A Call for Christians to Turn Away from Social Conservatism

All my life I have been told that God loves people.  Loves them in a deep and giving way.  In a way that desires to be with them.  In this love God wishes to be loved in return.  But the crux of love is the freedom.  Had God forced us to love Him and to live a certain way, wouldn't that mean that there is no love returned to Him?  I would say forced love is no love at all, but slavery.  God doesn't want us to be slaves to Him.  He wishes for us to see the beauty in the world around us and in the life and teachings of Jesus and come to Him of our own volition.  God gives us the ability to choose right or wrong.  He didn't force morality on us.  But He offered us the teachings of Christ which we have the ability to accept or reject. 

So what does this have to do with leaving social conservatism behind?  Just this, if God gives us the ability to choose right or wrong, why shouldn't we do the same?  Has God instructed us to put a government together that forces, through legislation, Biblical morality on people?  No, He hasn't.  It isn't in the Bible and it definitely isn't in the teachings of Jesus.  So do we believe that God has somehow fallen short?  Do we believe that God just didn't get it quite right?  I would say that supporting a system of government that seeks to legislate Christian morality is saying just that.  It's telling God that His whole "freedom to choose right or wrong" thing is a bit over the top and that we need to step in and force people to live the way we think God wants them to.  It's telling God that, while you appreciate your freedom to choose Him, you can't let others have the same freedom...which might mean they choose something else.  In short, I feel that supporting Social Conservatism is telling God that His way isn't good enough for us and that we have to take up his slack. 

So I'm offering up two final points...one spiritual and one political.  First,  God loves us enough to give us the freedom to live our lives the way we see fit.  Why shouldn't we do the same?  Second, understand that the freedoms you extend to others ensures your own.  Voltaire (or at least it's attributed to him) said it best,"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".  When we think of gay marriage, marijuana legalization, free speech issues, putting religious items into government institutions...I strongly believe we should mirror God and extend freedom...not oppression.

In the coming elections please move away from socially conservative issues.  God gave us the freedom to choose, shouldn't we do the same?

What do you belong?

I'm constantly torn between complete rejection of contemporary society and trying to find out where I fit into it. 

Does All Knowledge of God Ultimately Come From the Bible?

For Christians,

If we are suppose to test all ideas about God against the Bible, does that mean that all we know about God ultimately come from the Bible?

Let's see where we can get with this. 

What my day looks like...in PHP

$time = 9;

echo "This is what my Friday will look like...in military time of course.";

while($time <= 17)
{
    if($time != 12 && $time != 17)
    {
        echo "At ".$time.":00 I am writing code.";
    }
   
    if($time == 12)
    {
        echo "It's ".$time.":00...LUNCH TIME!!!!";
    }
   
    if($time == 17)
    {
        echo "It's ".$time.":00...QUITTING TIME!!1!";
    }
    $time++;
}

Faith

One of the most important parts of believing in any theological or belief system is faith.  Faith, by definition, requires no reasoning.  It is not rational.  It's believing in something for the sake of belief.  So the practice of apologetics seems contradictory.  It seems to cancel faith.  Putting your faith in a sure thing isn't faith.  Faith is believing in something because it calls to your irregardless of reason.  To rationalize faith is to not have faith.

Wonder what kind of responses I'm going to get.

Some Political Thoughts

I have all but abandoned this blog.  I just reached a point where I had nothing left to say and not many people to say it to.  However, this has changed in the past few days.  I have, probably only for a one time engagement...or at least until the next time, become a blogger again.

When President Obama took office I was excited for many reasons.  One was because I would not have to put up with McCain and Palin for four years.  Knowing that their view of America's place in the World would most likely result in numerous foreign conflicts that I would not agree with.  I would point to his "Today, we are all Georgians" statement to show that, had he been President, we may be at war with Russia right now.  Which brings me to my second reason why I was excited to have Mr. Obama as my President, I thought he would be much less likely to get us involved in foreign military action.  With 2 un-Constitutional wars currently in progress (and I say that based on Article 1 Section 8 Line 11) I do not understand the need/desire for a third.  Now, I would argue that even though President Bush did get Congressional approval for Iraq and Afghanistan, he did not get a Congressional declaration of war.  So I would say that the 2 wars we have going on over there are both un-Constitutional...and at least in my opinion...unnecessary and should have been avoided.  Contrast this with the Libya situation.  President Obama is a President, not a monarch.  Therefore he cannot do whatever he pleases.  He is restrained by the governing law that entrusts his office with the powers that it does hold.  Namely, our Constitution.  A President, cannot do whatever he feels best in any situation.  With this Libya situation, the President has received no Congressional approval and he has not made a good case to the American people as to why it is necessary.  I would like to refute the use of the "War Powers Act" in this situation because  to use it we must show that the introduction of the "United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances" was necessary.  Basically, we have to be in a state where there is imminent danger to us in order to use The War Powers Act as legal precedence for military action.  I don't see how a case could be made for that.  Libya was no threat to us.  From the President's speech last night it would seem that he was making the case that we are in danger of "guilt" for allowing this genocide to happen, and this is why we must intervene.  To save ourselves from our guilt.  For those who support the President in this action take a moment and think about the future.  Any precedence set during this administration will be passed on to future administrations and it is unlikely that you will agree with all future Presidents.  This is the importance of the checks and balance system.  It keeps any one person, or group of people, from having too much power. 

It would seem that we have become involved in this military action because it "feels right" or there is some belief in the "morality" of this situation.  When it comes to law and how we interact with sovereign foreign states, we cannot allow ourselves to become entangled every time we feel bad for a people.  This was a civil war, and like many civil wars the outcome was probably not going to be pretty.  And I, as much as anyone else feels horrible for the people involved and wish them the best when it comes to wrestling their country from the hands of Muammar Gaddafi.  However, I cannot support our military action there.  Especially, if that military action is brought about by a decision from one person.  Such power is not vested in any single office for a reason. 

Can I tell you a secret?

I have a secret.  I've never told anyone this before.



Ready?



I want an amplifier so loud it lays waste to vast amounts of land.  I want one so loud that the front row doesn't step back it gets pushed back.  I want to see trees blown over.  Those annoying neighbors who always complained about the volume...not only are they deaf but they have no ears left.  I want to create my own scour basins and hurricanes.  This is what I want.  Who can provide it?