Seen on a church sign yesterday:

GOD LOVES YOU
AND HE APPROVES
THIS MESSAGE

Curious on your take on this, I was talking to Steve about it and we were curious on some outside input.  The recent events with the Prophet Muhammad being depicted in a cartoon, it is specifically in their teachings that you shall not depict any likeness of him.  However, in Deuteronomy 5:8, it says  "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth"

So really would this not translate to you should not ever have any depictions of Jesus?  In any way shape or form? 

Curious as to the take on this.

Because every Christmas, I hear the name "Santa" ten times as often as the name "Jesus".  It’s more convenient and comfortable to put the focus on a jolly old man who magically delivers gifts to the world, than on the fact that mankind is lost and in need of a savior.  But the pleasing lie of the Santa story does not change the hard reality that this world needs Jesus now more than ever.

Thought for the week from church yesterday: when we give (in tithe, or to charity, or just in general), God doesn’t consider the amount we give as much as the amount that’s left over.

One day, a man approached a rabbi to ask him a question.  "Rabbi," the man said, "when the Israelites were wandering in the desert for 40 years, why did God make them go out every single day to collect their food?  If God was going to supply them with manna from heaven, why didn’t he just give them a month’s supply, or a whole year’s supply, at one time?"

The rabbi responded with the following story: "There was once a rich king, and the king had one son.  And on one appointed day each year, the king would give his son enough money to last him the whole year.  It didn’t take many years of this before the king noticed that he only saw his son on one day each year."

At church on Sunday, the pastor was preaching about how just as soon as we get past one struggle in our lives, there is another one to meet us.  One of our first reactions is often, "God, why are you doing this to me?  Why am I faced with problem after problem in my life?"  Probably the most common response is that problems allow us to learn and grow, which is true, but in this sermon the pastor was emphasizing a different idea.

Like the rich king from the story, God wants to be close to us; he will provide for us, and he wants us to seek after him daily.  It’s so easy to be overly proud of our accomplishments and abilities; problems are reminders that we aren’t in total control of our lives -- God is, and we are dependent on him.

McLean Bible Church is a church in Washington DC that Kim used to attend while she lived there.  Every week they post the new sermon on their website so that anyone who wants to can listen to it, and Kim and I do that pretty often.  The senior pastor Lon Solomon is one of the best preachers I’ve heard.

Today we listened to his sermon The DaVinci Code Debunked and it was really interesting.  I haven’t read the book nor seen the movie, but I certainly haven’t escaped the constant hype surrounding them.  On The Factor the other night, Bill O’Reilly grilled the author, Dan Brown, and it’s clear that Brown has no evidence to back up his outrageous claims about Jesus and the Bible.  Pastor Lon’s sermon made that abundantly more clear.

Update: And language-nazi that I am, I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to stand too much of the book after having read The Dan Brown Code.

Sorry for the lull in activity around here lately; I’ve been really busy these past couple of weeks.  But here’s something really cool from the new Thrice album (Vheissu):

This hollow in my chest is filled with reasons not to sing, but I found one: I know we are not alone.  We feel an unseen love.  We are sons and heirs of grace.  We are children of a light that never dims, a love that never dies.

-- Thrice, "Music Box"

So it’s now the season of "Lent" in the Catholic church (not that that applies to me, because I’m not Catholic, I’m Christian), and everywhere you go, you can find restaurant signs that say "Lenten Special."  Because the Catholic church forbids eating meat on Fridays during Lent, and because some Catholics abstain from meat completely during Lent, the Lenten specials offered by restaurants are typically fish dishes.  You’ll even see fast food joints offering fish -- as if fast food weren’t gross enough, now you can have fast fish.

Well tonight I drove past a Taco Bell and saw this sign: "Lenten Special: 2 Bean Burritos."

So a buddy of  mine sends me this link.  I became very scared.  I don’t know what to think.  It seems the guy know’s of moshing but is unable to do it with people half his size.  Anthony, I need you to tell me if this is good or bad.  If I feel slight nausea should I turn it off or go with the flow?

If God wanted us to use the metric system, Jesus would have had only ten apostles.

During our hike last weekend, we were talking about the religion of Scientology.  I decided to look it up and see just what it’s about.  Here’s a statement from the official website:

Developed by L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path leading to a complete and certain understanding of one’s true spiritual nature and of one’s relationship with self, family, groups, mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the Supreme Being, or infinity.

Scientology addresses the spirit — not simply the body or mind — and believes that man is far more than a product of his environment, or his genes.

Scientology comprises a body of knowledge which extends from certain fundamental truths. Prime among these are:

Man is an immortal spiritual being.

His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime.

His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized.

Scientology further holds man to be basically good, and that his spiritual salvation depends upon himself and his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe.

Scientology is not a dogmatic religion in which one is asked to believe anything on faith. An individual discovers for himself that Scientology works by applying its principles and observing or experiencing the results.

The ultimate goal of Scientology is true spiritual enlightenment and freedom for the individual.

Sounds somewhat like a western version of Buddhism.  The fundamental flaw (aside from just being one of those touchy-feely happy religions) as I see it is their belief that man is basically good.  Not only is this the polar opposite of what I believe, but where I live (Earth) it’s abundantly clear that man is not basically good.

So now they’re trying (again) to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, because some atheist has nothing better to do than waste my tax money on another fraudulent court case.  You know what, the first amendment does not guarantee that atheists will never have to hear the word "God" spoken.  Our country was founded by Christians and there are references to God throughout our government.  What the first amendment DOES do is guarantee that people have freedom to choose whatever religion (including Atheism) they want to.

There is no law that forces a person to say the pledge, so this is a moot point anyway.  A kid could simply omit the "under God" part if he wants, or he could just not say the whole thing.  No one is forcing him to say it, and certainly no one is forcing him to believe anything.

If this guy doesn’t believe in God, fine, no problem.  But he is choosing to live in a country where the vast majority of people DO believe in God, a country that was founded on Christian principles by Christian people, a country whose leaders have been predominantly Christian for hundreds of years.  If he’s going to throw a hissy-fit anytime he hears the word God then he picked the wrong country to live in.  His poor judgement is not my problem so I shouldn’t be paying for it.