Reverence...

The third of the Ten Commandments states: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name. (NIV)”

Now, most American Christians will tell you that simply means ‘Don’t cuss.’ That is not the intent of the third commandment at all… It’s intent is much greater in scope.

Anyone who calls them-self by the name of God represents Him on earth. Anyone who claims to represent God, anyone who takes His name, had better make every effort to live a life without blemish, because everything they do is a reflection of God to believers and non-believers alike. For those who claim Christ as their savior to represent His name with anything but the utmost reverence is, at best, disgraceful and, at worst, can also be a sin. The name of the Most High should always be borne with reverence.

This is an age where nothing is held in reverence anymore. The common and the profane have been elevated and brutish, cynical and sarcastic attitudes abound. Everything, every value, every hero and every institution are fair game for the lowest kind of attacks these days. It is shameful and it is dangerous to have a society wherein nothing is sacred. Where nothing is sacred, nothing is stable. That is the kind of place America is quickly becoming.

As Christians we are called on to be the salt of the earth. Salt is that which preserves the world. In some American Christian circles, it has become commonplace to take the most powerful name under Heaven, Jesus the Christ, (Yeshua ha Meshia for those who think there is some magic in the original language) and lower it to whatever is selling at the time. Coke is the ‘Real Thing’ so Christ becomes the ‘Real Thing’. ‘Got Milk?’ has become ‘Got Jesus?’… To drag His name down to pop culture is a sign of disrespect. It is not one of reverence, it is a misuse of His name and it does inestimable damage to the image of God.

For those who make the name Christ and Christianity a laughing stock to the world by their behavior and their language there is a stern warning. Behaving in such a way as to reflect badly on the name of God serves as a stumbling block to many non-believers. Of those who are such stumbling blocks it is said that “it would be better if a mill stone were tied around their necks and they be tossed into the sea…” We are called to be a light to the world! In representing God…we should always be on our best behavior. We Christians should clean up our behavior and our language like true Ambassadors for Christ…not defile the name of God by using it irreverently. We should be setting the example for the world…not lowering the standards of our own behavior to fit into it…

"If the salt has lost its saltiness…how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

For Erica...

Erica Michelle Marie Green was identified this week after being known for years only as "Precious Doe." Her body was found near an intersection in Kansas City in 2001. A few days later, her head was found nearby, wrapped in a trash bag. It had been cut off with a pair of hedge clippers. Erica had been severely beaten by her mothers husband in the days before her murder. Her mother, Michelle M. Johnson, and her mothers husband, Harrell Johnson, have been charged with murder and endangering the welfare of a child. Erica had been brought to Missouri by a mother she barely knew, after living with Betty Brown, who raised Erica from infancy until April 2001.

This is a news story that came and went without much notice today. How the title ‘Mother’ could be used in reporting it makes me sick to my stomach. This woman and her husband are pure evil. There was a time when I would have wanted to take their heads myself. I've come to the point where I'm only heartsick by people like them now. One day even their memory will be forgotten. They will be dust under the feet of the righteous in the Kingdom of God. It's the children they abuse and murder that I care about now. Dear God...how could someone do this to a child?

My heart cries for Erica and all the children God has entrusted to adults that have abused and neglected them...then tossed them away like garbage. The world is full of such stories. Most don’t even make the news. Most are forgotten by the world as we go about our daily lives.

I know that NONE are forgotten by God. He will see to it that Erica knows His love.
Erica will breathe again. She will know the love she was denied in her short life. She will have a family that will treasure her and always be there for her. She will…because our Savior, Jesus the Christ, conquered death. She will be resurrected and made whole because Jesus the Christ is coming back.

All of the children, all of the human beings that have faced short miserable lives and been forgotten in their graves will breathe again. They will know the love of God. There will be no more tears or sorrow because the former things will have passed away.

For now...while you breath, while it is in your power...Love your children…Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Jesus the Christ is coming back.

Creation vs. Evolution

It is ironic to me that so many Christians go to such efforts to prove the various theories of evolution are only scientific fantasies to displace God from His throne. The argument rears its head every few years somewhere. To begin with, it is arrogant to think that God needs us to defend Him. It seems to me to be just another effort to elevate our own status. God doesn’t need our help Thank You very much…

There are various theories of Creationism too, other schools of thought within Christianity itself. Each believes they are correct, and the others wrong, even though they read the same Bible they have come to understand it differently. That in itself is a red flag to me.

Perhaps the most ironic thing is that the people who are the most insistent that their version of the creation story is the correct one only want to prove that the Bible is the revealed word of God. They don’t really want to ‘Do’ what it says… If they spent as much time actually living a ‘Christ-like’ life as they spend in gathering evidence for, and making their arguments, it would draw so many people to the faith from their example that churches would overflow. Why someone would spend so much time and energy on ‘proving’ that the Bible is the Revealed Word of God and then not make every effort to live by it’s precepts is beyond me?

Personally, I don’t get worked up over the issue. The Bible is not a book about ‘How’ God created the universe…It’s a book about ‘Why’. Science can’t answer many ‘why’ questions, but it is excellent at answering the ‘How’ questions. Both science and faith work best when they play to their strengths. ‘How’ God created the heavens and the earth is a subject not many human beings would be ready to understand even if He did reveal it. He inspired a very short version of the creation story to be recorded in the Bible. The focus of the story seems to be to point to Him as the ‘ultimate cause’. Once again, it is not ‘how’ He did it that’s important to the story.

I don’t really have a strong opinion one way or another about the issue. I tend to side with a version of creationism, but I’m not married to it. God could very well have used some form of evolution to achieve, at least part of, His purpose. The fact is that I’ve believed the scriptures said one thing quite clearly at times…only to come to believe they meant something different later. I honestly think the creation story is the wrong place to take a stand. It’s the wrong line to draw in the sand. I think our energies as Christians could be better used elsewhere. Instead of arguing with scientists we could show them, and everyone else, a better way to live by living it. That would be living proof that the Bible is the Revealed Word of God...