Disbelief

Christians like to think that their intentions are for the benefit of others, but this is not the case.  Every time you see the smiling faces of those pleasant people, so happy that they have found this ultimate truth, know that for that reason alone they are believers.  The reason that it brings happiness to an otherwise empty, pointless and moral-less existence (or so they would think).  If being religious wasn’t beneficial in some way to their lives, they would not be Christians.  They may even go out of their way to “help” others, but this is a masturbatory attempt at caring.  They help others because it makes them happy, regardless of how the receiving party feels.  I know this because I’m a part of this disgraceful excuse for a reason to live.  We think that by following Jesus’ example, and by simply believing in him, we will rid our souls of sin and spend eternity in paradise.  Now Jesus wasn’t so bad a guy.  He had morals that were far ahead of his time(most of the time), and I’m sure whoever he was, that he lived a fulfilling life teaching and overthrowing religions of the time.  These are the assumptions I can gather anyway.  I just don’t get this whole relationship concept behind the religion.  Christians are supposed to have a relationship with God, Jesus, whatever, but a relationship is a two way experience.  In all my years of being a Christian I’ve never, not even once, experienced even the slightest sign of God or Jesus working in my life.  Not like my friends apparently have anyways.  I see these people talk about how every little thing in their day is a result of God working in their life and it’s just not true.  God did not provide this special car for you so you could drive to your job.  God did not make the line in the fast food restaurant short so you could save five minutes time.  God did not make bananas to fit in our hand, we did.  I’m sick of hearing how amazing this imaginary savior is, because I’ve never been amazed.  I’ve been amazed at how complex our world is, how incredible the universe is and how you can disregard this reality for a fairy tale.  Reality is better than a myth.  A myth I have believed and participated in all my life.
There is something I know for certain.  It is the fact that if Christians were really true to their “savior”, I wouldn’t be questioning my past beliefs.  I’ve seen too much of the negative side of religion to be part of it any longer.  I should really bring it upon myself to thank these people, because they are the reason I have freed myself.  If there would be no reason to doubt, I would have never opened my mind to the real truth.  The real truth being that there is no life after this one.  I could go through the series of events that has lead up to my conclusion.  The countless books I’ve read, the evidence I’ve consumed and the debates I’ve participated in, but that would be a waste of ink.  The deeper I go into learning about God, Jesus and the reason for my existence, the less I want to be a part of it.  I want to live for whats real and true.  What science can tell us about the complexities of our world.

Why do the religious wear seatbelts?

When someone dies, one of the Christian things to say is, “it was their time.”  The whole subject of pre-destiny really interests me but what does this really mean?

If you believe that everybody has their predestined time to die, then why take care of valuing your own life?  I might as well drive without a seat-belt.  Drunk even.  Whilst reading a novel.  If I’m going to lead the life God has set up for me, am I not invincible until my life’s purpose has been fulfilled?

This of course brings up the idea that your life’s purpose could have been to live a short life, and die in some horrible accident.  Imagine that, killed in a freak roller-skating accident by divine intervention.  I think that if this were true, God has come up with some quite amusing ways of going out.  I can just picture God thinking to himself, “Yes! A sudden campfire accident!  How fun!”  Although I wonder how much fun he had coming up with all the not-so-funny deaths,  like the cancer patient or school shooting victim.  Can a belief in God justify all the horrible and unnecessary deaths?

If you believe in pre-destiny and are still careful about keeping yourself alive, why bother?  No matter what your going out when God wants so live without fear, I dare you.

Of course nobody lives this way, because the un-avoiding of death is a pure natural occurrence.  Even those that believe in a higher power in control of our destiny still avoid death at all costs.  Survival is the most basic of instincts built by natural selection.

We All Do It

Never in my life have I heard so much gossip than at church or in a bible study.  It’s really a sad thing when we can’t even avoid exploiting each other for a topic of conversation.  So many times I’ve heard a prayer request turn into a long story involving other people and their apparently evil ways.  What really frustrates me is when people in a Christian circle gossip about each other.  How can we possibly live a life for the benefit of others (the core philosophy behind our beliefs and lives), when we constantly cease to respect one another? Do we not know that gossip directly causes division among us?

Below are some issues taking place in my life.  I’m sharing them because they are real and are affecting me.  I hope I am not spreading negativity about anyone through these testimonies:

Right now I’m attending a weekly bible study, and I feel as though everyone is separated.  Last week before we went out for coffee, a dedicated member of our group was told the meeting was over, and was driven home.  These friends of mine met me at the coffee shop after “getting rid of” this fellow Christian.  I should have told them why this was such a horrible thing to do.   As I sat with them and shared some hot drinks, I felt guilty but I didn’t do anything.

This week my friends girlfriend is back after a long time away.  Some of the girls have made it clear to me that they find her “snobby” and “hate her so much.”  Apparently one of the girls heard from a friend of my friends girlfriend, that she also does not like these girls that are also not very fond of her.  These people who apparently hate each other have only met each other once, shortly.

Silly, immature and anti-Christ arguments like this must stop.  They may seem like harmless opinions but it’s so clear what damage they do.  Didn’t we learn this as little kids?  If just side of this issue chose to love the other party (as Jesus has taught us to do), than we can begin to experience this new humanity that Jesus has called us to.  I’m not even directly affected by any of these petty issues, and yet they divide so many people in my life.  I then feel like a failure because I can’t seem to help.  I’m definitely guilty of the same sin, and I’ve done it plenty of times, but lately I’ve been forcing myself to not take part in it.  I’ve cut down on gossiping a lot, and I feel better knowing that I’m not dividing people.

I don’t hate people who gossip, because we all do it.  It’s the gossip itself I don’t like.  The issue is, if we know it’s so bad, why do we still do it?  Do we live such empty lives that all we have to talk about is other people?  Maybe we feel the need to be liked, so we talk about other people to relate to each other.  Whatever the reason, there is no good reason to gossip about each other.

To reiterate, when we gossip, we:

Exploit each other.

Divide ourselves.

Reverse the very purpose of our beliefs, and our lives as Christians.

Burden ourselves with unnecessary hatred for each other.

So please, for the sake of ourselves, and for every person we know, try to stop gossiping.  It doesn’t matter who your talking about, or what situation your in.  Gossip is never good and will only regress what Jesus has taught us.

I don’t usually like to throw Bible verses around, but a lot of the verses against gossip are plainly obvious. Some bible verses against gossip are:

Matthew 19:19, Matthew 7:1-5, 1 John 4:20, 1 Peter 4:8, 2 Thessalonians 3:11, Proverbs 16:27-28, Proverbs 26:20-26, there are many more.

Peace and Love,

Me

That Summer Feeling

No matter where you go it seems like people always feel the need to be accepted and appreciated.  I guess it’s in our nature to be this way.  When you are accepted for who you are, it’s awesome.  I remember feeling great after Christian summer camp because of all the people that I spent time with.  These people didn’t judge me.  I remember people describing this happiness are a “spiritual high.”  This spiritual high concept always interested me.   It made me laugh because it always brought up the image of a young Christian, with a dazed look on their face, obviously high.  If I’m spirutually high does it mean I’m sort of “out of it”?  Living in a dream world of happiness?  Looking back, I know I was in a sort of dream fantasy world.  I realized this “spiritual high” was just the feeling of finally being free of worldly expectations.  For a week of the summer I could just live in this place where everybody seemed happy and good and awesome.  Of course I’m going to feel great after and remember it, but is this feeling God?  You may say that it has to be, because we were all singing songs about God and talking about Christian things all the time.

Years after going to summer camp, I look back and I don’t remember the spiritual parts of it.  I remember all the awesome people I met, the fun pranks we all pulled and that cute girl who I got to hold hands with at the campfire.  Why don’t I remember what I learned spiritually if it’s what apparently made me so happy?

I believe that spiritual feeling I got after camp was the happiness of being accepted by all the pretty people.  We had so many memorable times together and I will never forget them.  I don’t believe it was God, or a hightened sense of reality that Jesus calls us to, was the reason for my happiness.  The summer camp spiritual feeling was a hollow happiness that quickly faded into dissapointment and sadness.

Maybe being a Christian isn’t about being happy or content or “on fire” for God.  I think it’s about living closer to the way we were intended to live.  Loving others and experiencing life for what it is, sadness and negativity included is what shapes us into the people we are.  To deny the sadness we experience, is to deny the state of humanity.  We must experience the horrible reality of a world filled with negativity.  We have to experience the awakening from a cold time of depression and bitterness, to a pink sunrise and a warm breeze flowing through our world.  It’s times of awakening, when we realize what we were missing.

Peace and love,

Me

The Cool Church Kids

I used to be one of the cool kids at church.  Well, you know what I mean.  I spent a lot of time with the popular, rich, trendy and the most Christian kids in my church.  It was really an interesting time of my life.  Usually being a guy on the sidelines, it was different to be in a close group of friends and feel accepted by everybody in whatever social situations I might have found myself in.  Not to say I don’t have friends.  I have my few close friends, and also in a long term relationship so I’m not lonely by any means.  I just don’t think I’m one to like people around me all the time.

When I was a cool kid at church, I learned a lot about people and how to act in social situations.  I learned that some of the “cool” kids weren’t really cool at all, just genuine people who seemed to bring happiness to those around them.  These few people are the ones I love to spend time with.  They are interesting and always have something new to share and love other people no matter what.  They also have real problems which they share and ask for help on.  This article isn’t about them though.

I’m talking about the other cool kids.  The ones that listen to the popular Christian music, wear the trendy clothes, read the “Top Ten” books and always hold up their hands during worship.  The kind of cool church kid I used to be. I look back on those times and regret them.  Not because I hate the culture or the idea, but because those people never really cared about me after all.  As soon as I started to disconnect myself from the world of the Christian media and culture, it seemed like we had nothing in common anymore.  Seemed like all they talked about was the media they all loved, everything else was just strange and different.  They all got into the same bands at the same time, watched the television series together because all of a sudden they all LOVE the latest shallow teen drama show.  We would go out to rent a movie and I always wanted to watch something real, while they always wanted to watch something like “Will Ferrell Screaming.”  I was sick of just consuming what was in front of me and wanted to live for something more.  Obviously I wasn’t a very good cool kid.  Then all of a sudden it became really cool and trendy to be alternative and listen to really obscure music and talk about the latest indie band you discovered.  Although really it was still about being with the culture rather than really loving the music. Alas, I wasn’t a cool kid.

Church seemed like just another pop culture scene, with a little Jesus thrown in.  It was all I could think about and I became very bitter towards the church scene.  I felt like I was awakened to how shallow people were, and I hated it.  I felt as though I was experiencing negativity for the first time.  I hated it every time I heard the gossiping mothers, pubescent teen boys showing off their spirituality to the girls and a young adult talk about the party.  This wasn’t where I belonged or wanted to be.  I couldn’t take this Church-ianity.  I still feel this way on occasion although now it’s more of a disappointed feeling.  I know people are missing what it’s supposed to be.  Sometimes I want to try to do something but what use is it helping the people in the church, they already believe, and there are people down the road living in a motel on welfare who need it more.

This brings me to where I am today.  I don’t feel like I have a home in the church (church building that is).  My desicion is that every Christian is part of the church, and that I don’t need a specific building with the same people every week.  Since leaving church-ianity, I feel like I have a broader faith that really helps me love people no matter what.  Currently, I’m involved in two weekly bible studies, leading a group at my school, and working on starting a new weekly meeting, with a whole new perspective on “bible study” (more on this idea to come).  I do go to a church when I can as well, although I’m not as involved.

My faith isn’t always strong, I doubt on occasion.  Sometimes I still think about leaving the Christian scene all together.  On the bright side I have a broader faith than before, and feel like I can make a difference.  I would like to start a new way of doing church, it’s something I think about a lot.  Maybe one day I will do it.

Peace and love,

Me

A Respectful Society

Below is a great interview/debate between Richard Dawkins and the Bishop of Oxford.  Both very educated figures in the creation evolution debate.  I think Richard Dawkins is a very respectable person.  The Bishop of Oxford is also very understanding and expresses some great views on the scriptures and Christianity.  It’s nice to finally see some educated people talking about the issue.  The thing I like most about this interview is the respect they have for each other, and their ability to see the issues from each others point of view.  They understand that the basis of their beliefs is completely different, but in essence believe in a lot of the same things.  I think everyone should have respect for each other like this.

I can understand why atheists get frustrated with Christians.  It’s not necessarily the beliefs, but the seemingly blind understanding in them.  I love the way the Bishop of Oxford presents his beliefs in this interview.  You can tell that he is understanding and has also tested his way of thinking, which gives him a deeply rooted faith that others can see and appreciate, Christian or not.

Enjoy the interview.

My Pirate Flag

I have heard a couple pastors/speakers talk about music piracy.  Being told that pirating is stealing, and that it’s a sin.  I used to feel so bad for doing it, but I just had to because I needed to hear more music.  I’m even sure a couple people were praying for me because of it.  Is it really a sin though?  Is it stealing?

My opinion is quite the opposite.  The content avaliable on the internet is universal around the globe, and the amount of content is almost unlimited.  If we are open to new experiences in music, it’s like a constant supply of sound.  With this in mind, is each pirated copy of an album or song a lost sale?  Personally, I don’t think I have ever bought an album without hearing it first.  I’ve read a few articles about how studies have shown that people who pirate also buy signifigantly more music.

The fact that us “pirates” supposedly buy more music is most likely true.  Real fans want to have everything done by a favourite band, and alot of the content avaliable online can’t be purchased.  When people are passionate and educated about music, purchasing albums by a favourite band is an obvious way to support them.

An easy example is the person who hears about a band from somewhere.  This person downloads some albums, listens to them, and loves the music.  They might love this music enough to see the band live, and maybe buy a t-shirt or an album to get signed by the band.  Opening peoples minds to new content is key to getting an audience.

The pop culture scene is also against this progression of musical experience.  Lot’s of people listen to music because it is popular, or because friends listen to it.  When giant coorporations force a figure into the spotlight, they become pop culture and sell lots of albums and make alot of money.  But is music not about creativity and expression?  The typical pop culture musical figure is approached by a large label and written a contract with a four year lifespan.  Songs are written with “experts” in the field and put in a nice package without much input from the artist.  I don’t think this is creativity.

The internet is great for exposing people to new music.  Never has so much content and sound been avaliable.  And never has it been so easy for people to create.  Pirating progresses creativity and helps people discover new sounds.  A few bands have started releasing free content online.  Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is helping alot with this.  I would have never listened to his band.  When he released the industrial insturmental album entitled “Ghosts” online for free, I just downloaded it for the heck of it.  I loved the music and would now consider buying it.  This experience is far from a lost sale or stealing.

The Bible says not to steal and take from others.  I think the words pirating and stealing misrepresent the issue of sharing music online.  Those words have been tagged to the issue by the closed minded, greedy executives.  I think the world of music is changing for the better, and no companies seem to see it.

Take part in music piracy by downloading something new (check the resources below).  Listen to it during your day and enjoy it.  If you love what you’ve heard, supporting the music financially will come naturally.

Peace and love,

Me

The Pirate Bay music – http://thepiratebay.org/music

Bittorrent tutorial – http://www.utorrent.com/documentation/beginners-guide/

Creation vs. Evolution vs. Both

It’s the age old debate, where us “creationists” will debate against the “evolutionists” about what we believe in.  We already know nothing will stop either “side.”  I’ve seen this so many times I can almost picture the whole thing, and in the end the evolutionist is frustrated and the creationist is somewhat defeated but not backing down from their firm beliefs.  I’ve also been through it all.  I used to argue with my friends about these pointless little facts being untrue about the whole evolution thing (sorry you all had to put up with this).

Note:  Alright everyone, stand back.  What I’m about to say may shock you.  If you have are pregnant or on any medication for blood pressure you may want to have a seat.

I’m a Christian who also believes in evolution.  Right after I say this at a bible study, the outspoken ones attack me with how this doesn’t make me a Christian, how I dont trust in God or how impossible it is.  This is what I say:

Is there any chance whatsoever, that if a God really did create this whole existance, that he created evolution?  The creation story in the bible wasn’t written scientifically in the least bit.  All it is, is a narrative of how things came to be, rich in symbolism and metaphors.  Maybe these six days were sixty billion years?  How can you measure a day before the earth is created, let alone the clock we use to track time invented? The “big bang” seems to me like a “God” sorta thing to do.  You got nothing, then an explosion of matter, space and time.  Then worlds forming and molecules coming together, solar systems, galaxies, biological organisms, plant and animal life.  Why could this not be of God?  Maybe it took time for all the cycles of the earth and the adaptations of the plant and animal life to be “finished” or something.  Not only does it seem possible, but it wouldn’t change the rest of the doctrine behind the Christian faith.

So I don’t see the point of dedicating time and arguing about something that doesn’t change anything about what you believe.  It’s almost as though we have a little package of our beliefs, and a little shell around it, like an egg.  If the shell breaks, our entire world falls apart.  It’s not like this.  Again, open mindedness is a good thing.  We have to allow new thoughts to come in and to think about them and then decide for ourselves.

If your a Christian, and have never seriously doubted your faith, are you really a Christian?  The Christians I know that are really making a difference in this world, and loving unconditionally as Jesus did and taught us to do, all have told stories of decided to drop the faith and just be done with it.  I think it makes us realize what it really is to be a Christian.

I’ll think about these last couple points and write more about them. I might bring them up with some people and see where it leads.

Love and peace,

Me

Truth in Other Religions

I guess you could say I’m a fan of Rob Bell.  I’ve listened to his audiobooks a few times each, and always feel engaged.  In one of his books he brought up the idea that the truth of Jesus can exist in the beliefs of other religions.  His reasoning was that we are all created by God, and that God exists everywhere.  Therefore, God can exist in anything anybody does and people, without knowing it, can express the truth of Jesus.  Obviously this has caused alot of controversy and alot of people calling him the antichrist and such.  I didn’t know what to think so I did some research on other religious systems.

In the pursuit of searching for the truth of Jesus in other religious systems, one religion in particular stuck out.  Buddhists basically believe in Eight Noble Truths (or Eightfold Path), which if they follow will cause them to achieve enlightenment (correct me if I’m wrong).  This link sums it up.

Now obviously the enlightenment and karma of it all doesn’t agree with Christian beliefs, but Jesus himself taught about alot of the things in this Eightfold Path.  Specifics include doing everything you do with wisdom, peace, compassion and the right intention.  Jesus talked about these things, so is this truth?  Am I wrong believing that this Eightfold Path that the Buddhists follow agrees with Christianity?

I will try to seek out truth wherever it may be.  An open mind is important when searching for wisdom and I will try to keep my mind open to new ideas.

Love and peace,

Me

Christian and Secular

This is interesting stuff.  It seems like today we as Christians have created a sort of world for ourselves.  We can watch Christian TV, listen to Christian music, read Christian books, buy gift ware from a Christian bookstore and even freshen our breath with mints imprinted with a cross.  The implications from this have been talked about a lot, and I know bringing it up is horribly unoriginal but I find it fascinating.  I really don’t know where to start on the issue.  How about a story of how I was introduced to these terms…

During my younger years, I went to a Christian camp every summer.  We heard people talk about faith, and they really got us pumped up to live for God.  This one week usually defined my faith for the next year (I will probably talk about this alot).  This one year in particular, a speaker came to talk to us about media.  He spoke for a few hours about secular media, the content we fill our minds with, and how consuming certain media was a sin.  It left me with the assumption that if I was listening to music or watching a movie that didn’t agree with Christianity then it was sinning.  I did this for about two years, into the first year of high school, before I learned the truth.

Through high school I learned that media is not black and white.  In a media studies class we talked about how media is marketed, created and the money behind it all.  We had speakers in the industry come in and run workshops.  I learned that people are naturally creative and express their feelings through these different mediums of communication.  I also learned about advertising and how much it affects what we purchase.  Gradually I realized that not everything out there is honest and genuine and that alot of media is created just to make money.  All of a sudden I found myself in this new world of creativity.

What I came to realize is that God has created us, to be creative.  We are given the abilities to imagine and express our feelings through all these mediums.  I’m sure God likes when we use our creative gifts whether we are expressing anger or joy or whatever it may be.  As long as the media we consume is something that somebody has poured their efforts into to create something genuine and honest about what they are feeling to express truth, God is probably glad.

Nowadays I’m engaged in the world of media.  I’ve taken courses on art history and love to expand my mind.  I try to listen to music that is honest and expresses the writers true feelings and creativity.  I find myself watching movies by a certain director and appreciating their skills at bringing a story to life and engaging the viewer in unique ways.

The truth is that there is no “Christian” and “Secular” because creativity is universal.  Creativity can go anywhere, and has the power to bring people together.  I think that it’s our duty as Christians to rejoice in our creativity, and engage the ideas of others through media.  I also think that we should try to avoid the media that is not genuine, and just created for money, because our money always supports what we consume.  We should be mindful of what we are consuming and what we are supporting.

I will try to be more mindful of where my money goes, and what I am supporting.  I will continue to engage art and media that is genuine and exposes truthes.

Love and peace,

Me