Oranges and Oranges, Please!

"You've got it about right. But you are leaving out the fact that Scripture enjoins us from judging each other (Mt. 13:24-30, Rom. 14:4, Rom. 14:10-13)."

Lets take a look. For the sake of brevity, I won't print out every verse that you can read in your own Bible.
I've been meaning to get to this for awhile, but lacked time and energy until tonight. Rather than the assumption that 'Scripture enjoins us from judging each other', the opposite is actually true. Christians are not supposed to be able to tell whether someone else is a believer? In the Matthew parable, Jesus is talking about tares being planted among the wheat.
Tares aren't wheat. And nothing in the parable proves that a 'wheat' can't tell who is a 'tare'. Read down past Mt. 13:24-30 and you find the disciples asking for the parable to be explained-please read Matthew 13:36-39.

"4Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand." Romans 14:4
This verse needs to be read in context-please read Romans 14:1-4:
And then Romans 14:10-13
Again, there is an admonition for one believer not to judge the faith of another believer. Believer. Not unbeliever. The rest of Romans 14 makes this clear. I am not to judge, for example, a brother who believes differently than I do about Sabbath days, or what he can or can't eat or drink (Doug, do you eat shellfish?). And he, my brother in Christ, is not to judge me for my beliefs. Clear as glass.

Paul warned the Corinthians to be on guard against false Christians, warning them to judge who is and who is not a believer-please read 2 Corinthians 11:12-15
John judged who was or wasn't a Christian: Please read 2 John 7-11.
Finally, Jesus Himself often made clear the difference between believers and unbelievers-please read John 10:25-28, and then Matthew 7:21-23
To sum it all up, please read 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 Maranatha!

From Here, Overlooking Desolation Row

The here being, actually, a now-2009. The other night I watched "Message To Love-The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970". Those of you old enough to have attended a rock concert probably have heard of this infamous event. The documentary was amazing to watch on a few different levels-it was a snapshot taken of when the world was crazy, the generation gap was going through a rough divorce, and Tiny Tim was paid to perform on the same stage as Jimi Hendrix. Thankfully, not at the same time.
Keith Moon was alive and drumming. Hendrix (18 days left) and Jim Morrison (10 months)were playing their last major gigs.
The show promoters didn’t plan the event very well, and nearly 600,000 freeloaders showed up demanding to watch the greatest show of their lives for free. The cost of the four day festival ticket? Six pounds. Less than ten dollars American in 2009. To see the greatest show of their lives. About 60,000 paid, leaving 540,000 upset barbarians at the gates screaming bloody murder.
The documentarian, Murray Lerner, gave much screen time to the barbarians, and also the concert promoters scrambling to collect enough money to pay the performers.
The music was wonderful-the rest?
Sad. An ugly mirror held up to humanity, documenting man at his worse.
Desolation Row was the nickname for the makeshift refugee camp, where the totally empty pocketed indigents stayed. From the stage the promoters made an appeal to the crowd to share food and whatever with them. There were fences put up through which the paying customers would pass with their tickets. The denizens of Desolation Row were given ‘makework’, asked to paint the fence.
They decided to spit in the hand that tried to feed them, creating garish obscenities and petulant slogans (We Want The Stones!).
No Stones. No Beatles. But a listing of the performers who did show up reads like a history of Rock and Roll.
Bob Dylan, of course, wrote his song, Desolation Row much earlier; he wasn’t there either, although his song does play over the end credits.
Give a man a fish, and he will hit you over the head with it and take your wallet.
Teach a man to fish, and he will never have time for golf again.

Funny World

Funny world. This morning I watch the Jet Li movie, "Fearless", then turn on my computer and find that David Carradine is dead, possibly a suicide. President Obama ventures into the lion's den of Egypt to call the world to "Peace" when all it seems to want is war.
This could be a cynic's holiday, a feast for the pessimistic realist, but nope-not today, and not in the near.
"25 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth." Job 19:25
I have the same hope as Job, and know that this world will remain until God replaces it with better. There will be wars, but they come from the hearts of men. The only way to end war is to either end men...or submit to God, the King of Peace, Who will give you His Peace. For both myself and David Carradine, the war is over.

Meth Living Suicides

This is something I don't often do here at FDW, but sometimes my online life and real life collide-I had to interview a band on tour, the 'Meth Living Suicides', and I thought, why not post it?
The Meth Living Suicides have been together as a "Death Metal" group for about 8 months, playing events around their hometown of Ames, Iowa. There have been twenty seven different bandmembers in that time, backing the lead singer, Arc, and his sister Largan, who plays the bass drum backing CD in the boombox.
I met the siblings at their hotel room, and my first question was to Arc:
Doug: 27 different members in the band? Isn't that quite a bit of turnover, even for a group just getting started?
Arc: @#$%^&*(.
Doug: Excuse me?
Arc: @#$%^&*( @#$%^&*(!
Doug: Largan, could you possibly translate what Arc is saying?
Largan (Fake British accent): He said, I guess so.
Doug: Thank you. Would you tell me about your song which rose to the top of the Contemporary Christian Music charts?
Largan: Do you mean, "Die, you @#$%^&*(, Die!?"
Doug: No, the song was, "Free The Sinner".
Largan: Oh. That hit # 1?
Doug: On the Christian music charts, yes.
Largan: Well, @#$%^&*(! They didn't get it then, did they?
Doug: Get it?
Largan: Yeah-if we can kill God, it would free the sinner. Those @#$%^&*( @#$%^&*(!



Okay, you've caught me. A little bit of fiction, just for fun. I have little regard for Christian Music groups in 2009-there's an entire subculture of supposedly Christian acts drawing kids into idolatry. If a Christian teenage girl can list all the members of "Crimson Moonlight" but has trouble naming any apostle besides Peter (He rocks!) that girl is in trouble.
I just went to CCM online and looked for an appropriate band name to goof on, and I found that my little mockery almost didn't go far enough.
Crimson Moonlight is led by something named Pilgrim Bestiarius. Howdy, Pilgrim!

Part Two Of the Party Of the Second Part

Now we flip the coin. Having asked for positive Christian attributes, it's only fair that I ask:
What is it about Christians in particular that frosts your bacon? How do we tick you off? Let us count the ways.
What bothers you about Christ and the Gospel message as you know it? How could Christians better reach a place of understanding with you?
Go nuts, pagans. And this post can be used as an entry.

Will The Real Christians Please Stand Up?

One of the problems non-Christians run up against as they try to define "Christians" is: no good examples. They only recognize "Bad Christian" flaws. That would be like defining a rose only by it's thorns. When they see (or pretend to see) only the bad side of Christians, they can't help but fall in to the trap of caricature.
"Hateful religious bigots going around judging everybody else as if their sin don't smell just offal!" (Forgive the pun-I'm in one of those moods again)
Announcing Doug's first semi bi annual FDW Christian Character Contest: Whichever un-Christian can post the highest number of Positive Christian attributes without mentioning the Salvation Army wins a prize to be determined by the sincerity of the contestants. And this post can't be used as an entry.
Scratch your heads, people! Christians MUST be good for something; we can't all be good for nothings!

True Worship

"10So David blessed the LORD in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, “Blessed are You, O LORD God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. 12“Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. 13“Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name." 1 Chronicles 29:10-13

9“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ Matthew 6:9-13

David blessed the LORD, The Lord blessed the Father. That is true worship, honoring God as He should be honored. I think that in our weakened, temporally challenged existence we are often unsure that God indeed holds sway over His Creation. We mentally add an extra 'will' to the Lord's Prayer, making it read:
"Your will will be done", as if it isn't yet happening in every present second of eternity.
Call it the perfect present tense-'Your will be done' means 'Your will is done' on earth as it is in heaven. Let's join David in thanking God, and praising His glorious name.

The Spirit Is Weak But The Flesh Is Willing

Another busy weekend, lots of stuff going on. I nearly almost just about sorta kinda decided that I would skip church tonight, as I was tired...but I'm glad that I went; it was a wonderful time of fellowship, and a reminder to me that I live by faith, not circumstance. I would have been just as tired if I had given into circumstance/feeeeeeeelings (whoa-oah) and stayed home, but it was better to be in fellowship. Now, with as near to a clear conscience as I can muster, bed to off am I.
Wait-it's part of my Blog duties to natter on about President Obama speaking at Notre Dame, receiving an honorary degree for keeping Abortion legal or something-I've been too busy to hear/read/follow the news. Tell you what-if Obama sets up an image of himself in the as yet unbuilt Jewish Temple to be worshipped as God...call me.

She Found Out

“My troubles are many, they're as deep as a well.
I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell.”
Laura Nyro~ "And When I Die"

If you’re old (like me) you probably know the Blood, Sweat and Tears rendition of the song. But Laura wrote it, and sang it first; I mention it here as an example of what I think could be called the “Hopeless If”.
The ‘Hopeless If’ simply means that people bet their lives that Christians are wrong (swear there ain’t no heaven) while admitting to themselves that if Christians ARE right...they are in trouble (pray there ain’t no hell).
This is betting against the house, against a sure thing, putting all your hopes in a strawman’s basket. Have you wondered why so much effort is put into proving Christians wrong, discrediting the Bible?
That If is hopeless. Trusting in God is well founded Hope. May God grant you the Grace to believe.

I'm Righteous And You're Glue

Here's a funny. There are some people out there (and around here) who want to be godly without God, who wish to be known as righteous without bowing down to the only One who is.
These people often have unkind words for hypocritical Christians; their condemnation of hypocrisy is (to them) evidence of their superior morality.

Except

They aren't righteous.
They aren't superior.
They aren't even moral.
They are worse than hypocrites, caught up in the fantasy that their reliance on their own righteousness is good enough, close enough to godly for them.
It won't even get your shoes shined, friends.
I am one of the Christians who doesn't always act or appear Christian. I am one of the 100% of Christians who fall into this category as easily as we fall into sin. But here's the kicker:
None of us is trusting in our own Righteousness, and most of us know better than to try.
We are not righteous apart from the righteousness imputed to us, put into our account, so to speak, by God.
So when you see us caught in some sin, know that it grieves us, as we know it grieves our Heavenly Father. When we slip and fall, we cry out to God, asking for mercy.
What do you do?

That's What I'm Talking About

In the comments section I will link to the Hot Air post that this graphic came from-it's quite simple: Right now is NOT the time to be going further into debt as a nation,especially epic nation-destroying debt. It is the wrong path.
In quiet, solid, boring economic times Socialism can't gain a foothold, as Capitalism benefits everyone. What we are witnessing is the purposeful demonization of Capitalism. This is insanity.
Don't believe Socialist lies. You grew up in a Capitalist society, where anyone can make something of himself, can earn his own living, stand on his own feet. You know better.

Two Realities Walk Into A Bard

I've been thinking lately instead of writing. It couldn't hurt, to try something new.
Here's what I have so far: some people seem to operate on the assumption that they themselves are the arbiters of Reality, that they can shape, cut, fit or retrofit Reality to suit themselves.
Nope nope nope.
We live in God's Creation; He is the arbiter, the One who speaks things into being. Before the Creation He already had a plan in place which affects everything you can know, see touch or feel. You were known to your tiniest molecule, as was I; who would have Grace extended to them was decided, and who wouldn't.
Those hung up on Predestination always try to argue against God in human terms-that's part of the plan, also.
For the record: I have no problem with God; He's the one entity Who must know what is "Pre-destined", or else He wouldn't be God.
I see a stage managed false reality being attempted in this country by our alleged leaders. Fanciful human ideas about how to govern always...always run afoul of God and His Governance.
Every Napoleon has his Waterloo, every Hitler his bunker. The Grand Dreams always fail, as they come from the hearts of frustrated wannabe gods/emperors. If this weren't so, we'd now be living under the rule of the Roman Empire or, going back farther, Pharaoh.
Just for fun, lets go back to the first human sandcastle empire which God kicked to pieces: Babel. If God hadn't taken action (as He had known He would-remember Predestination) Nimrod the first's great great cubed and squared grandson would be running the world today.
God saved us from Nimrod, from Hitler, from the Caesars...all the while choosing some as sons and daughters in each generation of history. It's all part of the plan.
If you have read this far, the good news is that there is still life in you, a heart in you which can long for God, for Peace with God. May God richly Bless you today.

Quo

As in 'status quo', as in the state in which we are. Call it keeping our balance, or attempting to, when the world is spinning us like champion log rollers at Lumberjack Days. Call it adjusting to what is happening right now while processing what just happened and wondering what is coming next. The dance where the music never ends.
My status has been quite busy lately, and I'm looking forward to work today so I can catch my breath.
The picture above is a reminder for me, of a time when my status quo was quite different. I was working in a different industry, living elsewhere, had a different set of friends and life then was as good as life today, but different. We adjust, and move forward. May God Bless your status quo.