Now I don't want to get off on a rant here...

Family Based Evangelism

Last night Amy & I had a wonderful dinner at my parent’s house. What made it wonderful was not the Prime Rib, which was delicious or the peanut butter cookies, which were soooo yummy. But it was my mother and father engaging us in conversation about faith that I didn’t start. At least not technically!

I saw a book on the floor which I figured my father was reading and some papers next to it that made it look like he was taking a class. In fact he is taking a class at the Catholic Church he has been attending. So I asked him about the class and what they were talking about and if he was enjoying it.

This led to discussion on original sin, eschatology, the resurrection and grace. This was wonderful because I grew up in a household where faith was not an integral part of our lives and I have been concerned about my parent’s salvation since coming to Christ myself.

These conversations in the past would end in my father and me arguing, with even him once telling me that we were never to talk about religion again in his house. My mom would disappear somewhere wishing not to be included in the conversation and perhaps seeking cover from flying debris (metaphorically speaking).

Not this time though. We’ve been having some good conversations lately about faith and what it means to be a Christian, but this time my mom engaged us in the conversation as well. She didn’t flee the room, she didn’t object, she didn’t argue. She listened and she questioned.

The main point I was trying to convey to my mom that intrigued and bewildered her a bit was the principle of transformation or imputed righteousness.

2 Corinthians 5: 20-21
“We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Though we are not righteous, we are treated as such and that is because even though Christ is not sin he was treated as such on our behalf. To live a life for Christ is to be thankful for that gift, and to use that gift to exemplify Christ in your character is to be His ambassador. This can not happen until your heart has been transformed, and once it has God will use you to transform others.

Amy and I were very encouraged last night as we saw the Spirit using us to help transform my parents. We hope this process will continue and pray dearly for their salvation to come.

Why doesn't this bother me?

Who me?

Great Googly Moogly!

Liberal Principles II

“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” C.S. Lewis

Liberal Principles I
1. A god has no control nor exerts any influence in the world today, whether he created the world or not
2. War is never the answer
3. Don’t trust your government
4. Government should play a limited role in the enforcement of morality, but a major role in the enforcement financial equality
5. Morality is relative to the personal choice of the individual and there should always be a safety net against the consequences of those personal choices

Picking back up where I left off a couple weeks ago, I wanted to go a bit further with the first liberal principle that I have observed. With any set of underlying principles there are those that fit neatly into that belief, those that don’t and those that think they don’t but do.

Liberal Principle #1 A god has no control nor exerts any influence in the world today, whether he created the world or not.

Perhaps this sentence wasn’t as clear as I hoped it would be, but I was trying to keep it to one sentence. The ideas that I was trying to capture with this principle was that a liberals answer to questions of faith either

a) deny the existence of God or gods altogether AND/OR
b) deny the plan & purpose behind creation AND/OR
c) deny the ongoing relationship between the creator and the created

Now seeing as how these three answers to the question of faith are in complete opposition with Judeo/Christian beliefs and those of other theistic worldviews; it is difficult to believe that someone with a liberal bend would be able to submit to a higher power. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible for liberals to be religious.

The common place usage of the term spiritual now does not mean religious. There are these new age, self-actualized versions of secular humanism that try to lay claim to spirituality and thus religion. However, the connection here between those two terms is loose at best and devoid of truth when it comes to the clear connection between the Spirit and God of the Bible.

The problem lays in the liberal bend towards removing God from public life and government altogether. You could no sooner completely remove water from all the earth than remove the truth of the creator from his very creation. There is an element of general revelation that God reveals his existence in all of creation, leaving his fingerprint on all that he touches.

This would explain how some see elements of God, yet are unsaved. When this first liberal principle is adhered to, though you may see these elements and recognize them, you always fall back to that last option of denying the ongoing relationship with God and his people. This is the trap that some “religious” liberals fall into.

They speak of God’s love; they speak of Jesus ministering to the poor and the downtrodden. These are elements of God’s truths that no one should ignore, but they are not the only truth that God has laid out. There is grace and there is law. When you reveal yourself to be focused on one over the other rather than maintaining a balance that is needed to have an ongoing relationship with God, you reveal yourself to be lacking a relationship with God at all. And thus, either intentionally or unintentionally bear witness to the false truth that God does not continually interact with his creation.

This foundational worldview affects the other four principles I have laid out in my original post. It clearly shades my view and opposition to the other four principles. So why would this principle or worldview be a necessary cog in our world and in our government? The apostle Paul has some words to help us understand this.

1 Corinthians 2: 12 – 15 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

We see that these “natural men” exist alongside the “spiritual men” and both bring glory to God. The light is seen in the darkness of the world and without the darkness we would see no light. By seeing no light I mean, we would not know the true value and beauty of light unless set against the darkness.

Am I saying that light is good and dark is bad? Yes. Am I saying that Christian is light and liberal is dark? Certainly from my perspective and from a Biblical worldview that is true. Of course if you don’t share that worldview you may choose to see it the other way around. That doesn’t deny the truth of the principles, only changes one’s perspective and how they view it.

I suggest we embrace our differences, our common ground and the opportunity for each to change, but not at the peril of truth.

Agenda.....huh?

Seeking a rallying cry, louder voices
Democrats want to do better at conveying the party's message. Which is what exactly?

Yes, the Democrats have chosen a new leader. Yes, they are officially all about looking ahead, not dwelling on defeat. And yes, they have vowed to take back the White House in 2008. But it's still pretty much of a downer to be a Democrat these days.

I have refrained from commenting on the election of Howard Dean to the DNC chair. I am neither over-confident he will take the party in a direction that it doesn’t need to go nor am I afraid he will bring them back to greatness and power. It is amusing that he and other Democrats feel that there is nothing wrong with their policies and ideas, and that they just need to learn to express them better.

Apparently there are some Democrats that realize there is more to it than just wrapping your message of doom and gloom in a pretty bow and saying, “Buy this or Bush will take over the world!” They want to know what liberalism stands for or what is their agenda? Watching this develop is also amusing and I have thought about submitting my Liberal Principles I to their agenda seekers.

The Liberal Agenda by The Readers of The American Prospect
We’re taking suggestions: What does liberalism stand for?

Well, we all know the basic outline of conservatism's elevator pitch: "We believe in freedom and liberty, and we're for low taxes, less government, traditional values, and a strong national defense." But what is liberalism's? We at the Prospect have, among us, attended or sat on about eleventy hundred panels since the election at which someone invariably says something like the following: "We know what conservatives stand for. But what do we stand for?" No one in Washington seems to know. So we turn to you. Give us liberalism's elevator pitch.

Here are some juicy entries:
• We're for a government that watches out for you, respects you and defends your freedoms and liberties, including freedoms from poverty, prejudice, fear, and want. --J.R., Lawrence, KS

• Equality for all, privilege for none. --M.O.

Some of them are rather good (not the ones above), even if they don’t realize they are describing conservatism and not liberalism. Unfortunately, many of them are still obviously reactionary to things they believe that Conservatives are against and thus Liberals can be for. This is still not an identity. As the President so eloquently said during the debates, “A litany of complaints is not a policy.” A winner will be very difficult to choose.

NIV with a Ribbon Bookmark

For the love of God and all that is holy you must click on the link below to view this! Or even if your agnostic self is just looking to laugh your head off, you must watch "Baby Got Book"!

And the Floppy goes to...

I have decided to reward my colleagues that fix their own computer problems, without creating others with this:

The Horror of Blogging

Do you have a fear of blogging? Be it publishing entries on your own blog or commenting on others.

Now I don’t want to get off on a rant here…

But I am one that enjoys disagreement, debate, civil discourse and often times this is an invigorating thing. My father is very similar and one could argue if one were so inclined, that our relationship is based on civil discourse. Because of this I find that often times I enjoy engaging in conversations on controversial topics. I have mentioned this before regarding the old adage of the two topics you are never supposed to talk with people about; religion & politics.

Of course these are my two favorite subjects to engage others in because of the passion they exhibit when presenting their points of view. They are topics that can illicit debate that shakes the very foundation of what truth is and what it isn’t.

I am sure there are times that I should be choosing my words more wisely than I do. There are times when I just get diarrhea of the mouth and words, phrases, sentences and whole paragraphs flow from my lips or fingers as it were that should never have seen the light of day. That’s part of my personality, just like my father. My mother has learned that she is not responsible for what my father says and has tried to not be embarrassed by him. I don’t want my wife to have to feel that way because in many respects I do represent her to the world.

There are times to speak up and reveal or affirm a truth that is being attacked. There are issues that are near and dear to everyone’s heart that should not be suppressed. But there should be a use of caution when expressing these views. It is a rather difficult task to balance this.

So I say, don’t be afraid. Be bold but also be humble. And that is the rub. That is the precarious walk along that ever narrowing balance beam of the free expression of thought. When one over takes the other, no matter the result, you lose.

Of course that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Do you have a fear of blogging? Why?

A Merry Married Valentine’s Day

This being our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple, I wanted it to be a special one. The only problem was living up to dating V-day’s of the past. It’s easy to come up with ideas when you aren’t with someone all the time, but want to be so you can think of all sorts of creative ways to express your love. Then when you are able to be together all the time, it becomes a bit more challenging because your free time spent pining away for one another is taken up by daily expressions of love.

So that was my challenge for this year to get over that hurdle and still give my love the special V-day I wanted her to have. It began two weeks ago when I picked out the bouquet I wanted to send my wife, something non-clichéd so I went with blue iris and red royal lilies. I received a phone call mid-morning thanking me for the beautiful flowers and being reminded how much my wife loves tulips. I continued conversation wracking my brain trying to remember if I sent tulips because that didn’t sound right. Finally I spoke up and said I don’t think that’s the bouquet I ordered you. She should be receiving the right one this afternoon free of charge!

Jump to dinner time and we are in the car driving to the restaurant. Of course my wife is blindfolded because I wanted to surprise her with where we were going. One of her favorite restaurants and I believe a non-traditional V-day spot, The Rainforest Café. We had a great meal there enjoying the dimly lit atmosphere with the occasional rain shower!

Next up was a quiet Blockbuster night watching The Notebook. It was perhaps one of the saddest and most romantic movies I have seen. This sent Amy straight into my arms which is of course is right where I wanted her. Seeing a movie like that makes you appreciate the time you have now to enjoy your loved ones and look ahead to a time of growing old together. I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone more perfect and more beautiful than my Amy Joy.

May you recognize love when you see it, admit it to one another when you feel it, enjoy it together when you experience it, be patient and have faith when you can’t see it and always put Christ in the center of it.

Happy V-Day!

Ha Ha

Judge Dismisses Sun Suit Against Ehrlich
U.S. District Court Judge William Quarles said in his order he was dismissing the case filed by The Sun because The Sun was seeking more access to government officials than that accorded a private citizen. The judge wrote, "The Sun seeks the declaration of a constitutional right that neither the Supreme Court nor the Fourth Circuit has recognized."

That's all I really wanted to say about that.

Pro Life but to what end?

In the same vein as Maphet’s “Relationally-driven theology”, at least in my own muddled brain, I’ve been pondering the relationship between abortion and predestination. I have been questioning the connection of my theology to its real world application and defending it against opposition.

Recently abortion has been a rather hot topic in my 20-something small group Bible study as we are on a journey through the 10 Commandments. The controversy has not been about the morality of legal abortions as imposed by the Supreme Court, but about the unintended consequences of using birth control pills. Does using the pill cause unintended abortions as a last resort to keep the fertilized egg from implanting? I have heard arguments supporting both sides of this disagreement.

As one can imagine, an issue like this in a 20-something group of young married couples in different stages of matrimonial bliss may cause a bit of an uproar. Causing many an uneasiness with the idea that something they believe is wrong to the core would be perpetrated by them in a most unintended of ways. Family planning.

My intent here is not to make the argument for either conclusion, as I have not adequately reviewed the resources at my limited disposal. I simply wanted to lay some of the ground work for my ponderings, so we understand just how convoluted my thought process is!

The main gist of the question that is beckoning an answer from my heart here is this. If one has a reformed view of theology, in this case regarding original sin and predestination. Basically this means that all humans are affected by the fall of man and thus have the stain of sin upon their hearts which is where the natural bend of the heart is –none are born innocent; original sin, and God’s sovereignty over the world has called a people His very own before the very foundations of this world – all Christians that were ever going to be Christians were known before day 1 of creation; predestination. If those truths are to be held self-evident by such a person as me, then one would believe that a child being born or unborn would already have their final destination in eternity picked out for them.

If they are called out to be one of God’s chosen people and are aborted before they have an opportunity to live life in this fallen world, and we live to look eternally at our chance to be with our creator. What is the argument to the pro-choice advocate against sending this person to the joyousness of being in the very presence of their King?

Here is a living testimony as to why the choice of life is so vital by a young woman named Jessica Farrell. But still I ponder these things to better breakdown a pro-choice argument with an improved understanding of the real world application of my theology.

The Rhode to White Marsh

Last night my wife and I spent a nice relaxing evening at Barnes & Noble getting some coffee and book browsing. Well at least I was book browsing. Amy likes to look at decorating magazines because she is in a home improvement zone like I have never seen before. Maybe they are decorating books too, but they are all on the same subject so I don’t deem that browsing.

As we went to sit down with some coffee and a $1.95 cupcake (I was so happy it was under 2 bucks), Amy pulled her chair out and didn’t notice the guy walking behind her. It was no big deal as he just slide out of the way and sat down with his wife at an adjacent table.

I leaned over to Amy and whispered, “You just pulled your chair out into Arthur Rhodes!”
“Who’s that?”
“He was a pitcher for the Orioles in the mid 90’s.”
“Oh really!? Does he still play?”
“I’m pretty sure”

I used to run into him at Della’s a lot. If I remember correctly he lives in Perry Hall somewhere. My dad once ran into him at McDonald’s when he was still on the O’s and explained to him exactly what he was doing wrong; typical of my father. I prefer the “respect their privacy” approach and don’t usually say anything.

That didn’t stop us from glancing over at them every 5 minutes to see if they were still there. We are sooo smooth! Good thing we don’t live near Hollywood.

Surival and Success of Liberty

Pulling out of the parking lot and onto the street today, my dad closely following the car in front of him with their flashers on too, I heard my mom choke up and say, “Aww…they’re holding a flag for him.” As we turned onto the street I could see the lines of people standing on the sidewalk. They were holding signs and flags, while others saluted. They were holding their children tightly as they fought back tears. One family after another stood watching us, as we drove down the road falling into our formation.

What compels total strangers to show respect, to show love and to show admiration like that? What causes people to cry at times like this? The same thing that was making my mom, my dad, my wife and me tear up. It is the love for this great country and the great admiration for those that fight to defend our freedoms.

The police escorted the entire funeral processional of about 60 cars from Dundalk to Parkville. Traffic was stopped at every light and even 695 was blocked off to help us make our way to the cemetery. This wasn’t just another funeral. It was the remembrance of a United States Marine, a man who died defending our country and liberating another.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Michael L. Starr Jr. wrote in an email to his mother before he died saying, “I'm a huge part of American history now.” He understood his sacrifice and he understood what a difference he was making in the victory for freedom.

This echoes the story President Bush related in his State of the Union address. A mother clutches her son before he goes off to Iraq and says, “I just want to hold you and protect you like I did when you were a little boy.” The man before her says, “I know mom, but you have to let me go to protect you now.” The brave men and women in our armed services know what they are fighting for and know who they are fighting for. This is something that is easily forgotten, but must be remembered and must be respected.

Like it or not

Whether you like it or not, it is now official, "[Chicago] sends [Sammy] Sosa and his 574 homers to Baltimore for Jerry Hairston and two minor leaguers, infielder Mike Fontenot and pitcher Dave Crouthers. [He] is expected to play right field with Jay Gibbons moving to first base and Palmeiro becoming the primary designated hitter. "

I am very disappointed to see Jerry Hairston leave, but I know he is a Chicago boy at heart so I am happy for him. There are mixed feelings about Sosa in my Oriole heart. I have my doubts about his defensive skills and wonder if we have ended up with another aging DH. These types of players certainly add pop to the line-up, but do they really help the club overall? It is very interesting to make history with two 500+ sluggers in the same lineup everyday, let alone on the same team as Sosa joins Rafael Palmeiro.

As an eternal optimist, I have hope for the 2005 season and what this addition means for that. Now keep the pitchers focused, pick-up a decent 2nd catcher to give Javy some rest and lets get ready to play some ball!

Update:
So I heard Sammy on WBAL, while driving home from work. He was on Hot Stove baseball and quite frankly I liked what I heard. This a player that really seems to play the game with a lot of heart and passion for the game. That was one of my concerns about him and one of the things I loved about Hairston. So I'm feeling better about this deal, his excitement for the game and as Sosa said, "fighting" the Spankees & the BoSox!

That’s Amore

My first love, or at least from my definition of love at the ripe old age of 17, was Heather Requard. Unfortunately this was an unrequited love as she already had a boyfriend. For some reason I was always interested in girls that were unavailable to me or that were just friends. The friend aspect at least makes a little bit of sense because you already have some common ground and a comfort with one another. Altogether unavailable is just plain dumb.

Being a hopeless romantic, or as my glass is ¾ full attitude on life leads me, a hopeful romantic when I fall for someone it’s usually head over heels. I’m a passionate man and that definitely plays into my personal relationships and more importantly my relationship with my wife. I have a passion for her love that is only surpassed in depth by my passion for Christ.

Love is one of those complicated areas of my life that took a great deal of time for me to come to an understanding of what it really means, and a great deal of faith & patience to really experience. Heather may have been more of being in lust, or at least how I would define love/lust now, but when I was in high school I was completely convinced that she was the one that I would love forever. This only made the fact that we were only friends and her boyfriend didn’t really like me so much harder to bear on my heart.

There were countless hours spent hoping she would call and tell me that they broke up but that never happened. There were countless hours spent hoping she would tell me she felt the same way as I did. The last day of high school, after our senior assembly, as I walked to my car to leave I looked up and saw Heather getting into her boyfriend’s car and I was crushed. I couldn’t breathe the rest of the day and I felt a very heavy burden.

She faded out of my life after high school, occasionally popping up here and there. They seemed to always be rather nervous times for her and me, as we would confess to one another. The very last time I saw her was during a rain delay at an Oriole game, but I didn’t approach her. She still had a twinkle in her eye and a beautiful smile and as much as I wanted to go up and say hi, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Love takes on a very different meaning for me now than it did 10 years ago. The Lord has done a great work in my life over that time and brought me to a place where I could experience a true, deep, ever-lasting love. I have found a woman that surpassed my wildest dreams of what I thought were possible to experience in love. It was not an easy road to travel down, but it was a journey that was well worth the wait.

May you recognize love when you see it, admit it to one another when you feel it, enjoy it together when you experience it, be patient and have faith when you can’t see it and always put Christ in the center of it.