The Phillies are Back!!!

I can only call things the way I see em, and I'm callin the phillies in 6.

Somehow the last time I really felt much philly passion was years ago when I was about 13 or 14 years old. Never mind the fact that the Phillies were considered the losingest team in all of sports at that time. I'm trying to drum up some old philly passion tonight just for old time's sake. Phillies at Yankee's...rah rah ray!

Hey....as the fellow that wrote the prayer below points out....what can you say when God's on your side:)

Image via Wikipedia

"Heavenly Father,
Help our brothers on the Phillies, the entire team, but especially the ones who profess to know You before an unbelieving world, like Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino and Brad Lidge. Help these brothers show the Yanks who their Daddy really is.
Smite the Yankees through Your Servants Lord,
Amen"

Just another one in the long line of the smitings of God...and we DO have to admit that the Yankees have become arrogant considering they've won over 40 pennants. I think conservative theology can identify with the author of the aforementioned prayer.

PA Monster Bucks IV

I'll get the confession out before I even begin. I absolutely love bowhunting!

Now anybody worth their salt knows that we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of bow season right now, and I'm itching to get into the woods every chance I get. I thought my family had pretty good PA success last year.....



....but wow....I didn't know that these grew in Pennsylvania???? This buck was recently taken in Jefferson County with a crossbow.
Oh....what people will do for bragging rights these days. There is already controversy swirling around this buck. Really...is Godzilla legit?

Here is a link for you bow hunters who want to check up on the story.

Christianity continually loses the Christian emphasis on discipleship and replaces it with an emphasis on religious ritual. "Church" rather than connoting the New Testament concept as a community of disciples living as the "body of Christ," begins to connote a hierarchy that protects "orthodoxy." - Lee Camp

The Cross is not Enough

I was recently asked to write a short article for a low key weekly publication. As a result of the assignment, I found myself perusing some of the writing I did in my days as a student. I stumbled upon a short graduation speech that I gave several years ago. While I'm no longer the same person that wrote that graduation speech, I decided to use the speech as a spring board for the assigned article.


In Elie Wiesel’s book “Night” his account of his experiences in the concentration camps, he describes the death by hanging of a young boy.
The SS seemed more disturbed than usual. To hang a young boy in front of thousands of spectators was no light matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was lividly pale, biting his lips. The gallows threw its shadow over him.
“The three victims mounted onto the chairs. The three necks were placed within the nooses. Long live liberty! Cried the two adults. But the child was silent. At a sign from the head of the camp, the three chairs tipped over.
Where is God? Where is He?’ someone behind me asked.
Then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive. Their tongues hung swollen, blue-tinged. But the third rope was still moving: being so light, the child was still alive….for more than half an hour he stayed there struggling between life and death. And we had to look him full in the face. When I passed in front of him, his tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed.
Behind me I heard the same man asking, Where is God now?
And I heard a voice within me answer him: Where is God? Here He is….He is hanging here, on this gallows….
For many of us, Christ is still hanging on those gallows. Folks, we are fallen, sinful people. Christ came to save us through His death on the cross…. But Christ’s death on the cross IS NOT ENOUGH! …….. If Christ is not alive and working on the face of the earth today, we are HOPEFULLY living in vain. If the body of Christ is not alive and moving on the face of the earth, this class has just wasted two precious years of “life.”
This is what Christian education is all about…..This is what the last two years of World History, Principles of Science, World Literature, Foundations of Education, Choir, Systematic Theology, and Old Testament Survey have been all about. Education is about becoming…….becoming the Body of Christ.
I want to call us independent, individual, freedom valuing, Americans back to the Body of Christ. Yes, the church is not perfect….but we were once given perfection and we murdered Him.
We can no longer demand perfection; our hope now lies in the living body of Christ, the church, composed of imperfect people.
Many have criticized the church heavily, including myself, and we say that is what education produces. I want to say, “we MUST critique the church, but only in the context of commitment. The church must be critiqued from the inside; criticisms outside of commitment are nothing but prideful scorn and mockery. We need people who are able to continually evaluate how well we are representing the Body of Christ on earth!
So….I call us back to valuing the church…..I call us back to becoming the Body of Christ, alive and powerful on the face of the earth…. I call us back from the dead to LIVING!

"Humility consists of being precisely the person you actually are before God." - from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

Has Gnosticism Influenced Your Theology?

I hear a great amount of discussion these days among Christians concerning the idea of a "schizophrenic God." I am speaking of the rift between what some call the “God of the Old Testament” and the “God of the New Testament.” Admittedly the God of the OT, who seems to have used the sword and violence to accomplish His purposes, appears to contradict the God of the NT, who asks us to accomplish His purposes in the power of Love only. For most, this rift is simply one more of those rifts that scripture presents that merely needs to be thought through logically and explained. I frankly tire of the many attempts to make this so called schizophrenic God somehow work. I must admit, with all the humility that I can muster, that I have no idea what to make of this tension, and I spend little time trying to make anything of it. Thankfully God is much greater than I, and I don’t need to clarify this tension in order to follow Jesus. I was recently made aware of an old Gnostic perspective. I would like to share this perspective not as an explanation, but as a warning. How much has your theology been shaped by Gnosticism?

In this Gnostic perspective there was a great and ultimate God of Love. There were many lesser gods under this Great God of Love. At first, all of these lesser gods were good and in close communion with the Great God of Love; however, over a very long period of time, things degenerated as they usually do. Some of these lesser gods became worse and worse… less and less like the Great God of Love. There came to be a layering of power, with perfect Love as the ultimate power. The gods that had the most love in them were the most powerful. The gods that had degenerated the most, had little love in them and were answerable to the more powerful and more loving gods.

Finally, one of the lesser gods that still had quite a bit of power, took all of the gods under him and forced them into a physical creation. This God was Jehovah God of the Old Testament. Of course, this physical creation had some good in it still, but it clearly had much bad in it. It continued to degenerate even farther until it seemed that Love would disappear altogether.

Thankfully the Great God of Love saw what Jehovah did. He realized that things had degenerated so far that He would have to fix them Himself. The great God of Love came Himself, as Jesus, to re-establish Love as the ultimate power of the universe. This re-establishment of love promised a day when Jehovah’s physical creation would be destroyed and the Great God of Love would reign over a Kingdom that would know nothing but Love .

Note: You can obviously see why the Gnostic saw the physical as evil. The only thing the Gnostic weren’t quite sure about, was the fact that the Great God of Love came in a physical form to save the whole situation.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself?

Oooooooooh...........its that time of year again...my favorite! My breath hung in the air this morning. I put a jacket on every time I went outside today. I simply love letting that cool crystalline air seep in through all my pores and making sure I kick every lonely leaf I pass.

After being cooped up inside most of the day and working on school work until dark, I parted my curtains and looked outside. The moon was bright and the air looked crisp and clean as ever. Furthermore my landlord just mowed his hayfield today so....all things considered....the conditions were perfect for a stroll. I decided that I would go out and sit in the freshly mowed hayfield and call an old friend.

I happily grabbed a sweat shirt, made a steaming cup of cappuccino, and stepped outside my front door, with great anticipation. The overpowering scent filled my nostrils. It hung like a heavy fog. I could even taste what I smelled. THE NEIGHBORING FARMER HAD JUST SPREAD A MOUNTAIN OF SOUPY CHICKEN MANURE ON THE FIELD! (I don't know if it was really soupy...but it tasted soupy)

I poured my cappuccino out on the ground and went back inside.