To those of us that Need it this day.

"The gift of Jesus Christ is hope, not happiness." -- Vox Day

Or as I once told my brother: "Jesus promises paradise AFTER we die. Not while we're here."

Hold your loved ones close and let them know they are loved. You just never know.

I Wish This Didn't Ring So True...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance128.html

I think that we desire war. We want war to be permissible without sacrificing all the values we hold most dear. As a result, we endeavor to manipulate and twist those values and moral principles to accommodate that desire rather than recognize war as the moral offense it is. ~ Robert Brimlow

More thoughts on Christian responses to war and violence. Like I said, I wish this didn't ring true to me. But it does.

More stuff to weigh heavily upon my thoughts, I guess. That pile's getting awfully large.

Sheesh... It AIN'T The Crusades, People!

Folks over at Vox's blog like to take hardline stances on some things. I know that I am no Biblical scholar. But reading through the Gospels it would seem to me that Jesus isn't going to be picking on little things here and there.

And due to misinterpretations and mistranslations and bad and/or outright EVIL preachers or elders... JC knows that there is going to be a lot very bad teachings out in our fallen world - be it intentionally or not.

So if I had to guess, he's going to give us a break on the smaller stuff and focus on the bigger (but still VERY hard) stuff... like "Love God with all your heart." Oh and: "These 15... I mean 10! Commandments!"

You know, those little commandments...

Techniques For LISTENING To Jesus?

I just noticed I usually use the term "talk to" instead of "talk with" or "listen to" when referring to my interactions with God and Jesus.

As usually is the case, I seem to be focusing on myself and my problems or prayer requests instead of trying to hear something.

Just talking to Him does help me sort out some thoughts and such. But it seems insufficient and even a little disrespectful in some way I cannot describe.

Even though I believe He's out there, I actively want to deal with my problems myself. I have some advising me to "put it all in God's hands and let him deal with it". First: that seems like a cop-out to me. I feel the heavy-lifting should be MINE since I put myself in this position.

Second: I know some folks have bigger problems than mine that don't work out even with a whole community praying for them. So it seems a little foolish to try and just duck out the hard work of fixing my life.

Ideas or suggestions?

Jesus As A Kid?

I posted this over on Vox's as a quick joke:

Quick Aside: can you imagine how easy Mary & Joseph had it being Jesus' parents?
No "I didn't do it", no snuck cookies, no backtalk...


An emailer that read my comment over on Blox's Vog (sic) said:

"Imagine being his brother. 'Why can't you be more like Jesus?'"

Yeah, if it was an older brother, JC might've ended up on a cross a few years too early!

"Well, Mom Mary, sibling rivalry's a KILLER!"

I am so going to hell... and Fallon's driving the bus!

Hell MUST Be Freezing Over...

I said something nice about Shane. I think that's like four more times I can do that before JC comes back.