| So Many Different Things... |
| Well, I don't know what to write about tonight. Not so much becauase I haven't been thinking about things to write about as because I'm having a hard time choosing one...
So, I'll give a little bit of a few different ones. For one, my family has had the pleasure of attending Canton First Friends Church for the past couple weeks. We all really like it. It's what I'd call a "breath of fresh air" during which we can get out from under the oppressiveness of our normal "home" church (which is probably going to lose that position before long). What have we been hearing at Friends that is different? Well, here's the (unofficial) theme for the sermon series: "God not only loves you, He also LIKES you." Yeah. Simple, but something that we almost never hear ever anywhere, and definitely NOT at our usual church. Our usual church has a sermon that goes something like this: Here's a Scripture passage. This is what it means. This is what our doctrine is because of it. This is what we should do because of it. That's it. Personally, I think we often border on (and sometimes cross the border) Bible-worship, as I call it. The words in the Bible, rather than the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is the center of worship. This, my friends, is simply wrong. Don't get me wrong, I believe that the Bible is true. I believe that it was and is inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. But, it is not an object to worship. It is not to be the center of worship. It is not to be the foundation for the Church. And (I'm getting radical here, I know), it is not to be the foundation of our faith. That's right. The Bible is none of these. So, what is? The answer is what my friend Math Brian calls "the ultimate copout". That's right. God. God is the only object worthy of worship. God is the only appropriate center of worship and foundation for the Church. And, God is the foundation for our Faith. (Christ, after all, is the author and perfecter of our faith.) This is so important. See, when we see the Bible as the center of our faith, we see letters as the content of it. And letters are not a living relationship. Letters can only convey fiction, history, law, and philosophy, more or less. And basing our lives on any of these is unsatisfactory. Only a relationship with the immutable God can provide the stability that we require to live a life acceptable to Him. And, on top of that, only a relationship with the immutable God is required to live a life acceptable to Him. That's it, my friends. God not only wants to be, but IS our Friend. He just wants us to be His. Next topic: Pragmatism Last night I had trouble getting to sleep. True, much of it was because I was trying to go to bed 3 hours earlier than usual. But, during that time that I wasn't sleeping I got to thinking about pragmatism as a political philosophy. And I've reached a conclusion: it's unguided crap. That's all. See, I lean libertarian for the most part. Generally, I agree with conservatives on a great many issues. But, there is one criticism that conservatives almost always bring against libertarians and that's that we are impractical and idealistic! But, really what if we gave up ideals totally in favor of pragmatism? The answer is immediate: total lack of direction. See, pragmatism is about taking steps that are politically feasible. But, pragmatism doesn't give us any standard by which to judge alternative feasible options. So, it's really just a random walk down Pennsylvania Avenue if pragmatism is to be our guide. Well, I suppose we could set up a standard based on pragmatism. Act in such a way that the greatest number of votes will be won. The problem is that the populous is fickle. You can never really tell whether a policy will backfire politically (though, with some sciences, like economics, you can tell if they will backfire from a technical standpoint). Yet, the shifting nature of public opinion makes this an imperfect... no, terrible... standard. True, libertarians may be idealistic. We may be impractical. But, we see the end of the road. We know what path we want to take. Any step toward the goal of liberty and peaceful coexistence is a step in the right direction. Any step the other direction is undesirable, and "political necessity" does not change that unalterable fact. Oh, and I'm trying to develop a list of things that tick me off. Here's what I've come up with: 1) People taking other people's things without permission. 2) People that say they will do something and then say that it's not their responsibility so they won't do it. 3) People that claim that I'm wrong, and then get all snippy with me when they realize that I'm right. I think that's a decent list. Mi amas vin, mia amino. And, I want to close with a thought for all of you, my faithful (or unfaithful, for that matter) readers: God not only loves you, He likes you, and wants to spend time with you. -inspired by the Holy Spirit to Pastor Mark Engel who relayed it to his congregation, myself being in attendance with them. (Though I must admit that I did do some paraphrasing.) Oh! And another from Pastor Mark Engel: Many people can do what I do, but no one can be who I am. |
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