“Okay, I’ll do it,” Susie said determinedly.

“Cool,” her boyfriend Jack exclaimed.  “This may be the last vacation we get to go on for a while or you know that I wouldn’t even ask.”

“I know.  I just wish I had not gone through more than seven months of this.  When we decided to try it you did not even bring this surfing trip up.”

“I’m sorry, baby.  I didn’t think we would have the money.  But that bonus was enough for this and what we will need now too.”

Susie asked, “How long until we get there?”

The couple had been driving for six hours.  They were heading for the beach.  Jack had thought he would have to surf without her.  He hated the idea.  They both loved surfing and had not been able to go for more than two years because of new jobs which had caused them to have to move.  He loved it so much though, and she was the one that wouldn’t give in.

“We can get off the next exit and see but I would bet there is probably one of those new chop shops somewhere close”

He was right.  They found the shop within an hour and pulled in the parking lot.  It was pretty full and he just hoped they could get serviced quickly.  They still had about twelve hours of driving ahead of them.  They would probably have to spend the night somewhere.  He had hoped to make it by morning but if Susie could surf with him it was worth it.

They went in and signed in at the counter and picked up a brochure and sat to discuss its contents.  After about twenty minutes their names were called.  They were directed to a small but comfortable room with a bed and a couple of chairs.  Then a tall man in white joined them.

“I am Dr Walters.  What can we do for you today?”

“We want the Drop and Hop procedure.  It is a little expensive but we don’t really want to waste any time.  We’re going to the beach on vacation,” Jack answered.

The doctor smiled and said, “That’s great.  How far along are you?” he asked as he looked at Susie’s belly.

“Seven months and ten days.  It was due on May 4th and we had arranged already to sell it to one of those sterile families but,” she stopped and just smiled sheepishly.

“That’s okay,” the doctor said, smiling back at her.  “A lot of young couples are doing it also.  But there is no sense in letting it ruin a vacation.  We might even be able to bring it out alive still if you chose a different method.”

Jack jumped in, “No, we don’t need the money like we did.  We’ll still go with the Drop and Hop.”  Susie nodded.

Dr Walters smiled at the eager couple and nodded.  “No problem.  We’ll have that fetus out in 30 minutes or less or you get your money back.”  He laughed at his own joke while they joined him even though they were too young to remember the old commercial the doctor referenced.  “All joking aside, this new procedure will allow you to be rid of this minor inconvenience within two hours and you’ll be on your way.”

“Awesome,” Jack said as Susie nodded and smiled.  “Surfs up,” she thought.

**************************************************************************

This is my sorry attempt at horror fiction.  It is horror because it is probably not that farfetched or too far in the future.  The life of the unborn is already seen as cheap and in many cases an inconvenience.  If we keep on the way we are now on the issue of abortion, don’t be surprised if this little sorry piece of fiction becomes prophetic.

Jason has a post on his blog here where he asks for some practical solutions to this issue.  It is time we took this on as the main issue in our culture and society that we need to address.  No, not address, we need to do something real.  We need to go a lot farther than we are in our attempts to change people’s minds about abortion.  And since I believe Jesus is the only one that can change minds, it has to start with the gospel.  We should be more than barbarians.

Go to Jason’s blog and share your thoughts there as well as here.

Love you all

Tags: Abortion, chop shops, Culture, Hope, Lies, Life, Service, Sin, Worth

A couple of days ago I asked some questions about alcohol and whether the bible condemns all consumption of it as sin.  On the face of this it seems pretty certain that it is not.  Any casual reader of the stories of Jesus would recognize the fact that His first recorded miracle was turning water into wine.  And there are other direct references of His very own consumption of it.  Yet I have read and heard many arguments about it being sin.

There are those that will use all kind of pretty far out excuses to say that this is not really saying what we think.  The scripture is not saying what it seems to say.  Grape juice?  Really?  Are we to believe that God is just trying His best to confuse us?

There are those that, in the past and probably still today, say that it is even wrong for a Christian to serve or sell alcohol.  Again, I point to Christ’s first miracle.  If I should not serve or sell it then why in the world would Jesus turn water into it?  We seem to still have tremendous problems with self-righteousness.

These thoughts and questions are not really the reason I raised this question though.  For some very thoughtful, adult insights about the consumption argument in general, please read Tuesdays post and comments.  Everyone who responded made points I not only believe to be correct but I hold to them myself.  And I especially think that when you vow or commit to something as Heath and Jason did as ministers, then you should adhere to those commitments like they pointed out that they did.

If the organization you join says you have to stand on one foot for 30 seconds and face east at 8:00 am every third Tuesday and you agree, then you must do it whether it makes sense or not, if you are a person of integrity.  The health and danger issues are also valid reasons why not drinking makes sense, and the witness in a culture that definitely glorifies alcohol as the means to get drunk is not one the Kingdom really needs.  I don’t drink myself for some of these reasons.

As I stated though, I brought it all up for the same reason I have brought up other things recently.  If we spent as much time as some do on defending these obviously unbiblical beliefs such as drinking being sin, with as much zeal and commitment, in reaching out to those outside the Kingdom, we could really glorify God. Instead we waste tremendous amounts of time on our own legalistic views and arguments.

Alcohol is only one small part of a whole host of things that some Christians seem to want to focus on in spite of the fact that they have a mission to do.  Appearances are important as some believe when talking about drinking, but what about the appearance of condemnation we portray that is not even biblically justified.  When the lost of this world see us bickering and fighting and even bringing the charge of heresy against a minister that obviously is not heretical, what do they think?  I will tell you what they think because it was not that long ago that I thought it.  They think that there is no God.  And if there is He is not that big, not that great, and not that powerful because His whole family is so hypocritical and unloving of even each other.

We must reach out in love to a lost and dying world and to do that we have got to stop adding our own lists of sins to Gods.  That is what Jesus condemned about the Pharisees and the bible even warns us about adding to His word, but we just don’t seem to get it.  This world of lost souls is not concerned about our petty arguments and disagreements about alcohol, about divorce, about creation, about (dare I say it) initial evidence.  What this worlds lost souls are concerned about, whether they even know it or not, is the eternal destination of their very being.  And even if they are not concerned, we must be.

As I said on my post about creation recently, let’s stop all the arguing about pet doctrines and interpretations in front of the kids, so to speak, and wait until we get behind closed doors.

Love you all

Tags: alcohol, Appearance, Belief, Bible, consumption, Creation, Culture, God, Interpretation, Kingdom, Love, Righteousness, Self, Sin, witness

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Rom 12:1-2

My pastor used the text from Romans quoted above for his sermon this morning.  He focused on how a lot of us have not had our minds transformed.  Then I watched a video on Shannon’s site and read the comments there concerning homosexuality and how we react to this sin in ways that are very different from the ways we react to other sins.  (Another free plug, Shannon)

I agree with my pastor’s sermon this morning and I also agree with much of what was said on Shannon’s blog but I still have problems with all of this.

God did not make any of us the way we are.  We all come into the world through the act of procreation and not creation.  God stopped creating after He finished up the sixth day and then He has placed the rest mostly in our hands.  He still, I believe, steps in and works in this realm at times but it is mostly up to us.  We choose to be, do, say, and act out of who we are; which is a reflection of many things such as environment, how we were raised, the attitudes of our parents, culture, education, and lots of other things.  We live in a fallen creation and start out as slaves to sin.  This cannot be denied.

We need to learn to love.  We need to practice love.  We need to embrace each other as Christ embraced us.  And that includes homosexuals.  We have way too many fundamentalists in the Kingdom that are hypocritical and judgmental.  The sins that offend them the most are the sins that they believe offend God the most.  This is just not true.  So I would say that I agree with most of what I have read today.

But the problem I have is that most all of those trying to find another answer seem to want to just overlook sin in its entirety.  I am not saying this about those whose comments I have read today but I have been thinking this way myself a lot lately.  But is that going to do those in sinful lifestyles any better than the fundamentalist viewpoint?

Let’s say the fundamentalist is wrong and God loves everyone enough that no matter what they do He will not turn them away.  Then we really have to introduce these people to Christ so they can have a chance.  It is not up to us who is in and who is out.  It is up to God.

But look at what happens if those who want to say sin is alright and all things are forgiven and covered by the blood of Christ are wrong.  We may share some warm and loving moments while we reach out to those living in sin while we are on this planet, before eternity, and then have them turn to us at judgment and ask why we did not warn them.

I just don’t know.

This whole issue is tough.  I am of the opinion that neither side is right but I admit that I do not know where to draw any lines.  I do know that we must all, me, you, adulterers, homosexuals, liars, thieves, etc., present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.  We must also not be conformed to this world, but instead be transformed by the renewal of our minds.  And this is the only way that we can even begin to try to discern what the will of God is and what is good and acceptable and perfect.

One thing I do know is that we better get serious about finding out what God wants us to do about all this.  Just feeling good about our own beliefs is not the answer and there is more at stake than causing anyone to feel ostracized or unloved here.  There are eternal consequences to our answers to these dilemmas.

This is serious and I believe must be concluded but as I said, I just don’t know.

Love you all

Tags: attitudes, Belief, Culture, eternal consequences, Eternity, fundamentalists, Good, homosexuals, Judgment, living sacrifice, Perfect, procreation, Self, Sin

We were on our way to church last evening and the last few minutes of daylight were passing away.  At one point I became entranced by the size of the full moon that was fully visible despite the daylight.  This vision got me to thinking about the reality of things and the ways we interpret the bible.  Figure that one out.  The paths our thoughts sometimes make are amazing.

What I thought about was how most of us interpret the first ten chapters of Genesis.  I, like most of you, look at these passages as literal as I can, especially the creation account and the fall.  I tend to think of Adam and Eve as real people and of the Fall as a real event.  But there are some that do not.

There are theologians that look at these first verses of scripture as allegory, or an attempt to metaphorically represent certain spiritual truths.  This view is nothing new as most things theological are not new.  There has been a division over this view of interpretation from the beginnings of Judaism.  This approach can be consistent with an inerrant view of the bible but not from a fundamentalist style of literalism.

Gen 1:16  And God made the two great lights–the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night–and the stars.

If we take the moon itself as the lesser light, and we certainly do not have too, then we can see this as metaphorical and we know it cannot be literal.  And there are other arguments that can be raised also.

I am not really concerned with the debate between theologians over this issue.  What I am concerned with is the questions that are asked by non-believers over some of these same issues and our inability to give in on some things to reach out to them.  There are so many people out there that won’t give Jesus a chance over some of our unbending views of creation, the flood, etc. and etc.  Shouldn’t the love of Christ and Him giving Himself for us be the focus and isn’t that enough.

I am not against those ministries that put all their resources into some of these views about the bible but when they think that an argument concerning a young or old earth is going to bring lost souls into the kingdom, I have to wonder about that and them.  These types of arguments should, in my opinion, be reserved for those that are mature in Christ, and not the lost.

As far as whether the first chapters of Genesis are literal or allegorical, I will not commit.  It seems to me that both have their merit.  But I do know that Jesus, who I know is God, primarily used parables to teach His truths.

Love you all

Tags: adam and eve, allegory, Beginning, Bible, Church, Creation, creation account, Ending, full moon, Interpretation, Kingdom, literalism, Love, Sin, Theological