Gospel vs. Religion

Pretty darn good comparison! (Click the chart to enlarge)

This is why every Christian (at times) walks around with a look of shocked stupefaction. The AMAZING power and gift of Grace!

This is also why we feel compelled to offer to those we love the greatest gift we ourselves have ever received.

Please, non-Christian friends, don't get po'd at us for doing so.

We are all free to reject, but it's necessary to be clear about what is being rejected: The gift of eternal love and eternal life.

You and I can't do a darn thing to earn those things, yet they are priceless and freely given.

You say you're not a fan of religion? We Christians agree!

Hat tip to Buzzard Blog

Were our Founders Christian?

By "Founders" I refer to those men who established (founded) the USA. America's founding docs are the Declaration and the Constitution. The majority of those who signed these docs (the Founders) were Christian (believers in Jesus as the Savior of mankind)... it's just a fact of history. No spin.

The first sentence of the D of I.... we're used to it, but it's a world-shaking document. Man is "created", he's individually valued, he's endowed with rights by God that nobody can take away, protecting those rights is the primary function of govt. This is NOT a secular document, and it's not any other religion but Christian.

Christians do NOT hold a copyright on these values. They resonate in every human heart, but Christianity made them part of our official civic life. Copyright implies something you want to protect and keep the benefits for yourself. Christians want to SHARE these values freely and abundantly!

The First Amendment is a Christian statement because it enshrines freedom of religion. This is the power and RADICALNESS of Christ...freedom to accept or reject. The Perfect God who gave us freedom, perfectly respects our freedom.

Man codified it into the greatest founding document of all time. Miraculous that men would actually rise above their base instincts to do so! This is not normal throughout human history....even in "Christian" nations. The King, Ruler, or Govt typically defined the religion of the nation.

By Christian Nation, I do NOT mean we adhere to the tenets of Christianity as institutionalized codes in our civic apparatus. This would NOT be Christian, as Christ separated the two.

Christianity is, rather, the water we swim in here in the West, so we don't even know we're wet. One doesn't have to profess the faith to have internalized the values. You and I likely grew up with and take for granted values such as the respect for individual rights and basic freedoms. Again, many don't profess Christianity yet hold these values dear, and assume they are universal.

It is not spiritual arrogance to trace these values back to Christianity's arrival in the Ancient World. It is just what happened. Individual life was not valued. Females were not equal. Slavery was normal. Class privilege was a fact of life. Legal codes varied depending on one's status.

Christ came along and turned all that upside down...and it was not anything else that did it. The Christians were considered a bizarre aberration from the norm. Christian values are now our norm, even as they are not personally professed as belief about salvation and the soul.

Organized religion has DEFINITELY caused a lot of bloodshed down through the centuries, with Christianity being a big part of that! Please don't forget that Christ came to destroy "organized religion", and to establish the New Covenant based on Grace...NOT religion!! Of course, man has corrupted that, but we keep being renewed by disobedience-birthed suffering. I have little use for organized religion. Please don't confuse the Gospel with "religion".

By "orthodox" I mean the basics of authentic Christianity: The Bible as divine revelation, Christ as the Son of God and Redeemer of mankind. I don't put my stock in some dogmatic man-created view of what God wants.

So lets bring this to life with a current issue facing America: Illegal Immigration.

We were all in some sense immigrants, yes. No argument there!

But... we came to a nation of laws, not of men. The immigration here worked because there was no one above the law. Everyone was equal before it (though of course corruption is part of the deal... damn humans!).

When we ignore laws and let law abiding people suffer and die, the blowback against the immigrants is heightened and more severe. People in Arizona, for example, are suffering and dying because laws on the books are not enforced. And then they are condemned for wanting to enforce the laws and thereby NOT suffer anymore! What??

Though we fall short in execution of the principles laid out in our founding documents, they still contain the promise of equality and freedom never before seen in the world. That promise has been unfolding, sporadically for sure... lots of dead bodies (native Americans, Blacks, Chinese, Irish, etc.) attest to that!

The "Promissory Note" that is our Constitution, however, is being cashed in. A lot of suffering has occurred at our hands as we ignored the promises, but that's not the fault of the promises...it's the human heart corrupting the good in promotion of the self.

More to come soon...

Robin of Berkeley ALWAYS makes me smile!

As an ex-liberal myself, I always enjoy reading Robin of Berkeley's insight into the liberal mind.

She's a self-described "recovering liberal" and psychotherapist living and working in Berkeley, California... home of the fossilized liberal, still alive and kicking, but beliefs cemented in stone for decades.

Robin snapped out of it a couple of years ago, and is very tuned into what made her "tick".

Here's a few gems from a recent column:

Conservatives can mistakenly assume that liberals think like they do, in a learned and rational way. This is an exercise in futility since liberalism is not based on logic.

To become a conservative, I've had to learn a whole new language, one based on reason. If conservatives want to understand the liberal mind, they should consider becoming bilingual, too.

Liberals live in a stratosphere centered on emotions and magical thinking. If you've tried to reason with your daughter and she looks at you blankly; if your neighbor changes the subject during your compelling arguments; if your cousin says this about Obama: "I don't know why. I just like the guy"...that's why.

And this is true about liberals, about their sources of information, and their fear-based analysis:

Further, when liberals take the time to tune in, they get their "information" from progressive propaganda. And they don't question the Left's authority.

That's the biggest problem -- not questioning the party line even though there are obvious gaps and gaffes. A big reason for this is fear.

I had a telling e-mail exchange with a liberal friend. When I wrote that I thought Obama was a Marxist, she responded, "Don't say that! You're scaring me!"

Aside from intellectual laziness, the Fear Factor makes otherwise intelligent liberals stupidly fall into line. Liberals can scare easily.

Here's the whole article: http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/liberals_are_from_mars_conserv.html


Make Robin a regular read!

Good ol' Civility...

We often hear Democrats and President Obama calling for "civility".

Too often, that call for civility is addressed at people who are dissenting... with civility. Still, they are dissenting, and their dissent is vigorous.

That vigorous dissent is perceived as "uncivil".

My take: "Grow up."

Put on your Big Boy Pants and engage the debate on the merits and facts of the issues. Opponents of Obama/Democrat agenda items don't oppose based on incivility. They oppose based on solid, mostly well-developed ideas that are grounded in principles rooted in our founding documents.

But of course, the "game" of politics is easier to play if you can just isolate your opposition, and demagogue them as uncivil and unworthy of engaged debate. Obama is a master of this, constantly depicting opponents' positions as based on wanting to "do nothing".

He's not only intellectually opposed to free market and republican (little "r") principles, he's surrounded himself with profane, obscene people.

Rahm Emmanuel comes to mind:

“I’m going to kill that f***ing dog,” and his yelling to a male staffer: “Take your f***ing tampon out and tell me what you have to say.”

Is it surprising?

No. This is who Obama is. For proof, just look at the people around him (Emmanuel, Axelrod, Gibbs). Small-minded, adversarial people who are tough as nails against POLITICAL threats (Tea Partiers, Palin), but weak-kneed against REAL ones (Iran, Islamic Terror).

Want more proof?

Look no further than the church Obama sat in for 20... 20! ... years.

A "church" led by a "pastor" who... is Racist and blames the world's problems on white people; hates Jews; screams "g@d d#*n America!" at the top of his lungs in church!

I can't think of anything LESS Presidential than sitting in that racist, America-hating church for 20 years.

Imagine ANY other politician sitting in a White Supremacist church, condemning Jews and America for 20 years. They wouldn't last 5 minutes on the campaign trail.

Why did Obama?

Media and the Cult of Personality, plain and simple.