Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Matthew 5:33-37

While it’s possible that I may be reading this out of context, it seems as if Jesus addresses both honesty and oath-taking. His command? Don’t make them at all. This may be a bit of a shock to many Christians in the United States who are ever so patriotic and loyal to their country. If the wording Jesus used wasn’t enough to convince you or make you think about this a little bit differently, James also addresses the issue.

 Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be condemned.
James 5:12

The question remains – is it un-patriotic to not hold your hand over your heart or to sing the national anthem? The Bible doesn’t really address this issue. My take is that as long as you’re not making an oath, it’s okay. One of the biggest things people love about the United States is the freedom. Freedom to make whatever statement you want to make. Personally, I don’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance for the reasons above. Does that make me less patriotic? I should hope not. I love my country and have an immense amount of respect for those who have fought and died to defend what we believe is right – freedom. This is true patriotism in my heart. Patriotism is a difficult thing to define, as so many different people have views on it. My favorite quote regarding patriotism is the famous but apparently mis-attributed:

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Adlai E. Stevenson on patriotism.

Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.
Adlai E. Stevenson

It’s been a while since I’ve bought any new books, but I stopped by Barnes & Noble on my lunch break and picked up two awesome-looking books. The first is “The Jesus of Surburbia” by Mike Erre, and the second is “boymeetsgirl“, who is the same author who wrote “I Kissed Dating Goodbye.”

I’m really excited to read both of these, but I’ve got another book (The Five Love Languages) I have to finish before I can start either one. (I’m not one of those people that can read several books at a time). “The Jesus of Suburbia” sounds great because it discusses how revolutionary Jesus is and how we’ve “tamed the Son of God to fit our lifestyle.” Boymeetsgirl is in a genre of book I’ve never really had much interest in until now. I’ve spent a great deal of time in prayer and study in the Word, and feel as if God is wanting me to grow in ways I never even imagined. He’s preparing me to be a truly Godly man in preparation to be a Godly husband at some point – only He knows when that will happen. He brought some events into my life to get my attention, and now He has it completely, as He should have all along. It’s just a matter of catching up now.

I’m sure almost every Christian has seen this verse at some point:

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I’ll admit that my impression of love has been quite contrary to this. For the longest time, love was just a euphoric feeling I had because of someone else. Love is more than euphoria. It’s a constant altruistic behavior. Love isn’t about yourself. It’s about the other person. If you don’t realize that and act on it – things will fall apart. It’s not a possibility, it’s reality. I’ve witnessed it firsthand – being the one who finds his selfishness and desires ruining the relationship. So to anyone who thinks or knows that they’re in love – take this advice: Make the relationship about the other person. Find out what makes them feel loved and do it. Don’t just do it to keep the other person around, do it with passion and enjoyment, knowing that you’re making your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/whatever happy. Making the person you love and care about happy should make you happy in return. I know it does for me.

On mistakes I’ve made and how you and I can both learn from them:

Languages of Love

I’m sure many of you know that I love to talk. I love to talk so much that I’ll often interrupt a conversation – not the right thing to do. Something that caused problems in my last relationship was my inability to truly listen. This all comes back to the fact that love should be altruistic – not selfish like I’ve often made it. Friends, listen to what she/he has to say. Listen truly and carefully, as your goal should be to understand exactly how the other person feels and thinks. Pay attention to body language. If the other person feels and looks angry, sad, passionate – you’ll know. Clarify their feelings with questions – don’t just respond with “yeah” or a typical neutral answer like “okay.” Depending on the person, this listening shows how you love them. Not everyone recieves/needs love the same way.

Others need quality time to feel loved. Simple things like going out to lunch, picnicking, going for a walk/hike/ride, and even sitting down and just absorbing the presence of your significant other are examples of quality time. Your mentality should be that you are there to absolutely absorb your significant other’s presence and for no other reason than to show your love.

Note: I haven’t finished the book yet, but once I do – I’ll update this post or write another one.

When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant only caring about two issues,­ abortion and homosexuality?

A wonderful article on CNN discusses the importance of Christians actually being like Christ. Roland Martin points out that many non-religious people in the world see Christians as only caring about two issues: homosexuality and abortion. Are those two issues what Christians really should be representing? Rather, should we not represent the love of God and compassion towards the poor, homeless, and the sick? As HIV/AIDS becomes more and more prevalent and kills even more people, Christians should point their focus towards helping end this epidemic.

I think most people will agree that Christians have, at various times throughout history and throughout our own lives, been jerks. Well, it’s time to own up to that and time to apologize — for what it?s worth. Hopefully it will be worth something to someone. Here’s how you can do the same:

1. Check out the photos that have already been posted on Flickr.

2. Download and print the “Sorry We Christians Have Been Jerks” PDF file.

3. Write your name or city (or whatever) on the sign and take a picture of yourself holding it.

4. Upload your picture to Flickr and tag it with these tags:

sorry

sorryeverybody

sorrychristians (three separate tags – this is essential for the meme to work)

5. Tell all your friends and get them to do the same thing (hint: just write your city on the sign and pass it around when you?re with a bunch of people, and take pictures of each of them holding the sign)

6. Most importantly, mean it, and contribute to a global, lived-out apology to the world for the way Christians have acted (or failed to act.)

Katie, at about 12:30 AM tonight, had an asthma attack, a pretty severe one at that. I was lucky to be able to catch it and get her help. For those of you who don’t know, Katie is 1000+ miles away from me, at school. I deeply care for her, and here is the story of my night.

I recieved a “Nudge” on MSN from Katie. A Nudge, for those of you who don’t know, violently shakes the window of the Instant Message of the person who nudged you, both on your screen and the recipient. I asked Katie what was up, and got no response for several seconds. Luckily, Katie was using her webcam, and I saw her coughing for about 10 seconds continuously. I got worried, picked up the phone and dialed. Ring, ring, ring, the fourth ring comes and she picks up. No confirmation from Katie, as she couldn’t breathe. I calmly instructed her to hand the phone to her roomate and I try to explain the situation. Luckily, her roomate realizes what is going on and tells me she’ll get help. She says goodbye, and hangs up, leaving me desperate and worried. I sit and think for about a minute, with thoughts running through my head like, “What will I do if she’s gone? What am I supposed to do? How can I help?” These desperate questions lead to prayers for Katie. I called Katie’s phone again, hoping the roomate would answer, and she did. I asked if she was any better, and she couldn’t give me much of an answer. With this frightening news, I hung up and started to worry even more, getting to the point where I also couldn’t breathe. Ironically, I was hyperventilating. I was so scared of losing her, that I was breathless. Within a few minutes, Katie’s roomate was telling me to relax, but I was still far too tense. I recieved a text message from Katie saying:

I love you. I am going to be ok, i promise.

This, as much as I wished it would have, did not calm my fears or stop the tears from rolling down my face. I’m not normally one to cry, so this was evident that I was worried. I had never been this scared in my life.

I soon got news that Katie was breathing alright now, which began to relax me. I finally began breathing regularly and sighed a sigh of relief, and prayed a prayer (or two) to God in thanks. He really is amazing. I see the fact that Katie got my attention as a total “God” thing. If she hadn’t have gotten my attention, she could have easily passed out on the floor.

I would like to extend a huge thanks to everyone who helped and supported Katie through this entire event. She will be appreciative of your support, I’m certain. Hopefully now she’s dreaming and safely and soundly asleep. I’m staying awake until she awakes to go to class, just to make certain that I’m around in case anything else happens. I care too much to just “sleep it off.”

For those of you who have actually read this far, leave Katie some love here in the form of a comment, and hop on over to her blog (http://isaiahsevennine.blogspot.com) and leave her some encouragement. She could certainly use some love right now.
I love you Katie.

I recieved an e-mail from a fellow Utah blogger, notifying me that he had linked to my blog, and was hoping that I would reciprocate. I obliged, and started reading his blog. He’s a fellow Christian as well, and happens to hold some beliefs that are contradictory to my own. I almost removed him from my blogroll and was tempted to ask him to remove his link to my page as well, but then came to an important realization. If everyone held the same beliefs and convictions that I do, then there would be no reason for me to even express myself. While many think that I am quite “non-patriotic” or “unpatriotic,” I point them to this quote:

?Dissent is the highest form of patriotism?
Thomas Jefferson (American 3rd US President (1801-09). Author of the Declaration of Independence. 1762-1826)

This goes to show that some of our founding fathers intended us to be able to use our voices to change things in our government that we disagree with or don’t like. Dissent isn’t an example of people hating the United States, it’s an example of people investing in their government. So, the people that don’t agree with the way I think our country should be run should merely see me as an equal or a contemporary. No two people completely agree on every issue.

I believe that Christians, regardless of political beliefs, moral beliefs, or beliefs otherwise should unite, but at the same time, keeping their own identities. There should not be such monumental amounts of hate between Christians. For as a popular hymn reads, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” If we aren’t showing love to fellow Christians, what will that portray us as? We will be cast aside as legimate Christ followers. Christ loved everyone, and thus we should also love, if we are claiming to be following Him. In conclusion, let us be like Christ. Love and be loved.

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (NIV, Mark 12:31)

For those of you who are against homosexual marriage, ask yourselves these questions:

1. Does God call us to love everyone?
2. As far as this verse is concerned, is the term “neighbor” exclusive to Christians?
If you answered no,
3. Is a homosexual supposed to be loved by Christians?

If you answered yes,
3. Where does the Bible say this?
(If you can answer this question, leave a comment specifying your answer.)
4. Is it wrong for Christians to hate homosexuals?
5. Imagine non-Christians pass a law banning Christianity. How would you feel?
6. Are Christians called to pass laws banning sin?
7. Are Christians expected to love (agape) homosexuals?

agape, used in the New Testament, is commonly known as “Christian love.” It means respect, affection, benevolence, good-will and concern for the welfare of the one loved.Benevolence is defined as:

An inclination to perform kind, charitable acts.

Take your response in question 5. Does it seem the same type of response that Homosexuals would have? If so, how is passing a law to ban homosexuality loving the person, or being kind or charitable towards them?

Jesus told us in the Great Commission,

“All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Mt. 28:18-20 ASV).

One last question. Do these verses say anything about making laws to prevent sin? No. It merely states to make disciples of them, with Mark 12:31 saying to love them as well. These verses could not be contradictory, or the Bible would be false. Thus, we should love homosexuals and train them to be Christians. If God meant for them to be Christians, they will repent of their sins.