Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Over our Heads, into our Hearts

What I am about to say you probably won't get. It will sound so simple and obvious. You may also think it's redundant, or even some kind of circular reasoning. The problem is I can't really explain it to you. It's something I realized a few months ago, and now believe to be an important spiritual truth. Some people may know this already either explicitly or sub-conciously, others suffer for their failure to accept this truth. So here it goes:

You won't be satisfied by God until you find Him satisfying.



Monday, August 31, 2009

Living in Babylon

Don't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good,
Propaganda if you ask me.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God,
that I can understand.

The problem is I'm living in Babylon,
but my home is in Jerusalem.

And here the Lord knows I got a million problems,
yet I heap on more.

And the difficulty of focus, is its narrowness,
cause I'm cursed with peripheral vision.

Jesus and every good general know,
divide and conquer and the house will fall.

For me caught inbetween, how long can my division hold up?
I know a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Never been on rough seas, but I've been tossed by waves,
its worse than a jerky driver on a bumpy road when you're car sick.

Christ incarnate was both human and Divine,
so He's twice the man I am.

I don't hate what's physical,
I just want to be more spiritual.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

PoP: Laborers in the Vineyard

***I delayed the posting of this essay because I had second thoughts on its usefulness, let me know if this PoP series is worth continuing***


TEXT: Matt. 20:1-16 & Liberty of Contract Clause
Article 1, Section 10: No State shall...pass any bill...or law impairing the obligations of contacts.

I bring up the previous clause because in this parable liberty of contract is the first implication I noticed. The owner promises the first set of workers a certain wage and they agree (a contract). A third party, the later workers, do not change the terms of the first contract, nor does the first contract affect the payment of the later workers: the later workers do not have a pro-rated payment in relation to the wages of the others. In the Constitution we see a somewhat similar principle in the aforementioned clause, but in this case the third party is the state, whereas it is other workers in the parable. The Supreme Court had followed this principle to the degree that the minimum wage law had been ruled unconstitutional. In the decision of Adkins v. Children's Hospital an attempt at minimum wage was ruled unconstitutional (in 1923). In the ruling, Justice George Sutherland, speaking for the majority says, "freedom of contract is... the general rule."

Second principle from the parable: Equal pay for Unequal work. Note we normally hear Equal pay for Equal work, but in this parable we see a slight variation. Of course, all the workers received the same pay that day, regardless of how many hours they worked. I think from that principle we could logically state the converse: Unequal work for Equal pay, but from these alone I don't know if we could derive: Unequal pay for equal work. We might discuss this later.

Third principle: Some jobs aren't 9-5. If my understanding of the Biblical timing is correct, then the first set of workers hired at the first hour had a 12 hour day. Mind you this is labor intensive agricultural work. Do you think this would be allowed in present day America, with the laws limiting number of hours worked? I'm beginning to see that the implications of this parable would give OSHA terrible fits.

Wow, I am not done yet, but I will post now anyways and finish later.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Parables on Politics

Starting a series where the political and socio-economic implications of parables are discussed. Don't fool yourself into thinking these ideas are the main thrust of Jesus' message. The spiritual implications (which I assume you have some familiarity) are of primary importance, but I want to see what other truths might be gleaned.

The title of this series will be Parables on Politics, and I'll use the abbreviation PoP for reference to which posts belong to this series. It is crucial that you the reader make comments. These are not to be stand alone posts but discussion catalysts. I don't know how many parables will be covered in all. Feel free to reference other sources like the Constitution (I do).

Thanks,



Sunday, July 19, 2009

A thousand tongues


O for a thousand tongues to sing,
that's just what we need.
O for a thousand tongues to sing,
adding to this chorus of empty praise.

O for one in one thousand, one just one,
Lord can I be that one who sings what it means.

O for a thousand tongues to sing,
O great, O well, O my God!

O uncomprehensible word of frustration- "O"
When rather it should be an exclamation.

O, the grunt and the groan of the Spirit,
When I am as dead as dead can be.

O God do you get glory from facades and hypocricy.

O for the one word command- Rejoice
O for emphasis, and again I say Rejoice.

O what a shame, that I am outdone,
that I am out sung by inanimate things.

O that I could praise, O that I would,
Lift my heart, lift my voice.


Monday, July 13, 2009

Un-American?

a.k.a God blesses whomever He chooses (not America)

(prompted by the 4th of July)

What do we as Christians mean when we say: we should be thankful that we live America? I'm afraid some intend that they would be ungrateful had they been born in a different country. What image does that portray to non-Americans? Could it not be perceived as an insult? We should be thankful no matter what country we live in.

Additionally, I question the idea that God blesses en masse i.e. God bless America. Wouldn't it more likely be on an individual basis? And His criteria remains largely unknown to us. Yes, He does bless in spiritual and physical avenues. But should we not have more concern for the spiritual blessings. Which does not seem to me the case for Americans.

There are some regards in which I would gladly claim to be un-American. There are several negative characteristics that I associate with being American: materialistic, surrounded by comfort and ease, and entertainment hungry. These and others seem to be a hindrance to growth as a Christian.

I also reject the notion that America was founded on Christian principles. There were SOME Christians among the founding fathers who instituted SOME Christian ideas. Since that was mingled with much humanist philosophy, we really don't have much to boast about. And we've digressed since then. Do we really think we could ride the coat tails from over two hundred years ago anyways?

Expected response: to humble Christians in America.