Let none of us be saved. Not one.
Apr. 11th, 2007 12:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
uberreinigerhttp://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/14021621/teenage_holy_war/1
Most of you (and most people who've already posted it on livejournal,) will sneer at this and shake your head in sorrow, bewliderment, and anger. For me... well, what can I say? I spent my teen years going to these kind of things. I'm not the same person I was then. I don't view God the way most of Christian America views Him. But things like this... I remember and I know what the kids there are going through.
I'd like to add this statement. Rolling Stone loves to look down its nose whenever it talks about anything relating to Christianity or any thing relating to morality. As a magazine they're entertaining, but they should never be mistaken for objective journalism.
As a Christian I do believe the world is a place full of evil. And I do believe that if there are things in your life that are having a negative effect on you, you should give them up. Those are messages that have always been central to Christianity and that people don't like to hear. The man running the event in the article might be a zealot with delusions of demagoguery, but in that if nothing else, I feel he is correct. His definition of a Christian and some of his statistics are another matter...
What I don't believe is right is for people to decide they are sinning when they enjoy A&W root beer just because somebody on a stage told them that everything outside the boundaries they establish as being safe is bad and evil. If God wants you to get something out of your life, He'll get it out. And He doesn't need a headbanging light show to do it. It's too easy to mistake a perceived authority as the voice of God and there are too many people too eager to do it.
I had a point I was going to make but I'm tired and my train of thought is wandering. A few years ago I felt it I was following God's wishes when I gave up L5R for while due to the fact that I couldn't control my temper when I lost a game. I took a long step back and now I enjoy the game without being an obnoxious ass. I just saw the effect on my own life and relationships and did what I felt the right or godly thing to do would be. It's that easy. That's all you have to do. And that's why people who arbitrarily give up things on another's say-so are so often bitterly disappointed in the results they achieve.
Most of you (and most people who've already posted it on livejournal,) will sneer at this and shake your head in sorrow, bewliderment, and anger. For me... well, what can I say? I spent my teen years going to these kind of things. I'm not the same person I was then. I don't view God the way most of Christian America views Him. But things like this... I remember and I know what the kids there are going through.
I'd like to add this statement. Rolling Stone loves to look down its nose whenever it talks about anything relating to Christianity or any thing relating to morality. As a magazine they're entertaining, but they should never be mistaken for objective journalism.
As a Christian I do believe the world is a place full of evil. And I do believe that if there are things in your life that are having a negative effect on you, you should give them up. Those are messages that have always been central to Christianity and that people don't like to hear. The man running the event in the article might be a zealot with delusions of demagoguery, but in that if nothing else, I feel he is correct. His definition of a Christian and some of his statistics are another matter...
What I don't believe is right is for people to decide they are sinning when they enjoy A&W root beer just because somebody on a stage told them that everything outside the boundaries they establish as being safe is bad and evil. If God wants you to get something out of your life, He'll get it out. And He doesn't need a headbanging light show to do it. It's too easy to mistake a perceived authority as the voice of God and there are too many people too eager to do it.
I had a point I was going to make but I'm tired and my train of thought is wandering. A few years ago I felt it I was following God's wishes when I gave up L5R for while due to the fact that I couldn't control my temper when I lost a game. I took a long step back and now I enjoy the game without being an obnoxious ass. I just saw the effect on my own life and relationships and did what I felt the right or godly thing to do would be. It's that easy. That's all you have to do. And that's why people who arbitrarily give up things on another's say-so are so often bitterly disappointed in the results they achieve.
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-11 03:32 pm (UTC)The Bible is clear about who the enemy is and he's not one we can see. We see him IN behavior, and in man's contempt for God and the truth of God. The enemy is the one who is the "accuser of the bretheren" and who appears as an "angel of light".
I also see Christians trying to convince the world that "Hey! We're cool too!" as a gimmick. Honestly, we've done far too much of that pandering and it has made much of Christianity a parody of itself.
The world will ALWAYS hate us. The world hated Christ first. This will NEVER change. Christ's righteousness magnifies and exposes our UNrighteousness, and that makes us uncomfortable. After all, in all of our arrogance and pride we exclaim "It's myyyyyy life and myyyyyy choice!". God gave us this life, this ONE life, and we DO have a choice, many choices in fact.
But God doesn't want us to dress Him up to make Him more easily digestable for the world. It takes us coming to the end of ourselves to surrender to Him. No man seeks after God. God came down to us, to seek the lost and draw them near to Him in reconciliation.
Many people misinterpret what *I* do as re-packaging God or think that I do it as some kind of disengenuous act to more or less "trick" people into getting saved. But you, and any of my other friends know that I actually DO love the kind of music I play. I listen to many non-Christian bands because I appreciate their excellent musicianship and/or songwriting abilities. Abilities that I believe God gave them. Yeah, it sucks that they don't use it to honor Him and that they spew lies and filth within their lyrics, but hey...Slayer, CoF, and Strapping Young Lad ROCK, OK? If I wasn't a musician, I'd listen to these bands, I don't do it to take music and fashion pointers and then try and copy them to lead people to Christ...I let the Holy Spirit do the leading and if He wants to use me as a vessel to reach them, then I am honored and willing to do that.
I've had personal contact with many un-saved people doing what I do. You know what usually surprises them the most? That I like many of the same things they do. That I don't condemn them off-the-cuff and look down my nose at them. Many of them are used to being told they're going to hell and that they need to cut their hair and burn their Megadeth posters and such. I just tell them that Jesus asks us to come as we are. All our baggage, all our hang-ups and stains, and just follow Him. He will prune the branches to help us grow and He will sanctify us. A Christian life is a lifelong journey, I know *I* haven't "arrived" yet. But He is with me, and His grace & mercy are new every morning.
Too bad the Rolling Stone writer doesn't know Jesus. He'd understand why we ARE called to battle and why we are not to remain silent and let the enemy run rampant. Yeah, we shouldn't hinge our lifestyles on gimmick and parody, but we should arm ourselves with truth and never back down. Christ never asked us to do that. In fact, He commanded just the opposite. (Mark 16:14-20)