Redeeming the Time

Is it Sin?

zoebios121 — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:47:30 +0000

I feel like we as Christians spend a whole lot of time thinking that we should do thing and shouldn’t do other things on some vague moral code

or as Jerry Bridges asks in his book Respectable Sins: Why has the word sin disapeared from our vocabulary? We either excuse it as some sort of disorder or we

Would You be…

zoebios121 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:18:59 +0000

Would you be a “Superhero”?

Here is—for the purposes of this question—the definition

You cannot use your ability for your own gain (“No Self-gain)
Nobody can know that you did any of your deeds while you are a superhero (“No Glory”)
You can’t use your abilities dishonestly, dishonorable, etc. (“No Supervillian”)

Really, it boils down to a question of spending your own time and energy for no tangible return nor benefit to you for being able to do good.

It took me a while to get an honest answer out of myself for this one. I like the idea of doing good but I wonder if my knowledge of being rewarded in heaven (and thus eventually) is still the main motivation for me to do good. Or the “feel good” feeling afterwards. Am I doing good for it’s own sake truly? Is that a desirable outcome?

Would you be a “Superhero”?

Discuss.

Two Things that the World Needs Most

zoebios121 — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:00:22 +0000

I’ve been thinking about this question in a different form: what your “three wishes” were — that is, your most important and deepest desires. But I think that the questions posed to me is more to the point and causes more introspection.

What two things do you think the World needs most?

My response: God: His providence, love, grace, the Cross. Sin: The misery of life without God to make us turn around to the thing we need most.^[1]

Discuss. Argue my response or post your own.

^[1]Let’s ignore for the sake of this post the idea of us needing sin in a perfect world and it’s relation to needing God and free will.

Under New Ownership

zoebios121 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:54:19 +0000

Why is it that people so often forget the “under new ownership” part of the gospel, that when we are saved we are not our own anymore because we have been bought at a price?

Nor is this new ownership a bad thing. We are not losing; we are not turning in our cards: we are redeemed into the life that God intended for us to live. This life is the most meaningful and fulfilling one we can live. In fact, it’s the only life lived that has any meaning at all.

Hitler, Abortions and Obama

zoebios121 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:20:55 +0000

Some perspective:

5.9 million Jews were killed over a period of conservatively 6 years in the Holocaust (Wikipedia: this comes out to a million Jews a year. But 1.2 million babies are aborted annually in the US alone.

Read: we kill more infants per year than Hitler killed Jews per year in the Holocaust. Puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?

We’ll probably go even higher as the Freedom of Choice Act opens up venues and methods of abortion that were previously considered too sick to do.

Note: this blog is NOT meant to be political in nature. But this issue is an important because it is a serious moral issue.

What We Should be Concerned About

Obama, with the Freedom of Choice Act that he has promised to push for, will overturn everything. This includes the (legal) definition of a human (you can see where the logic of this falls apart) as a fetus that has left the womb. With that Act passed, the doctors can still perform another attempt to take the infant’s life should the infant happen to make it out of a womb — which is euphemistically termed “a failed abortion.” Attempted murder, maybe?

If all that a human was, was a mass of tissue that was ejected out of a womb and happened to get along on its own, then we are getting into some dangerous waters of our definition of “human.” That means we can make anything into a human. And nothing human. Suppose we could make a tumor live outside the body. Then it would be a “human.” That’s pretty messed up

To Address Some Common Objections

Disclaimer: This is not to say that there other things don’t need to be talked about. As Christians, we need to rethink the way we go about relationships, the way that we view sex, the way we view marriage: the way we view responsibility.

Also, don’t talk about the fringe cases as an argument for making abortion legal at the extent to which the law now allows it. Perhaps in the very strictest cases. But then we open the door to the definition of strict. And people have then the wrong attitude about the law. They see it as a kind of a bar to jump over. How little effort can I expend and still get by? Can I get it be convenient?

Finally, there’s also the idea that we don’t make laws for the exceptions: we just make exceptions in laws. We have forgotten this in a sensationalist, bleeding heart generation. Divorce started off for abusive couples; now we use it when our spouse stops being sexually exciting.

Aristotle once said, democracy dies when people realize that people can vote themselves benefits. We’re well on our way.

The Plague of our Age

zoebios121 — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:48:25 +0000

I’m finding this to be true: that our most common mental malady is not anxiety anymore, it’s depression.

It’s hopelessness, helplessness and complete burnout. It’s cynicsm.

We are like Dirt

zoebios121 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:27:54 +0000

When we are dry, we suck up water. But dry us out to a point, then we start rejecting the very thing we need to become wet again.

Interesting.

Should we say “Good Luck?”

zoebios121 — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:06:04 +0000

It’s cliche, it’s everywhere. But should we as Christians do it? Luck, if it even exists, plays a negliable role when put next to God. Shouldn’t we say something like “Godspeed” (what I do), or at least a neutral but more precise “I wish you well.”

Actaully, Godspeed was used to wish someone a safe and sucessful journey. It’s also where the word “goodbye” came from.

So the next time your ignorant, fight-picking Atheist friend calls you out on “godspeed” because it has the word “god” in it, you can tell them they’ve been saying it all their lives with the word “goodbye”

I’ve never added a poll before and so I will now. I am a bit excited to see how this turns out.

View This Poll

On a different note, I wish everyone Godspeed on their exams (pun intended).

Do your best and leave God the rest.

Quiz: Theological Standing

zoebios121 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:02:42 +0000

I must say, I’m a bit surprised to be in complete agreement with John Calvin. Lue-Yee assures me that Calvin himself was not a 5 point Calvinist.

You Scored as Karl Barth The daddy of 20th Century theology. You perceive liberal theology to be a disaster and so you insist that the revelation of Christ, not human experience, should be the starting point for all theology.

John Calvin

100%

Karl Barth

100%

Anselm

100%

Martin Luther

80%

Jürgen Moltmann

73%

Friedrich Schleiermacher

60%

Augustine

53%

Jonathan Edwards

40%

Paul Tillich

27%

Charles Finney

27%

What is Love? Ask God

zoebios121 — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:43:28 +0000

What is love? Ask God: He has already answered. Many times.

He is willing to give wisdom to those who ask: are we willing to listen?