*Fin + Lewis = Awesome

The other day I was returning from a workout while listening to C.S. Lewis' book: Mere Christianity. The chapter was The Reality of the Law. As I drove home, I was unprepared for the emotional experience that occurs when God drops some revelatory truth on you. In other words, I teared up as I began to realize some things. Now, the chapter's words by themselves did not cause my tears to well up; rather, it was a combination of the concepts presented in the book and the song that followed. You see, my iphone plays the audio files randomly and after selecting a single chapter of Mere Christianity it moved onto the song *Fin by Anberlin. If you are unfamiliar with the song and the lyrics in it, only one word describes it: epic.

Here is a youtube video with the song and lyrics.


The song's message is a series of verses that describe the author's experiences with Christianity. He struggles with God because of the suffering, lying and manipulation perpetrated by Christians. Why does this strike me so strongly? Well, in Mere Christianity, Lewis makes the statement that we look at Christians to find Christ instead of going directly to the source. In other words, we always blame Jesus Christ for the behavior of His followers because we expect them to be like Him. Normally, I do not have a problem with this, but we often take it too far in that we do not acknowledge they are all imperfect people following a perfect being. What is normal is the struggle. What is abnormal is cohesiveness. What I mean by this is that we should expect to see Christians failing consistently the standard that is perfection (Christ), but what separates them from the non-believer is that they are still striving for perfection despite the mistakes and shortcomings. And it is there, in the midst of the pain that we find forgiveness and grace. Christianity and salvation through Jesus is for the weak and broken. Bandages exist for the cut and damaged. Life vests do not save those who are not drowning. Similarly, salvation is for those who need saving.

The author of the lyrics in *Fin is communicating his story of unrealistic expectations of others, but in the end he rediscovers his faith in Jesus. This is evident with his frail and humble words describing his exposure and weaknesses.

"And then take full weight of me
Guard my dreams, figure this out,
It's me on my own. Helpless, hurting, hell.
Will you stay strong as you promised?
Cause I'm stranded and bare.
Meanness is washed up and all that I have
is God. Take this and all"

I get the impression that the reality of christianity has finally hit the lead singer of the Anberlin. It is about a direct relationship with the creator and to judge Him based upon the actions of an imperfect human is about as valuable as having a 3 year old draw the intricate details of the morning sun cresting over the snow capped mountains of Lake Tahoe. The child's picture contains it's own type of beauty in a way, but to compare the depths of colors, details, and magnificence to the being there...well, the source is always better than the drawing of a 3 year old.

Cruel Logic

I love this video. Ideas have consequences.

Why do governments exist?

A friend recently began a discussion on this topic with me and I thought others might benefit from my response. I did not tell my friend that I would be posting my response on my blog, so to protect my friend's privacy I will not include the original question.

What is God's purpose for government?

It was his idea, so how did He design it to work? What was His purpose behind creating the concept of government? Essentially, I am asking what is the role of government from a Christian point of view?

Well, I also believe in what Romans 13 teaches and I believe that we can find God's position on the matter from that text and a few others. Please read: 1 Kings 21, Daniel 4, and 1 Samuel 8 because I will be referencing them as well.

In Romans 13 we read that God says He establishes all governments and to rebel against them is to rebel against God. Initially, it is easy to see why many Christians feel that to oppose a sitting leader is wrong. However, I do not believe that this is the proper interpretation of the text. If it were, than all women would need to submit to their abusive husbands regardless of their abuse of authority as the head of the family. No, we know that God is not expecting a woman to turn the cheek and take another beating because she is to "submit" to authority. The same is true for the governments that God has established.

If you read 12:19 in Romans it begins to talk about vengeance and taking the authority of wrath into your own hands. Instead, Paul says that we are to "repay evil for good" and to submit to the governing authority because this authority is established by God. As you continue to read it now makes sense when Paul writes "he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves" (13:2). Paul is telling us that we are to leave room for God's wrath (12:19) because He provides it through a government that has a purpose for "punishing evil" (13:4).

Verse 4 is fascinating because we see the explicit purpose of governments: "To condone good and punish evil." Governments should condone (passive) good and punish (active) evil. Meaning, governments bear the sword (God's wrath) as a servant to permit Godly behaviors and punish persons who commit evil acts. Simply put, God's desire of government is a limited one.

Are there other scriptural texts to support a limited government and why should it be limited in nature?

Simply put, gGovernments are one of many social spheres that God has created an order to. Other social spheres are: the family, the church, and the economic. All of these social spheres are based upon the model of the trinity, his very nature. In the government sphere we have: God, the government, and the people. God creates the government and the people and sits the citizens underneath the authority of the government. However, the governing entity is subject to God and the people have direct access to the Lord should the government abuse its power. This is how it should work. Now, let's look at some scriptural support.

Daniel 4 lays out a story of Nebuchadnezzar and his dream. As you progress down chapter 4 we get to the portion in verse 30, which the king says, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" God immediately punishes King Nebuchadnezzar for his arrogance until he repents (4:34). The lesson of course being that God establishes all authorities and no man should ever boast for himself what God has done for him.

In 1 Kings 21 we read about King Ahab and Naboth's vineyard. The story tells us that Jezebel murdered Naboth because Ahab whined about wanting his vineyard. King Ahab had no right to even buy the vineyard in the Lord's eyes, but he wanted it anyway. In the end, he stole a murdered man's land and used his governmental authority to do it. God then sends Elijah to proclaim His punishment for the sin he committed and causing the nation to sin (21:22).

2 Chronicles 26 tells us the story of King Uzziah and how he abused his authority. He thought that his Kingly authority allowed him to perform the duties of a priest. That sphere is independent from the governmental sphere and Uzziah overstepped his bounds. God gave him leprosy for it.

These last two paragraphs establish that God expects governments, who bear the sword (Romans 13:4), are expected to act within their authorities only. And when they do not, He punishes them for it. Sometimes He punishes them directly, or sometimes He raises up other men to depose them. Either way, God remains sovereign.

The last scripture is 1 Samuel 8. In this section we read about the sinful nature of man that does not trust God as a leader. The sin wasn't because they asked Samuel to replace his sons; rather, it was because they wanted a system of government that resembled the other nations (8:5). This displeased the Lord because their motive was really rejecting Him as king. So, the Lord graciously warns them about what will come from a government in which all governmental authority resides with one man. This section is also fascinating:(11) He will draft an army, (12-13) forced civil service and labor, (14-17) taxes and redistribution of wealth, and (18) slavery.

I don't know if you noticed in verses 14-17 state he will take your "best" and "a tenth" when he taxes you. This is tithing language. The king/government will steal from God what is rightfully His and you will be unable to fulfill your obligations to me. Think about your paychecks when you worked in your past jobs. Who took the first fruits? It grieves me that I am unable to give God my first fruits when I work for another company. The only modern solution today is to repeal the current tax system or become self-employed so that you can give to God first before the government takes its taxes. Now, I'm not opposed to all taxation because we need it to pay for the services that "condone good and punish evil." However, the first step to change is awareness of the problem. We have a major problem in our nation. We are a socialist nation hiding behind a mostly capitalistic economy. We have to come to terms with that before and permanent change can be effected. Christians, most of all, need to understand the purpose of government as God intended.

So, in the end, how do I reconcile my positions against Obama, the left, and democrats? I believe it is my duty as a citizen, a Christian and a human being to legally oppose all governments that function contrary to scriptural parameters as long as the government does not require me to violate scripture. This does not give me the right to call the man (Obama) an absolute moron and idiot. I sometimes stumble in this. However, I don't believe him to be either, especially since he has proved his intelligence and charisma as a lawyer and politician. Nevertheless, I do believe he is a deceiver, or perhaps blind. He should know better because he possesses the ability to reason and all of human history points to the abuse of governmental powers and the atrocities they bring. Why on earth would he and others like him try and gather more power in a centralized government? Simply put, because it is power.

The gospel teaches us that every person has a sinful desire to oppose God in everything (Galations 5:17). The government was God's design. It was His idea. Let's follow His plan.

I had an interesting day yesterday

Yesterday was Vacaville's Merriment on Main
and I had a pretty good time serving up some hot chocolate (with marshmellows) to the public. Our church does it every year, amongst many other organizations that offer free snacks and drinks during the tree lighting. It's a fun time of meeting new people, serving the community and reconnecting with old acquaintances.

Anyhow, why am I writing about this little memory in a blog where I normally keep the topics to economics, politics and religion? Well, to be honest, the blogging became more of an obligation towards the end of summer. I did it because I made a goal of 3 blogs a week for 2009. The first quarter was fun and exciting as most new things are. However, somewhere during the summertime I lost my desire to write about things I am passionate about and it became a burden.

Additionally, I started this blog to express my thoughts about life and many of my friends starting commenting about how they enjoyed the banters, sarcasm and the like. I felt like I was contributing to my little portion of the world. It was fun and I was stirring up so much conversation about topics I love.

I think things started to change when I found myself pissing off people who normally don't talk to me. It was a little weird at first to hear an old high school acquaintance on Facebook come out of the abyss to rant on a post. I thought, well, at least I know them a little better than I did before. Who cares that the only reason I know them better now was because they felt they had to correct me on a position they knew nothing about in the first place. Se la vi right?

Then, all of a sudden, I think it became about drawing people out of the private places they hide their political affiliations and religious bigotry to find out what they really did believe. I am convinced that this is where I may have gone wrong. You see, I became burnt out because I began to believe the purpose of my writing was to stimulate debate and discussion. I realize now that this is only a byproduct of my writing. Add to this that I believed my friends were enjoying my writing and finding it of value, but I had not heard anyone comment or even refute some of what I wrote during the summer. We all enjoy the feedback concerning the things we invest ourselves in.

Recently, I had two friends I haven't seen in a long while tell me they appreciated what I wrote and asked me if I was still blogging. Although my face never showed it, I was deeply touched that in the little time we spoke on Parker Street they asked me about the very writing I abandoned because I thought no one was reading it and I was writing for the wrong reasons. Then it dawned on me...Go back to the basics of doing it because you enjoy it. Address the controversial because that is who you are.

I stir the pot not because that is who I am. I don't need to worry about making sure that I do it. I just need to write my thoughts and let the chips fall as they may. All you clean freaks will understand this: Have you ever walked into a room that was not yours and picked up an article of clothing to place it neatly in an appropriate place? Or maybe leveled that friend's picture frame because it was off even though no one seemed to notice? You like order and cleanliness; so much so, that you do it naturally everywhere you go.

We should all find out what we love and get good at it. How can I get better at communicating how I feel about life if I don't do it? Likewise, you should do the same. Find that thing that makes you tick and do it. And not just do it, but do it well