I Have Questions for All Your Answers

This was a great movie, highly recommended.
Battle For Seattle
This scene in particular stuck out to me.
I laughed at it the first time, but the more I thought about it, the truer it rang to me. We all think it's wrong that injustices happen it our world, but it's far too easy to not care when it's happening far away.

There's something about a wake up call like this, something about having it thrown (literally in this case) in your face.

The products we buy really do make an impact.

I don't agree that violence is the answer to anything. Jesus taught us that quite plainly. The whole idea of violence is anti-god.

But there's something about this guy's passion, the cracking of his voice, you can almost feel how much he believes in ______ cause "x" (dismantling the WTO in this case)

Think about the Nike Swoosh
and try to plug your ears while it screams "Human Slavery"
But hey, at least you look cool right?
God entrusted you with money and look, you perpetuated the slavery of kids overseas with it

Awesome

We all have a responsibility to each other and to God.
and when we sit at his throne,
Our excuses and justifications won't matter.

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, [6] you did it to me.’ (emphasis added)

Is it possible to be follow Jesus and not know it?

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (emphasis added)

Is it possible to think you're following Jesus and not be?

Is following Jesus a system of beliefs or a way of life?
A way of life that is self emptying towards God and towards others?
Maybe following has a lot more to do with action and the inclination of the heart than with rigid dogma, rules, and religious boundaries.


What do you think?

Habakkuk 3:2b "...in wrath remember mercy."

really though, I'm interested to hear what people think about this.

I hope God is like that.

I have more coming I promise, I've been really busy.
In the meantime, this quote is really tearing into my soul.

"Here is the God
I want to believe in: a Father who,
from the beginning of creation,
has stretched out his arms,
in merciful blessing, never
forcing himself on anyone,
but always waiting; never
letting his arms drop down in despair,
but always hoping that his children
will return so that he can
speak words of love to them
and let his tired arms rest on their
shoulders. His only desire is to bless."
~Henri Nouwen~

I hope God is like that.

What do you think?

If the man who spoke that quote was gay, does that change what you think of it?

Where did this blog even come from?

So, yeah this blog....

Let me preface this by saying I thought for a very long time before deciding to do this. It wasn't a spur of the moment thing by any means.

The point of this blog is to get my never-ending, never-disscussed, always frustrating thoughts, down, somewhere, anywhere. I'm not quite sure why. It is just something I've decided I can't afford not to do. Hopefully people will comment, and discussion will ensue; but either way, I think it will help me to organize my thoughts.

I was wary at first of the idea of having a blog, as the whole concept seems somewhat arrogant. Having the audacity to think that anyone else cares about what I think. Or being so starved for attention I need to just talk at everyone. Please know that I don't intend any of these things.

The material will mostly center around theology. but could diverge without warning to anything.

Disclaimer:
The views, themes, ideas, etc expressed here are by no means original, please don't mistake them as such. I don't claim to have an original idea; ever. I'm sure every idea that I could ever express has been expressed before, and more than likely with much more eloquence. I will do my best to give credit where credit is due. Also, do not take my words as the final word on anything. There are experts much more qualified than me on anything and everything discussed here. This is merely a platform for discussion and for me to keep my sanity. I think that's a pretty thorough disclaimer.


My influences are going to be apparent as this starts up. If you've ever heard or read Rob Bell; you'll see how he has influenced my sentence structure. They include but aren't limited to:

Being young

Being engaged to my beautiful bride-to-be Ashley Elizabeth Chaplin

My upbringing

the Emergent Church-(not to be confused with the emerging church)

Mars Hill/Rob Bell

Erwin Raphael McManus

Bill Johnson

postmodern thought

being born in a mac using home (Thank God)

This amazing blog I found-http://suzeiteo.blogspot.com/

Many long afternoons of reading about the different ways people think about God at His Bible and Book House where I used to work.

The International House of Prayer

and many many other things I'm sure.

Anyways,

-Theology-

For some reason people either love or hate the word theology

They think it's some aloof, smart people battleground that is somehow connected to Wiki Wars.

Which, I guess, in a way, is somewhat true.

From MarsHill.org

"We believe the Bible to be the voices of many who have come before us, inspired by God to pass along their poems, stories, accounts, and letters of response and relationship with each other and the living God. These words have been used to describe God and his character for thousands of years, and we call this theology. Theology is one of the best ways we can come to know and love God; it is also how we understand who God calls us to be and what he calls us to do. Theology comes from the Greek words "theos" and "logos." Theos means God, and logos means word. Words about God.

That is my definition of theology.

This is a blog dedicated to words about God.

Enjoy.

Awkward Salesman

So this thing just happened to me. I'm sure its happened to you.

Someone approaches you or someone near you, and their either asking for money or selling something. You know the drill.

The weird part, (for me at least) is that they almost always approach someone other than me first. Leaving me as an innocent bystander, anxiously trying to decide what to say when it's my turn.

Usually, whatever they're offering is of very little interest to me; it's usually some book i'll never read or a coupon book full of places ill never go.

Anyhow, its always a very awkward situation, the battle happens in my mind somewhat like this:

He hasn't made eye contact with me yet...I can still make a break for it....(alas in this case my laptop was completely unpacked, making an escape somewhat unrealistic)

Hope he talks to someone else. (almost always fails)

Then he asks: "Well what about you?"

My heart tears in two at this point.

My upbringing tells me to lock the doors and turn off the lights (metaphorically speaking of course). The lame, cliche adage of WWJD is also contending in my mind.

Today it was an older man, at least in his sixties. Full of smiles, although very awkward, you could tell he didn't exactly feel comfortable asking people for money, he hovered around the table where I sat for about fifteen minutes before he approached us.

If this person is genuinely in need, of course I want to help them. I want to buy them lunch even if I don't have money enough for me to eat. I want to buy them the medicine they need even if it means I go without something because so far in my life, God has always provided for me, I've never gone hungry, I've always had a place to stay etc. I want to pray for and love on this person. I want to hear their story. I want to pass on to them the fact that they are valued as a child of God. I want to help them see their worth in God just for being one of his children.

Back to the money....

I'm in college, so I'm poor, but of course, on this current day, I have cash in my wallet, from selling back camera lenses and for my month's food. I have absolutely no interest in this man's coupon book. He also has some children's wall calendar with drawings of angels on it. Not exactly my style. But then again, maybe this interaction is not about me.

So my logic tells me that if I buy from this man, being genuinely interested in his product, I'm a sucker.

If I just give him a donation a feel like I'm glorifying myself. Showing how great and generous I am.

Bible verse time...

2 Corinthians 9
6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."[a] 10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Now I realize this passage is not specifically talking about people selling things to raise money. It's about offering at church. But I think the same principles apply. Especially if church is a way you live, rather than a building.

There's an incentive, (or a threat maybe?) for me to sow generously so that i may reap generously. But I'm not considering giving to this man so that I win the lotto, I don't think that's how giving is really supposed to work, that's not really giving. Giving, like love, is sacrificial.

I'm unsure how the whole "under compulsion" thing works at this point, I couldn't have very well planned for this.

Anyways, the scripture concludes:
"11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."


So my wonderfully intelligent response is: "What's the cause?" (it sounded much more intelligent in my head) He explained to me that he is trying to raise money for a handicapped sports team, Wheelchair basketball essentially. I asked him if I could just make a donation. He said "ok five dollars?" I pulled out my wallet and expecting a fiver only find a ten and a one. The other bills are buried in an envelope which also contains a fifty and twenties. (I never ever have this much cash on me. This has to be a God thing.) I don't want to go into the envelope to get a five, and then make his heart leap when he sees the big bills, only to crush his soul a second later.

what the heck do you do?

So I give him the ten and tell him to keep the change.

He hands me the "Angels Among Us" wall calendar from the United Spinal Association and walks away happily.

I just sit there, in the student center of Baker College Flint Campus, next to a mac nerd I share a table with, who has just told this man "not today"-(as if possibly tomorrow is a better bet?), feeling completely awkward.

My fellow nerd goes into the little store and buys 5 dollars worth of snacks ten minutes later.

My mind continues relentlessly

"What if that guy is just lying and he's going to spend that money on perpetuating his drug addiction?"

"Nerd guy thinks I'm a sucker"

"Nerd guy thinks I'm trying to look better than him"

"Nerd guy thinks I'm rich and is thinking about asking me for money himself"

"11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."

To me, the bottom line is this.

All I want in life is to be moderately happy and to know without and doubt that God is smiling on me. That he loves me and cares for me and I make him happy.

If my generosity can result in thanksgiving to God, that's worth it to me.

I would rather do what I can to make God smile than have cheddar chex mix and a coke.

Maybe the old guy was an angel. Maybe he's going to disappear as soon as he drives away. Sent only to rattle me and test my actions to see if they match the Jesus I claim. Or to finally give me something I can use to start the blog I've been wanting to forever.

Maybe I'm just a sucker and I gave money to help a child molester perpetuate his ring of perversion and torment.

I don't think its my place to be the judge of the world.
Would i give my money away as easily if the person asking had a needle already in his arm?
I don't know.
I don't know what i'd do.

Maybe I honestly got to support marginalized people.

I sure hope so.

More than that I hope God sees my heart and sets everything right.

What would you have done?

Finally, a Blog

I finally took the leap and made this blog.
That's a story in itself and I haven't written it yet.
Will do later.