21 January 2008 by Brian.

Today is, of course, Martin Luther King, Jr.  Day and so I thought  it fitting to post something in remembrance of his contributions to our society.  Fox News offered this article on Dr. King’s leadership, both in reality and as it has been remembered (or not).   The following excerpt leads to my point for tonight:

“By freezing him at that point, by putting him on a pedestal of perfection that doesn’t acknowledge his complex views, “it makes it impossible both for us to find new leaders and for us to aspire to leadership,” Harris-Lacewell said.

She believes it’s important for Americans in 2008 to remember how disliked King was before his death in April 1968.

“If we forget that, then it seems like the only people we can get behind must be popular,” Harris-Lacewell said. “Following King meant following the unpopular road, not the popular one.”

This quote reminded me of how unpopular President Roosevelt became for his “warmongering” prior to the Japanese attack on the USA which launched us into WWII.  Where would the world be, had Roosevelt failed to prepare the nation (economically and militarily) for war against the Axis?

It also reminds me of the call of Christ to take up my cross and follow him on the narrow road that is God’s will for my life.  In this day and age of opinion polling, reality TV, and the constant pursuit of popularity, it’s important to remind ourselves that the popular position isn’t necessarily the right one.  Will we be leaders in our culture?  Or will we parrot society and take up only those “causes” already “championed” by everyone around us?

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3 January 2008 by Brian.

Theodore Dalrymple offers the following thought in his new book, “In Praise of Prejudice.”

“The radical skeptic, nowadays at least, is in search not so much of truth, as of liberty – that is to say, of liberty conceived of the largest field imaginable for the satisfaction of his whims.”

Don’t be mislead by Dalrymple’s provocative title; he is clear in his rejection of racial prejudice and he clearly states that many prejudices are, in fact, bad prejudices and should be opposed and overcome. However, as the quoted statement indicates, one must be careful to consider the reason for abandoning a prejudice: is it simply to obtain license for unbridled indulgence? Or is it because the assertion, prejudice, or creed in question actually stands in opposition to legal, moral, or spiritual truth? The answers to these questions will make all the difference in the life of the skeptic or in that of his society.

It’s an old saying (and I’m not sure of its origin), but it bears repeating here: “before tearing down a fence, one should pause long enough to consider why the fence was erected in the first place.”

Posted in Eurabia, Naturalism, Humanism, Quotes, Social Injustice, Israel, Social Justice, Abortion, Homosexuality, Evil, Europe, Environmentalism, Social Medicine, Community, Politics, Religion, Morality, Contemporary Christianity, Sex, Relativism, Marriage, Sanctity of Life, Islam, Biblical Worldview, Postmodernism, False Doctrine, Morals, Spirituality, North Korea, Postmodern Philosophy, Postmodernity, Secularism | 1 Comment »

14 November 2007 by Brian.

One of the most obvious facts of life is that I am not capable of dealing with all that comes my way.  (In fact, if we want to get specific, there’s only a tiny percentage of my life that I am truly capable of handling.)  Why is it, then, that I am so easily deceived into believing that I can?  As a result, therefore, I must be continually reminded of my own insufficiency.  I’m grateful to God that He loves me too much to allow me to persist in that delusion.

Fact: I couldn’t atone for my own sins, so Jesus went to the cross for me.

Fact: Even having recognized my own sinfulness, I couldn’t obtain spiritual life, so He provided for this by allowing me to share in His resurrection.

Fact: Having been brought from death to life, I couldn’t live the life He desires me to lead, nor would I have a hope of remaining faithful to Him, so He sent His Spirit.  (Yes, there’s more sin in my life, even with the Spirit’s help…see fact #1 for the solution to this!)

Fact: Life is a series of events, the great majority of which are completely outside of my control.  This grants me opportunities to trust God, experience His provision, sustaining power and grace, and to get to know Him better.  It’s solely by His grace that I may, on occasion, bring Him glory through my life.

Fact: Apart from His love and grace, I don’t deserve any of these blessings.  It is only because of who He is that life is truly meaningful, that mankind has dignity, that life is sacred.

Sometimes it does me good to simply stop and consider these basic truths of life.  It brings all my fears, insecurities, and frustrations into perspective and, quite honestly, brings me a real sense of joy that has nothing to do with my current circumstances.  Maybe this is what the Spirit of Christ was communicating when Paul wrote to the Philippians (Phil. 4:4-7), “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.  Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

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12 November 2007 by Brian.

Calamapportunity. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the AT&T Commercial and it might make a little more sense.)

It’s been a while since I posted a Friday quote, so I figured I’d use one today.

“An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist a calamity in every opportunity.” — Winston Churchill

Fact is, we all live in Calamapportunity and it’s up to us to determine how we’ll respond. Most importantly, will God be glorified by our approach to life? Or will we act out of fear and insecurity like those who don’t understand that there is a loving God who wants to work in our lives?

Posted in Social Injustice, Social Justice, Israel, Religious fanaticism, Quotes, Eurabia, Politics, Community, Humanism, Naturalism, Radicals, Radicalism, Contemporary Christianity, Marriage, Islam, Sanctity of Life, Biblical Worldview, North Korea, Religion, False Doctrine, Spirituality, Secularism | No Comments »

6 November 2007 by Brian.

Last Sunday our pastor preached on blind spots.  The problem with blind spots is, of course, that one isn’t aware of one’s own blind spots (hence, the name).  Of course, if those around us were willing to be perfectly honest with us, they could probably enlighten us with two or three before we knew what hit us!  In reality, most of us rarely even consider the fact that we DO have blind spots.  It’s a lot more comfortably to go through life assuming that we’re aware of all our flaws and are conscientiously working to remedy them.  Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

Wait a minute!  Ignorance is NOT bliss, biblically speaking.  The Holy Spirit leads us into truth.  Jesus challenged Pilate (John 18) with the fact that he came into the world to testify to the truth and that, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  This truth co-existed perfectly with the Father, the One who “is love”.  Truth and love are perfect partners, inextricably woven together at the foundation of reality, in the person of God, Himself.

With that said, why is it that one of my greatest blind spots is my failure to express the love of God as I attempt to conform my life to His truth and to live out my relationship with God in my family and in my vocation?  I can only surmise that I’ve taken the active role in determining how to express the truth of the Word of God, rather than asking God to guide me in doing so each day.  Once again, I’m confronted with my own tendency to self-sufficiency (sin!) and I realize how desperately I need Christ to rule every moment of my day.

Back to the cross I go, thankful for the grace of God that daily covers all of my sin and makes me acceptable to Him.  I could never, on my best day, deserve the tiniest fraction of His love or acceptance.  Instead, miraculously, He chose to give it all to me and to anyone else who chooses to accept it.  What an amazing God!

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23 October 2007 by Brian.

No one ever said life would be easy.  In fact, the older I get, the more I realize just how tough it can be.  (This is coming from a guy whose father died when he was 11 years old.)  As my family has been going through some tough times lately, I’ve grown more aware and more sensitive to the tough times that those around me are experiencing.  In the process, I’ve learned a few things that might prove helpful to some of you.  I’d like to encourage any of you to share your thoughts and opinions, as well.

1. The question is not IF you will encounter difficulties, but WHEN you will do so.  I’ve learned that if you accept the hard times and you’re mentally prepared for them, they’re easier to handle.

2. When you encounter the difficulty, the best question to ask is not, “Why me?”, but “What should I learn through this?”

3. In the hard times, one can seek the path of least resistance or one can exercise the mental toughness and discipline to face the challenge moment by moment, day after day, for as long as it takes.  Those who seek the path of least resistance rarely reap the rewards of overcoming the obstacles: developing character and growing wiser through the process.  Those who determine to meet the challenge and get the victory will face the harder road and may endure lengthier suffering, but they obtain incredible rewards for their efforts.

4. Trials are our friend.  There is no better opportunity to learn just how desperately we need God,  In addition, it is in the hard times that we usually experience the deepest intimacy with God and find that His Spirit seems to fuse with our souls in a way that no other experience seems to provide.

5. Trials, when confronted by a determined faith in God, produce humility and prepare us to bring glory to God throughout our lives as we learn lessons thoroughly and in a lasting way.

6. The tough times are the best times for self-evaluation.  It is in these times that our faith is tested and we see where our trust and security truly lie.  The good news is that an initial failure can turn into a smashing success if the individual is willing to repent of misplaced security, self-sufficiency, sin, or any other attitude or action with which God may be dealing at the time.  One of the ironies of the Christian life is that true life is always found on the other side of the cross.  One must always die to his or her self-directed, self-centered desires in order to experience the incredible joy that is only found in life in relationship with God through Christ.  It is only in giving up those things we desperately cling to in hopes of finding fulfillment, that we finally find freedom and liberation in submitting ourselves to God.  This principle holds just as true for those who are believers, as those who come to Christ for the first time.

Maybe you didn’t get much out of this, but I found the process of writing it to be quite helpful!  I must admit that introspection has never been one of my strong points.  I’m much more prone to analyze people and circumstances around me than I am to spend time alone with God sorting through my own crap…of course, this is a major hindrance to my own spiritual growth, but it’s the truth.  Who knows, maybe this entire blog, the whole year’s worth of posts, has been God’s way of forcing me into some self-evaluation!  Nonetheless, it’s my prayer that God would speak to you through this, even as He’s been teaching me.  I must say, life is hard…and that’s a good thing.  I need it.

Posted in Social Injustice, Social Justice, Naturalism, Humanism, Politics, Community, Israel, Spirituality, Marriage, Islam, Contemporary Christianity, Sex, North Korea, Biblical Worldview, Sanctity of Life | 1 Comment »

26 August 2007 by Brian.

“Very few really seek knowledge in this world. Mortal or immortal, few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds – justification, explanations, forms of consolation without which they can’t go on. To
really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the
questioner.”

Spoken by the Vampire Marius in
Ann Rice’s book The Vampire Lestat
Ballantine Books. New York, NY. 1985.

(Remember, Ann Rice became a Christian late in life…interesting what happens when you dare to really take a look at reality!)

I found this quote at http://tchriscrain.blogspot.com/2007/07/critical.html .

Posted in Bible study, Inductive study method, Inductive Bible study, Israel, Religious fanaticism, Radicalism, Radicals, Social Justice, Social Injustice, Abortion, Homosexuality, Community, Humanism, Naturalism, Quotes, Eurabia, Religion, Morality, Contemporary Christianity, Sex, Biblical Worldview, Relativism, Marriage, Sanctity of Life, Islam, Postmodernism, Postmodern Philosophy, False Doctrine, New Age Spirituality, Morals, New Age, Spirituality, Postmodernity, North Korea, Secularism | No Comments »

24 May 2007 by Brian.

My seven year-old son and I were talking tonight before he went to bed and the subject of death came up.  Kaleb is definitely “anti-death”!  Tonight, he was near tears at the prospect of his (as well as our) eventual death.  I assured him that those who love Jesus and have entrusted their lives to Him, will live forever in Heaven.  Kaleb, however, protested that he “likes it here.”  I had to laugh a little, because I’ve felt the same way for most of my life.

Kaleb and I have had this conversation before, but tonight, for the first time, he proposed a solution.  He said, “I know.  We’ll stop celebrating birthdays.”  It was interesting – and a little amusing – to watch him struggle against mankind’s inevitable mortality in this life.  As I reflected back on the conversation, it reminded me once again of how wonderful it is to know that life will not end when my heart stops beating and my brain ceases to function.

Pity the materialist who has nothing to look forward to except annihilation.

Posted in Social Justice, Morality, Social Injustice, Naturalism, Humanism, Morals, False Doctrine, Contemporary Christianity, Sanctity of Life, Biblical Worldview, North Korea, Spirituality, Secularism | No Comments »

11 May 2007 by Brian.

“A beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a man gets to being a beast, the less he knows it.” - George MacDonald

MacDonald is another brilliant author you should try reading.  In fact, I owe Ravi Zacharias a debt of gratitude, as I began reading MacDonald after hearing Ravi refer to his works on several occassions.  I thought this quote (though a century old) befits our times quite well.

Posted in Social Justice, Religious fanaticism, Morality, Morals, Social Injustice, Quotes, Humanism, Naturalism, Eurabia, False Doctrine, Spirituality, Sex, Relativism, Islam, Biblical Worldview, Postmodernism, North Korea, Postmodernity, Postmodern Philosophy, Secularism | 1 Comment »

7 May 2007 by Brian.

I’ve noticed a particular phenomenon lately.  When confronted with certain information, an individual will often choose to believe the circumstances to be what they DESIRE them to be, rather than face an unpleasant reality.

So, I asked myself, “When did this begin?”  Did it come with Post-modernism?  Or was it an invention of the Modern Age?  Perhaps it came with the Enlightenment?  Then, I thought of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and decided that this has always been a fundamental danger of mankind’s freewill.  What does this mean for you and me?  For one thing, it means that we need the assistance of the Holy Spirit and that of godly counselors to help us see when our desires blind us to our reality.  It should bring some humility and caution to the conclusions we draw and make us more reliant on the One Who Knows and on the community of believers with which He’s blessed us.

As the saying goes, “Denial, it’s not just a river in Africa.”

Posted in Morality, Religion, Morals, New Age Spirituality, False Doctrine, Israel, Inductive study method, Eurabia, Humanism, Social Injustice, Social Justice, Inductive Bible study, New Age, Spirituality, Relativism, Contemporary Christianity, Marriage, Islam, Sanctity of Life, Sex, Biblical Worldview, North Korea, Postmodernity, Postmodern Philosophy, Postmodernism, Secularism | No Comments »