To-Dos

  • 30 push-ups
  • 60 pull-aparts
  • 30 back lunges each leg
  • Call someone
  • Do the dishes
  • Clean the living room
  • Stretch

Thoughts

Random thought about Christianity

The central hope of the NT is eternal life through Jesus Christ. The ancient Jews believed that they had a unique relationship with the creator God, while all the other nations worshiped lesser, counterfeit gods.

How and why people attack Christianity

It seems to me that when people argue against Christianity, they do it from at least two angles: 1) they say that the Bible is historically inaccurate, and/or 2) whether or not the value system that derives from the Bible is helpful or harmful to society.

Another way to think about this is that the Bible provides a narrative which most Jews and Christians throughout history have claimed to be historically accurate. So we have a story that is grounded in history. This story also provides a moral (actually an entire set of morals), or a teaching (or a set of teachings) that are derived from the story.

So it seems to me that we have something like this:

Morality –derived from–> Narrative –authority based on–> Historicity

So what folks may do, when they decide that they do not like the morality or the teachings put forth by the narrative of the Bible, is the historicity of the Bible.

Other folks may not consider the historicity at all and question whether or not the morality of the Bible is beneficial to society at large.

In either case, I think that the critics of the Bible have been quite successful in swaying public opinion away from the Bible, but they did not do a great job of filling the gap, and may have intentionally not filled the gap, instead saying that there is no God and no purpose and no meaning in life.

Random thought about Capitalism

I’m out of my element here, but it seems like Capitalism is an economic system that allows for the possibility that more valuable goods/services/products/individuals are “rewarded” for the value that they provide. Value is exchanged for money. (Or at least that is the way it is supposed to work, I think that, to some degree, marketing is most successful when the marketers are able to convince people that a good/product/service will provide value to their lives, whether that is true or not. So in some cases it is not the most valuable good/product/service/individual that wins, but instead the best marketed good/product/service/individual.)

This system, I think, sustains those within it through hope: “the harder I work, the more value I produce, the more I will be compensated, the better I will be able to care for myself and those around me”. This hope gives meaning and purpose.

Hebrews 10:24

Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

Evaluating what is most important to me.

What is currently most valuable to me? The opinions of others regarding my value or worth.

This needs to die.

While this needs to die, however, this is still the primary driver that causes me to do anything! Therefore, this should not be thrown out unless I have something better to fill its place. Otherwise I will be truly worthless, useless, providing no benefit to myself or others, without purpose and hope.

So, what is a better value to live by? What is truly valuable?

What about “being competent”? “Taking up my cross”? Caring for those around me?

I think this is a good place to start.

Thought about purpose within the framework of the Bible

The Bible teaches that mankind was made with and for a purpose: to rule and subdue over the rest of God’s creation (Genesis 1:26-28). Both man and woman. In the image of God. They were told to multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it.

Initially, our forbearers did this alongside God, but we refused to trust God, we did not obey God, and instead we believed and trusted the serpent, and so our ancestors were expelled from the garden, from “the easy way”, from communion with God, to the wilderness, to thorns and thistles, to the serpent’s domain.

It is in this new domain that humanity has strugged and continues to struggle. It is here that I sit and write this, struggling as I am and have always been, striving with and against my conscience, seeking for true purpose and meaning, while also afraid that I may be found to be inadequate if I were to press the issue too hard. It is this fear that keeps me safe, and miserable. It is this fear that I must let go of. I must overcome this fear if I am to take up my cross and follow Him. This way will lead to death, along with every other way that could be taken, but the hope is that this way, while leading to death, ultimately results in life. This, as best I can tell, is what is means to “walk by faith”.