Revolution!

How far is too far? I love reading the scripture with the revolutionaries. Sometimes I wonder where those people are today. Does God still use this approach? It seems as though, in our society, you can not get the attention of an audience unless you "slap" them in the face. We used to be able to use sensationalism to get their attention. That no longer works.

If you remember correctly, in the late nineties a new singer hit the scene. His name was Marilyn Manson. Through his on stage exploits, this guy had the United States in an up roar. Manson would preform self mutilation with broken glass and sexual acts with store bought appendages. Now, no one is looking. He could do these things all day and he is still last decades news. With the loss of the ability to "shock" people would the acts of Hosea cause a stir?(Hosea) Could someone marry a prostitute to show his Christian brothers and sisters that we have sold out to consumerism? If Ezekiel were to take a cow patty and cook some food over it to show how American Christians look a lot like Ezekiel 16:49, would that wake anybody up?(Ezekiel 4) I think that has been done on an episode of "Jackass".

On the other side of this coin, one could go too far. One of my pet peeves is the affect of nationalism and patriotism on the Church. I have for so long wanted to "smack" American Christians in the face. It seems as though nobody cares. The thought ran threw my head one day to take a large cross and lay many national flags at the base and set them a blaze. This in my revolutionary mind would show the affect of nationalism on the glorious works that Christ has for his bride. Sounds great right? Then the Holy Spirit grabs my heart and leads me to 1 Corinthians 13. If anything I do is without love it is religious noise. At that point, I say to myself that I'm doing it for the love of the Body. Then I move a little further to see that love is not rude. Dang! Burning the flags of nations is rude. I can do an act such as this but at the same time I will be alienating the people I am trying to reach. I also have to remember that I am also trying to reach the non-believers. Would I be doing the "Great Commission" a disservice? How far can a Christian go to make a point?

When we look back at Jesus, we see many revolutionary acts. The Messiah at one point was called a drunk and a friend of sinners.(Luke 7:34). In many instances Christ broke the sabbath and had no issue offending the powers that be in doing it.(Matthew 12:10; Mark 3:2, John 9:14–16) It seems as though that Jesus was not in the business of keeping the masses happy.
If Jesus were to storm the a church today he would be arrested, called a dialectical Marxist, and been the subject of at least one Focus on the Family episode of how the moral fabric of America is being destroyed.

moral relativism!!!

Truth. Does it exist? I think so. So if truth exists how do we define it? I fell it should be defined as what would exist without the existence of human thought. If that is the case then the age old question has been answered. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does is make noise? Yes. Due to the fact that sound is a wave the wave still happens. Same applies to gravity, light, and mass.

So on to the bible. Jesus said,"I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life."(John 14:6) Does this same rule apply to Jesus and his word? Without human thought would God be the same? I think so. I do believe that the bible is all truth. Holy spirit inspired. So when I read this I believe it. When he said turn the other cheek(Mat 5:38-39), I believe this too. Currently there seems to be a lot of dialectical thought being brought into Christianity and the word of God. I would like to attack this.

moral relativism - "anything goes"

In the process of someones life they may go threw many different experiences that may mold their opinion and perception of life. Does this perception change truth? I don't think so. In the adult entertainment business some girls have a tattoo that says "daddy's girl". Unknown to a lot of us, this means that they were "broken in" being molested by a male family member. As horrible as this is, does this change the reality of Jesus(mat 19:9,5:32,5:28)? No. BUT! BUT! BUT! This does mean that we approach the situation with more kindness and gentleness. When a child tries to steal a piece of gum from the store you can just punish him and that's the end. For a woman who has been sexually abused her whole life and turns to a life of prostitution, that won't work. We have to love her(John 8:3-11).Sometimes we like to excuse sin from our life for one reason or another. As large or small as the reason, we cannot excuse it.

Its very easy to pick on those scape goat sins. Homosexuality, adultery, and abortion are all easy to pick on. How about war. I had a conversation with someone I love and respect. In this conversation, we discussed moral relativism. He said it was a bad thing happening to our country when we don't have clear christian morals as the foundation. Of course he was talking about the "pick on sins". I asked if he thought that our country was founded on Christian morals. Like slavery, rape, and racism. His responce surprised me. He said what equated to, you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. We moved from that subject to war. this included WWII and Iraq. He often quoted Edmund Burke,"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." I said, doesn't the bible say to love your enemy( mat 5:43-44,Romans12:20-21,Romans10:13)? He replied that one has to balance the bible with the real world. That sometimes a christian has to go to war in spite of the words of Jesus.