I just finished watching the movie Stigmata. It is a fascinating movie, but I find it very difficult to believe that the Gospel of Thomas has any doctrinal value. I researched the gospel and read about 1/3 of it, finding it to be somewhat inaccurate to what the true Gospels say. It has more of a Gnostic feel to it, implying that we do not need the Holy Spirit in order to be saved. We simply need to see that we are creations of God, and we will be saved. There is obviously more to what the GoT says, but that is what I picked up in a nut shell.
In my opinion:
The existence of Jesus of Nazareth is not the argument, but merely the significance of his existence. This being the case, it is obvious that someone like Jesus is going to get a lot of attention. A lot of things were written about him, but only those who God spoke through wrote books that became the Bible. God did not randomly choose which writings would form the texts of the Bible. He did not role dice to see which ones would be used. The GoT, if it should even be considered a gospel, was clearly not one of these books. Open your bible. There is no GoT, and it is for good reason.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Self "Greif-ification"
Something crossed my mind today. I found it both interesting, disturbing, and enlightening (did I spell that right?). It was during work when a discussion came up about who had it the worst. Luckily, I happened to be in the clear as far as bad things going for me, so I was able to stay out of the conversation and simply obvserve.
One cook (I work in a resturaunt) was complaining (WOAH!!! My computer moniter just flashed really bright and it hurt my eyes!!!) that he hadn't had a day off in 2 weeks and was very tired. My lead (a low key supervisor) countered with the fact that she was down to 450 white blood cells, meaning she had no immune system, and that if she cut herself she could die. Another Lead and his brother's (who actually IS a supervisor) mother died last thursday, and they are gone for a few weeks because of it. This left us short handed, so naturally we are all working overtime.
During the course of this conversation (argument) I noticed one thing, and thought several. The thing noticed was this:
Everyone wants sympathy. Naturaully this is specific, and I could have simply said that everyone wants attention, but that word sounds too childish.
Then I thought to myself "This is all a matter of perspective. Everyone has trials and struggles and hardships, and in everyone's eyes, theirs is the worst." If you sat everyone down, and asked them what the hardest time of there life was, and to rate that on a scale from one to ten, I garuntee that everyone would come up with something they could classify as a ten. One person might say he had a canker (did I spell that right?) sore the size of a golfball in his mouth for a month, and couldn't eat any salty or acidic foods. Someone else might say that their parents died when they were 10, and had to go to a foster home where they were abused. Now, from the outside those clearly were not both tens, but that's not even the point I am tryin to make. Forgive me for going off the subject.
The point I was making was that we all want that attention. That sympathy, that love. I saw in plain veiw in that moment that God exists. Now believe me I already knew this. I guess I should have said I saw proof. Ok, so in that moment I saw proof that God exists. One man who works with me doesn't believe in God or satan. He says they don't even exist. In this person I saw that longing for appreciation. That desire to be noticed and cared for. Sure he acts tough. He points out his hardships so that he can say he endured them. From countless times through this, I see now that what he is really asking for is some pity. Some sympathy. Recognition. Love.
That hole that we all have, or had. That hole that only Christ can fill. That vacancy which drives us to pursure relationships. That gift which God gave us, the one that He offered to us. His love, and sacrifice. This man at my work. I saw in him the desire to be loved. He openned up to me often about how people think he is a jerk. How people dislike him because of whatever traits he may posses. I saw in him the desire to be held, known, and cherished.
These are all things God offers to us. I felt sad for my co worker, yet excited to see that he desires this. This means that if I can find a way to show him what he showed me, that he may find love and satisfaction in Christ our Lord and Saviour.
That is all I have for now. I hope you were able to gain something from this. Even if you just sent up a prayer for someone then I've succeeded in making a difference. I know i had other things on this topic, but I think I lost them in that paragraph where I got off topic. I believe there was originally some way for me to tie those two ideas together, and the process of that would have released more of my thoughts. This however did not happened. You're probably happy though, because if I had remembered, this blog would be entirely too long to be entertaining.
One cook (I work in a resturaunt) was complaining (WOAH!!! My computer moniter just flashed really bright and it hurt my eyes!!!) that he hadn't had a day off in 2 weeks and was very tired. My lead (a low key supervisor) countered with the fact that she was down to 450 white blood cells, meaning she had no immune system, and that if she cut herself she could die. Another Lead and his brother's (who actually IS a supervisor) mother died last thursday, and they are gone for a few weeks because of it. This left us short handed, so naturally we are all working overtime.
During the course of this conversation (argument) I noticed one thing, and thought several. The thing noticed was this:
Everyone wants sympathy. Naturaully this is specific, and I could have simply said that everyone wants attention, but that word sounds too childish.
Then I thought to myself "This is all a matter of perspective. Everyone has trials and struggles and hardships, and in everyone's eyes, theirs is the worst." If you sat everyone down, and asked them what the hardest time of there life was, and to rate that on a scale from one to ten, I garuntee that everyone would come up with something they could classify as a ten. One person might say he had a canker (did I spell that right?) sore the size of a golfball in his mouth for a month, and couldn't eat any salty or acidic foods. Someone else might say that their parents died when they were 10, and had to go to a foster home where they were abused. Now, from the outside those clearly were not both tens, but that's not even the point I am tryin to make. Forgive me for going off the subject.
The point I was making was that we all want that attention. That sympathy, that love. I saw in plain veiw in that moment that God exists. Now believe me I already knew this. I guess I should have said I saw proof. Ok, so in that moment I saw proof that God exists. One man who works with me doesn't believe in God or satan. He says they don't even exist. In this person I saw that longing for appreciation. That desire to be noticed and cared for. Sure he acts tough. He points out his hardships so that he can say he endured them. From countless times through this, I see now that what he is really asking for is some pity. Some sympathy. Recognition. Love.
That hole that we all have, or had. That hole that only Christ can fill. That vacancy which drives us to pursure relationships. That gift which God gave us, the one that He offered to us. His love, and sacrifice. This man at my work. I saw in him the desire to be loved. He openned up to me often about how people think he is a jerk. How people dislike him because of whatever traits he may posses. I saw in him the desire to be held, known, and cherished.
These are all things God offers to us. I felt sad for my co worker, yet excited to see that he desires this. This means that if I can find a way to show him what he showed me, that he may find love and satisfaction in Christ our Lord and Saviour.
That is all I have for now. I hope you were able to gain something from this. Even if you just sent up a prayer for someone then I've succeeded in making a difference. I know i had other things on this topic, but I think I lost them in that paragraph where I got off topic. I believe there was originally some way for me to tie those two ideas together, and the process of that would have released more of my thoughts. This however did not happened. You're probably happy though, because if I had remembered, this blog would be entirely too long to be entertaining.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Last 3 years
This is my first post on this website, as you can tell, so I figured I would give a wee bit of background. Not that it is neccesary, but I figured that is what this site is for, so let's use it to it's full potential.
Allow me to start off by saying, "I once was lost, but now am found".
Starting Junior year of highschool, I was thinking the following: "Navy... Bible college.... girlfriend.... navy.... bible.... marines? oh heck no, much too tough... navy..... no... bible college"
Starting Senior year of highschool, thoughts looked more like this: "I have no money, this is tragic... bible college.... money..... bible college.... no more girlfriend... less friends now because of time with girlfriend.... bible college.... "
At the end of High school, I started working at a resturaunt washing dishes for minimum wage! Ok, it wasn't that exciting. I had decided that Bible college was not the thing for me, nor was the service. I had no idea of what I was going to do for the rest of my life. I just hadn't a clue. I worked hard at my job, so shortly after starting dishes, I moved up to prep cook. This is the guy that gets treated just as crappy as the dishwasher, but gets to play with fire occasionaly, and doesn't have to get wet nearly as often. Then I harrassed my supervisors and whatnot, and there came a time when they were in need of the help, and I was promoted up to cook. This all happened in less than a year, and because it happened so fast, I thought for sure it was the right thing to do. I knew that for the rest of my life, I was going to be a cook. I was going to take Culinary classes and resturuant management classes and the works. It was going to be great. Maybe I would host my own cooking show. That would be nice too. I would look into the camera and lure folks at home into buying certain products by my classy cooking style and fancy moves, throwing fire and wine.
I hate to say it, but none of that which I just mentioned ever happened nor will it. The resturuant I work in, and from what I hear all other resturaunts, are full of drugs, sex, and more drugs, and some more sex. I'm going to be honest with you, this seemed like an option. Deep down inside though I really didn't want it, and I knew that it wasn't an option. I was just looking for something to be attached to. Something to make me apart of the place where I earned my living.
Currently I am still working at that resturuant, but the good news is, I won't be for long. I have plans. Not many, though just a few. Ok, it's actually only 2. I have two plans. My first is to join a gym, and get in shape in time for enlisting so I can go to recruit training for the Marines. In case you missed it the latter of that sentence was the second plan. I am going to join the Marines. I thought about it years ago, and it had always been in the back of my mind. I pushed it back there to begin with because I was afraid of it. The MARINES! That's intense. I am still afraid of it. As a wise women once said, "If fear is the only thing holding you back, then that's more the reason to force yourself to pursue the thing you are fearing." (Mom, I know that is not what you actually said. I had to change the sentence around so it sounded more philisophical (did I spell that right?).)
So, long story short, I am joining the Marines in about 2 months. From there I don't know how long it will be until I ship for Boot camp, and after that, we'll see where the wind takes me.
Allow me to start off by saying, "I once was lost, but now am found".
Starting Junior year of highschool, I was thinking the following: "Navy... Bible college.... girlfriend.... navy.... bible.... marines? oh heck no, much too tough... navy..... no... bible college"
Starting Senior year of highschool, thoughts looked more like this: "I have no money, this is tragic... bible college.... money..... bible college.... no more girlfriend... less friends now because of time with girlfriend.... bible college.... "
At the end of High school, I started working at a resturaunt washing dishes for minimum wage! Ok, it wasn't that exciting. I had decided that Bible college was not the thing for me, nor was the service. I had no idea of what I was going to do for the rest of my life. I just hadn't a clue. I worked hard at my job, so shortly after starting dishes, I moved up to prep cook. This is the guy that gets treated just as crappy as the dishwasher, but gets to play with fire occasionaly, and doesn't have to get wet nearly as often. Then I harrassed my supervisors and whatnot, and there came a time when they were in need of the help, and I was promoted up to cook. This all happened in less than a year, and because it happened so fast, I thought for sure it was the right thing to do. I knew that for the rest of my life, I was going to be a cook. I was going to take Culinary classes and resturuant management classes and the works. It was going to be great. Maybe I would host my own cooking show. That would be nice too. I would look into the camera and lure folks at home into buying certain products by my classy cooking style and fancy moves, throwing fire and wine.
I hate to say it, but none of that which I just mentioned ever happened nor will it. The resturuant I work in, and from what I hear all other resturaunts, are full of drugs, sex, and more drugs, and some more sex. I'm going to be honest with you, this seemed like an option. Deep down inside though I really didn't want it, and I knew that it wasn't an option. I was just looking for something to be attached to. Something to make me apart of the place where I earned my living.
Currently I am still working at that resturuant, but the good news is, I won't be for long. I have plans. Not many, though just a few. Ok, it's actually only 2. I have two plans. My first is to join a gym, and get in shape in time for enlisting so I can go to recruit training for the Marines. In case you missed it the latter of that sentence was the second plan. I am going to join the Marines. I thought about it years ago, and it had always been in the back of my mind. I pushed it back there to begin with because I was afraid of it. The MARINES! That's intense. I am still afraid of it. As a wise women once said, "If fear is the only thing holding you back, then that's more the reason to force yourself to pursue the thing you are fearing." (Mom, I know that is not what you actually said. I had to change the sentence around so it sounded more philisophical (did I spell that right?).)
So, long story short, I am joining the Marines in about 2 months. From there I don't know how long it will be until I ship for Boot camp, and after that, we'll see where the wind takes me.
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