MastersWay's Xanga

Question 2

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:41:21 GMT

Is it possible to pledge allegiance to both God and country?

What's up, you ask?

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:32:12 GMT

Well...there's not a whole lot new going on at the time being. I should hear something from the church I had the phone interview with in a week or so. They were having the other candidate in last weekend or this weekend for an actual interview, so they said they would let me know what was going on when that was all through. I've sent some other resumes as well to other churches, so we'll see what happens.

Next weekend, I preach my second wedding. This one is a bit more formal than the last one I did, and so it is taking a lot more work to put together. I am pretty much done, though. Just fine-tuning some things.

That's about it really...

Question 1

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:34:26 GMT

I am going to be writing something in the near future, and I would like some feedback before I begin. So, in the next few days, I am going to ask a few questions of you, my readers, because I really want to state my case as strongly as possible. So, here is my first question:

Should allegiance to country ever come before allegiance to family?

A quote from "Jesus for President" by Shane Clairborne and Chris Haw

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:33:01 GMT

Today the logic goes something like this: "Calling a ruler 'Son of God' is out of style. No one really does that nowadays. We can support a president while also worshiping Jesus as the Son of God." But how is this possible? For one says that we must love our enemies, and the other says we must kill them; one promotes the economics of competition, while the other admonishes the forgiveness of debts. To which do we pledge allegiance? Surely, one of them must have the wrong idea of how to move history. Can a servant serve two masters? To say that we must kill our enemies and join the popular project to "rid the world of evil" is to call Jesus unrealistic. And that is possible desirable for many; surely his ideas do not resonate with any common wisdom. But can you call Jesus the Son of God and also say, "He just doesn't understand the world today?" How ironic is it to see a bumper sticker that says "Jesus is the answer" next to a bumper sticker supporting the war in Iraq, as if to say, "Jesus is the answer - but not in the real world." Remember, Jesus' followers were burned alive, beheaded, or fed to lions. They knew evil and the "real world." They would meet it face to face. If there was anyone who tried to deal with evildoers and terrorists, it was certainly first-century Christians.

When the church takes affairs of the state more seriously than they do Jesus, Pax Romana becomes its gospel and the president becomes the Son of God. After all, what is the point in calling anything God if it does not also hold sway in every part of one's life...?
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 2008. 166)

Fact-Checking and Faith First (by Jim Wallis)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:33:04 GMT

Friday, September 05, 2008

John McCain's acceptance speech last night sought to present him as a maverick and bipartisan reformer, in contrast to the total partisanship of Sarah Palin the night before. She clearly relishes her own self-description as a pit bull with lipstick who fires up the conservative base, while McCain wants to reach out to the independents he knows he needs to win. He told his story again of how capture and torture took him from a reckless and selfish young man to a deep love for his country.

As I suggested after the first presidential primary many months ago, "change" has already won this election, given the deep unpopularity of George Bush and the many failures of his administration. Change is the theme of both Barack Obama's campaign and of John McCain's. Usually when voters want change, they change parties in the White House. But McCain has the difficult task of persuading voters that a different kind of Republican can do the job, while Obama will continue to ask him to explain why he voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time.

But now the conventions are over and the fact-checking can begin. There were a lot of very partisan things said at both conventions (that is the reason for conventions), but now all those things should be tested. I hope those who say that this will be an election about "personalities" are wrong. It must instead be about the real issues facing the country and the world. Whose tax policies will benefit whom the most? Who offers the best hopes for poor and middle-class families? And who has the smartest policies to defeat the real threats of terrorism -- not whose rhetoric against Islamic fundamentalism is tougher? So let the fact-checking begin, and given the speeches we have just heard from some politicians, we will need full-time fact-checkers.

But one other thing bothered me last night, and it did also at the Democratic Convention. It was all those signs that read "Country First" and all those chants of "USA, USA, USA!!" The high-powered and, frankly, militaristic rhetoric kept telling us that "country" should be put above everything else -- including family and friendship. But what about faith? Should country be put ahead of faith, too? I kept wanting to yell back at the people yelling at me about putting the country first and say, "No, not me, I'm a Christian." Because we as Christians simply can't put our country first, ahead of God, ahead of Jesus Christ, ahead of the body of Christ (remember the worldwide body of Christ), and even family and friendship. Especially when our country is wrong, and when most of the rest of the body of Christ around the world thinks so.

"Country First" was the theme of John McCain's speech and night, and he asked us to "fight with him." Barack Obama also said in Denver that all Americans must put country first -- to counter the Republican exclusive claim on patriotism. Well, again, not all of us. I suppose people running for president have to say that, but Christian voters shouldn't go along with that. Can anybody imagine Jesus leading cheers shouting "USA!"?

This morning I spoke to the annual Wheaton, Illinois, prayer breakfast. I was driven there by a local Christian leader who spends his days serving poor women and children along with troubled teenagers. When he told me he was Canadian, even though he had lived in the U.S. for years, I asked him if Canadian Christians would respond to the call to put country first. "No," he said, we are "world Christians." What a good thought and what a clear sense of Christian identity. It was a great way to begin the day after two weeks of political conventions. So let the fact-checking and the radical assertion of "faith first" begin in this political campaign.

Source: http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2008/09/fact-checking-and-faith-first.html

The Good Marriage: Closing Thoughts

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:33:00 GMT

There are many many more topics that could be mentioned when discussing marriage, but I believe that we have laid a decent foundation. Before I make some closing remarks about marriage, I would like to take some time and review what we have spoken about in the past few weeks.

Foundations in history

Marriage is firmly grounded in the human story. From the very beginning, our first parents were called to an early form of marriage. God made man and woman for each other. He intended marriage to be between men and women. But marriage was not an institution until the time of John Calvin, when a civil/religious ceremony was imposed on the people. Marriage has been in this form ever since.

Foundations in Scripture

As stated above, marriage began, in a sense, with Adam and Eve. God created them for each other, and they entered into a monogamous relationship. Little form for a marriage ceremony is found within the pages of the Christian Bible. Tradition and history are the primary dictators of how the marriage ceremony is conducted. But one thing is for sure: marriage is to be honored by all of humankind, and is intended to be a picture of Jesus and His relationship with the Church. It is also the place where people are called to best portray the image of God inherent within the human race.

Gender Roles

One of the things that was messed up as a result of the fall was the harmony in the relationship between man and woman. Man would seek to dominate woman, and woman would seek to dominate man. Power sharing and equality were tossed out the window. But, this is not how God intends for us to stay. Within the marriage relationship people have the opportunity to, in a sense, reverse the curse of the fall. Men and women can, once again, live in harmony with one another. In fact, they are commanded to do so. Husbands and wives are called to mutual submission and service. Men are to give themselves up for women and women are to submit to men. There is nowhere prescribed in Scripture an idea that women stay home, barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen.

Sex

A Christian philosophy of sex centers in the worship of God and in the gender equality mentioned above. As I stated in a response to one of my readers, As Christians, everything that we do should be done for God's glory, to glorify Him. When we glorify God, we are worshiping Him. Worship does not happen only at church with our Bibles open hearing a sermon, or doing a Bible study, or singing songs, but all of life is worship, or should be.

We are commanded in the Bible to pray without ceasing. Prayer is our primary means of communicating with God. If we are communicating with God, we are worshiping Him. So, we should worship God without ceasing.

As we are to be constantly in communion with God, and we are doing everything to His glory, then even as we have sex, it should be done to His glory,to glorify Him. It should be done as worship...

Scripture calls a husband to "rejoice" in his wife and to be "exhilarated" with her love. Rejoice is an interesting word because it is the same word that Paul uses when he calls us to "rejoice in the Lord always"...Jesus told us that we serve God by serving others so also we "rejoice" in God by "rejoicing" in our spouses. We serve God by serving our spouse. We please God by pleasing our spouse.

Money

Finances boil down to one word: communication. As long as husbands and wives are open and honest with each other in this, and all other areas for that matter, then there will be no problems. As long as all purchases are done with the consent of both partners, then there will be no surprises when the bills come due. And if you can keep out of debt, you will be even better off.

Closing thoughts

Marriage is supposed to be a beautiful thing. You are supposed to be happy with the one that you marry. You are supposed to love them with all of your heart and to stay with them in all times, good and bad. There very well may be rough patches in your relationship with your spouse, but these are no reason to just up and leave. If your relationship is grounded in love and mutual submission; if there remain open lines of communication; if each partner is seeking the pleasure of his or her beloved, then your marriage will last. The world may say your nuts, and other Christians may think your relationship is backwards (after all, men submitting to women, or even mutual submission for that matter, is not popular among Christians steeped in tradition rather than Scripture), but if you are doing what God has called you to do, then you will be blessed with the most beautiful relationship of your life.

The Good Marriage: Money Can't Buy Me Love

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:16:30 GMT

It has been said that money and finances are spoken of over 800 times within the Christian Scriptures. But, if you take time to read those Scriptures, how many of them speak of money within the context of marriage? As far as I can tell, none. There are many wonderful general principles presented in those passages, but it is sometimes hard or impossible to put some of those ideas into practice in a marriage relationship.

Despite this fact, though, I think there is an example set for us within Scripture for how money should be handled in marriage, and that example is set forth within the early church.

Acts and money

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. (Acts 2:44-45 TNIV)

The best example of how money was treated in the early church is found at the very inception of the church. The people lived together, ate together, and worshiped together. But, they did so in community. These "believers were together and had everything in common."

In marriage, we must first recognize that the couple is together and, in a sense, has all things in common. This is not to say that their identities bleed together and all sense of self is lost in the sense of the other. Individuality still stands strong, but, when it comes to things like possessions, ownership becomes sort of a moot point. "What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine." Not only does the married couple move in together, but they share common possessions. One couch, one recliner, one TV, one computer, one dinner table, one bed.

The thing to realize about money and marriage is that whatever, for example, the man brings in monetarily, it becomes the woman's as well. The money is used to pay household bills, put food on the table, and provide for any other expenses may arise. It becomes hard for the wife to say she wants such and such and for the husband to say he wants this, that, and the other because they must take into account what combined needs are present in the relationship.

This is one of the reasons that finances are one of the biggest reasons for marital fallout. One or the other partner (or both in some instances) spends money in an inappropriate manner and leaves the relationship without something. As the strain of debt strangles one partner, it strangles the relationship as well and things fall apart.

At this juncture, some would say that this is why couples should start saving money right off the bat. But, sometimes, this is not so easily applied. Sometimes a couple may be completely responsible with their finances but come out only having just enough to barely get by. In these cases, saving is sometimes impossible. So I propose a better idea (not to belittle the importance of saving, of course).

A better means of heading off any financial disputes is to do so before they even occur. Communication is key when it comes to finances. As silly as it may sound, every purchase should be discussed prior to making it. And, if a surprise is in store, it must be done only if there are the funds available to do so without adding further strain. It's as simple as that. When you go grocery shopping, stick to the list and only make extra purchases if they can be afforded after the list is complete. If one partner wants a book or a movie, make sure the money is available before purchasing it.

I also believe that finances must be, when possible, done jointly. Checkbooks must be balanced, groceries purchased, and bills paid openly and together. There should be no secrets and, when possible, both partners must know everything that is going on financially.

Money may not be able to make you happy, but managing it well can aid in keeping things from going sour.

Responding to a friend

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:48:01 GMT

A friend of mine was asking some questions and speaking of his desire to do what God says and speaking of his seeming lack of actual desire to do it, and I posted a response that seemed more directed at my own life than his...so I am going to share it here because maybe there is someone else who needs to hear it too...

Working in a hospital environment like I do tends to make me sort of calloused to the needs of others. Every single day, I go to my dead-end job of parking people's cars, and every day I see people who's loved ones are dying or who's children are suffering from various cancers or men who can no longer speak and have one of those little electronic voice boxes that makes them sound like that robot at the beginning of the Beastie Boys song "Intergalactic," and, more often than not, I don't give a damn. I want to care, but more often than not, I just don't.

Or at least that is what I used to think.

For the summer, we hired on a 20 year old college student who was the daughter of one of the laziest workers we have. But this girl had a heart bigger than she could handle. A 16 year old boy was in a car accident and was on life support. The family came every day for two weeks and she built a relationship with them. When the boy died, she could not recompose herself and dry her tears all day. A man came in with a different one of his five daughters every day due to some internal problems. They were doing tests and prepping him for surgery. The doctors opened him up, and found his insides consumed with a cancer the tests couldn't detect. He was given two weeks. We never saw him again. She cried.

I think most Christians are insulated from the world around them in much the same way as non-Christians. Cancer, hunger, poverty kill most people inside, so we put up buffers between us and those problems and choose, rather, to debate politics and theology and who the best baseball team is. And, in an ironic twist, we watch reality TV to escape reality.

Maybe I am saying all of this more for myself than for you, but we minister unto the world by living as Jesus did. And we can, and should, do this in our middle-class and dead-end jobs. We can have as many Bible studies and prayer groups and worship sessions and Sunday services and Christian books as we want, but if that doesn't translate into (even flawed) actions, then it is all a waste and is worthy of being flushed with the rest of our daily crap. The Prophets stated it, in God's Name, as a question: Why do you call Me "Lord, Lord" but don't do what I tell you?

I had a phone interview tonight...

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:24:52 GMT

...And it went pretty well. They told me that I should for sure hear something from them in the next couple of days. It's a Lutheran church in St. Joseph, Illinois. Please keep this opportunity in prayer. A lot.

Also, pray for my wife's family...I won't say more here...but I will give an update when I am able...

The Good Marriage: Sex

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:19:46 GMT

As I stated last time, today, we are going to take our philosophy of sex and look at it in more practical terms. I am willing to say that it is downright impossible to speak of sex only in theory. It must be talked about in real, literal terms.

As the logo to the left suggests, this post is intended for mature audiences only. In particular, it is intended to be read by people in serious relationships that are on their way to becoming marriages and for those who are already married. Some things here you may already know, other things may be new. But I want us to understand the practical implications of a Christian philosophy of sex.

The physical and spiritual, together as one

As I stated previously, sex is indeed spiritual. But how can this be? How can something like sex bring us closer to God?

In itself, foreplay, intercourse, and orgasm are nothing more than physical acts that come and go. Once done they are done. The spiritual is found in the enjoyment of the event. When we enjoy the good things that God has given us, we are showing our appreciation to Him for them. Simply the fact that you are finding pleasure in your beloved is enough. When sex is used as intended, God is pleased, man is pleased, and woman is pleased.

And this is really the point of sex. It is not about making babies and filling the earth and subduing it, although that is one of the outcomes of intercourse. It is more about finding your joy in the joy of your beloved. Even the ancients understood this.

(Man) Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
       your mouth is lovely.
       Your temples behind your veil
       are like the halves of a pomegranate.
Your neck is like the tower of David,
       built with elegance;
       on it hang a thousand shields,
       all of them shields of warriors.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
       like twin fawns of a gazelle
       that browse among the lilies.
Until the day breaks
       and the shadows flee,
       I will go to the mountain of myrrh
       and to the hill of incense.
All beautiful you are, my darling;
       there is no flaw in you...

(Woman) May the wine go straight to my lover,
       flowing gently over lips and teeth.
I belong to my lover,
       and his desire is for me.
Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside,
       let us spend the night in the villages.
       Let us go early to the vineyards
       to see if the vines have budded,
       if their blossoms have opened,
       and if the pomegranates are in bloom—
       there I will give you my love.
(Song of Solomon 4:3-7; 7:9b-11 NIV)

That being said, how does one find this joy? How does one acquire a sex life with one's spouse that is beautiful and glorifying to God?

Men, it starts with us. For many marriages, sex is understood as nothing more than a marital right. And it is treated as such. Sex, if it even happens, is about pleasing the man and making some babies. There is nothing really beautiful about it. And, more often than not, women are left unsatisfied.

This is why it begins with us. We have a responsibility to our wives to help them find their joy in us as their husbands. We are to seek out what it is that pleases them and do everything in our power to do that for them.

As a side result of the wife being satisfied, we as the husbands will also be satisfied.

And as love and joy are found by both partners, enjoyment increases and the picture of God as separate yet one can be more fully recognized. As we enjoy sex with our spouses, we are also worshiping God for worship is not limited to singing songs, reading the Bible, and praying, but also in enjoying all the good things that He has given us in life.

As a result of enjoying sex, the sex life actually improves as well. As we worship God with our bodies in this way, our relationship deepens with our spouse. This is why sex is so important to a healthy marriage. It is in these intimate times that we learn more about each other.

When it becomes dull

There almost inevitably will come a time, even if it is just one day in a hundred, when simply laying together and making love will seem dull. These are the times when the sex life of a marriage begins to fall by the wayside. And, as a further result, sometimes, the rest of the marriage as well. What do you do? How do you maintain a sex life that is pleasurable and glorifying to God?

Trying new positions is always an option. There is absolutely no Scriptural support for the idea that man must always be on top. In fact, what position is used is nowhere to be found in the Bible at all. These details are left up to the individuals in the relationship. Outside of Christianity, though, much has been said regarding this aspect of sexuality.

Hindu's have a work called the Kama Sutra. In this work, sex is spoken of as a spiritual matter and what position one uses lends itself to different connections with the Divine. I won't go that far, but I do believe that a different position every once in a while can keep things interesting enough as to maintain a joyous and God-glorifying sex life.

In the end

Sex is vitally important to a healthy marriage. Regardless of whether or not you believe that having sex is an act of worship, you cannot over-estimate the important role that sex plays in a healthy marriage. Each aspect of a healthy sex life, from foreplay to orgasm, is designed to magnify pleasure and make the marriage relationship that much more intimate. And in the end, a healthy sex life does indeed glorify God, whether you want to admit it or not.