and a strong one, but I don’t think it’s fair that there is group for us and not for the Atheists. Really, it isn’t that big of a deal to me. I just find it very, very unfair. I also think that the ones who complain about this a lot are giant babies though too. Seriously… But if it were the other way around, and Atheists had an ish site… Christians would probably be complaining a lot too. It’s sad, really…
Let’s look at it like this:

No one complains about not having a “Jewish-ish” site.
No one complains about not having an “Islam-ish” site.
No one complains about not having a “Buddhist-ish” site.
No one complains about not having a “Mormon-ish” site.

This really shows how pathetic both sides can be.

But what is this complaint really about? Are there really people who want their writings featured on an “ish” site they can relate to so they can network a little better? Or do they merely want an “ish” site just because the Christians have one… for the sake of fairness? My guess is more of the latter than the former (not that there is a problem with either way). If this is the case, I think those who complain about a lack of an “atheist-ish” sub-community should not only try to get their site up in as many ways as they can, they should try to get other “ish” sites up and running for the sake of fairness too.

There are many ways to go about this too.
First of all, you can create your own page, similar to catpooish. It isn’t the same, but it is something… and it might give Xanga the idea.
Secondly, you can submit your stuff to Revelife. Sometimes they feature blogs from atheists… because we can all learn from each other. They just won’t feature anything that mocks Christianity… and rightly so… but again, it is worth a try. And who cares if the Christians complain? They will just do it on an “Athieist-ish” site anyway.
Thirdly, if it really is that big of a deal to you, boycott Xanga until they put up an “Atheist-ish” sub-community. I know that nothing is as good as Xanga, but if you want to get serious, you have to do some serious things. If Xanga starts losing it’s more outspoken atheists (or the sensitive atheist supporters) left and right, they will know what the problem is.
There are plenty of things you can do to get a site up and running. Just be creative.

My biggest suggestion, however, is just let it go. Even though I think it is fair and I support the idea of “Atheist-ish” I believe that silence, often speaks louder than anything. But I also think that we should be careful about the divisions we place in Xanga. Xanga is a tight community and it is good to preserve it the best we can, while sharing each other’s ideas and creeds.

So what do you think? Should Xanga put up Atheist-ish?

  As cliche as it might be, I am writing about the death of the greatest pop-icon of all time, anyway.
This is a huge loss. Seriously. I still can’t believe this had happened… regardless of how expected this tragedy might be.

I first heard while I was at work. One of our regular customers came in and said, “Hey, did you hear who died today?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Farrah Fawcett?”
“Well yeah, her too. But Michael Jackson died too!”
My heart dropped. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“No! I heard it on the radio on my way here. I was a big fan. (This is a man about 60 years old) This is too bad. I grew up on him!”

Naturally, I didn’t want to believe him, being a big MJ fan, myself. I called my dad, because I figured he was watching the news anyway.

The phone rang a few times and my dad picked up.
“Hello.”
“Hi dad. Are you watching the news?” I asked.
“Yes. Why?”
“Is Michael Jackson dead? Someone came in and said he was dead.”
“No. He went into cardiac arrest and he wasn’t breathing. They rushed him to the hospital, but no one knows if he is dead yet. Everyone is saying it doesn’t look good though.” my dad explained.
“Oh, ok. Well, keep me updated.”

After that, a few people came into the Movie Gallery talking about how MJ had a heart attack. By this point, I was freaking out, quietly to myself.

My dad called about 15 minutes later.
“Jimmy, they are saying that he is in a coma… so… say a prayer.”

The only thing I could say was, “God… please…”

A woman approached the counter and was on her cell phone (something that really really really bothers me!).
“What! You’re kidding! He is not! You are lying. Ok… well, call me back.”
“So you’ve heard about Michael Jackson?” I asked.
She said, “Yes. That was my sister on the phone. She said one station says he was dead, but another said he was in a coma.”

After the woman left, I got another phone call.

It was my dad.

“Jimmy, they’ve confirmed it. Michael Jackson. is. dead.”

When I didn’t think my heart could sink any further, it did.

When I got off work, I came home. A response of one of my roommates was “Good!”

Good? All freakishness aside… this is a good thing? This man was somebody’s son. He was a brother to eight brothers and sisters. He was a father. He was a genius in his own right. His art is spectacular… and this is good?

I don’t care about his private life. Who knows if he really was a child molester? He was acquitted. What good is our court system if people can’t trust it? And I say, if he was acquitted, then he never did it. If he did, forgive, forget, move on. Personally, I don’t think he had it in him to do such a horrible thing, but that is besides the point. No matter how weird he was, no matter how strange he made himself look, no matter the controversy and the rumors, he was still a human being. He was still a person… and he was a person who was a GREAT entertainer. The true king of pop.

Michael Jackson

1958-2009

My prayers go out to his family.

Shalom.
I haven’t been on and updated for a while. For that, I apologize.

I guess I haven’t had much to write about lately. It seems like I am sputtering out the same stuff over and over again and looking forward to the same people who agree and disagree with what I have to say… It seems like the same stuff all over again. By now, everyone on Xanga knows my view on abortion, gay marriage, pacifism, government, and just about everything else. It just gets old, writing the same thing in different ways. In fact, It is so old, I can’t believe we still have the same hot-button issues as we had 10 years ago… Except for the global warming issue, that is…

Anyway, I want to say a little something about what I believe about the church and the government… again… something I always talk about…

If you look throughout history, you will see that anytime government is fused with religion, it causes problems for not only the religion, but for the government itself. Rarely, are the two able to work together.

I am an anarchist… But I believe I am anarchist by default…

We can get into a lot on this topic… about hidden meanings… about hermeneutics, whatever… but I believe that it is very difficult for a person to be a Christian and support government.

Now before anybody goes crazy over what I just said, I believe that supporting government and obeying one’s governing authorities are two completely different ideas. I will not support the idea of an unjust war (if there is such thing as a just war), however, I will submit myself to the governing authorities if we were to have a draft and I was selected for “service”. That isn’t saying that I would go to war, but I would proudly go to jail instead… and that is still being submissive.

People love to argue and bicker about what it means to be in the world but not of it. Some say the Amish have it all wrong because they separate themselves, completely. Some say that there are those who spend their time ministering in bars is being too far into the world. Personally, I respect the conviction of both parties, however, I feel that it is important for Christians to stay neutral to the government. What I mean is, stay submissive, follow the laws, and pay taxes to the government, but don’t be involved in voting, any type of enforcement (whether it be via the military or law enforcement), and anything that could put you in a situation where you may have to pick one view over what you should believe as a Christian… and it is difficult, if not, impossible to find an area in government where you would not have to go against your convictions as a Christian. I don’t buy into the “voting for the lesser of two evils” mentality… because that way, you are still going against some strong convictions.

That is why I say that every Christian is an Anarchist at heart. It might sound like a contradiction in terms, but it really isn’t. Let me explain:

Anarchism is not a rejection of government. It is just an idealistic form of altruism. It is not impossible, but it certainly takes a lot of discipline. So, to go on further- Anarchy is not a chaotic state… not in an altruistic society, anyway. As an anarchist, I can see that the government has authority over me… because I am not blind… I question that authority, naturally… but nevertheless, I am bound to that authority, but ideally, a society based off of altruism and self-motivation is the key to success in a state of Anarchy… which in all reality, this is what extreme conservatives would like to see more of, anyway. The problem is, most people want to see a person who has authority, like a president or a king, or what have you. But if we read the book of Judges, we will see that it was never God’s intention for His people (Jew or Christian [I believe it can pertain to both]) to have a ruler other than Him.

One of my all time favorite quotes is from a Christian Anarchist named, Ammon Hennacy.
“An Anarchist is anyone who doesn’t need a cop to tell him what to do.”
and another one like it,
“Oh, judge, your damn laws: the good people don’t need them and the bad people don’t follow them, so what good are they?”

If you ask me, he raises a good point… because ideally, if we were all Christians, and we were all holding each other accountable, we really wouldn’t need governing authorities. And even in the stage of life we are in right now, we still don’t. I believe that God’s justice is over all of us… in one form or another… and I will not limit the power of my God… because I know he isn’t tucked away safe in a little box… because my God sees all, hears all, and knows all… and I know that those who will make him angry will see his wrath in some form. If this is the nature of my God, what more do we need?

A good website someone pointed out to me the other day: www.jesusradicals.com
Check it out. They even have a section about Christian Anarchy!