spiritual slumber parties

In my youth a rite of passage in order to walk alongside our peers was, no longer going to church. If you were going to church past the age of fourteen then you were a wimp and no longer thinking for yourself since from what I could tell the church was put up by the adults to fool the children there was a Santa saint. These were not isolated incidents as it turned out, this was total and complete across the entire spectrum of young people. You had to be pretty gutsy or unnoticed to get away with explaining your involvement in church. According to a survey last year by a Christain group most young adults - do not pray, do not worship, and do not read the Bible. I suspect even adults of all age groups are indifferent even if they do go to church, as well as doing something else if not watching football. Curious fact of the survey is that many consider themselves more spiritual than religious. This means that if you dig down we find that lack of faith coincides with the decline of churches as they become more and more social outlets doing little works of the flesh rather than any big works of the spirit. Seems like an awful lot of slumbering going on.  

the God who is Existence

God is the personified Spirit of Existence. This Spirit has been called the Great Spirit, the Holy Spirit, I am that I am, as well as God. The idea of God has been hung in our hearts by God because God, personified as the Holy Spirit, animates those He creates into existence as a person. This is so we can comprehend and relate to Him.

in defense of hypocrites

Many church people like to attack the argument of those people who charge that they are hypocrites by pointing out so what, so are you. This is a straw because foremost, churched people are assuming a desire for higher standards which make their positions appear vulnerable in the extreme. Fact is most churched people are not so hypocritical as some would have us believe. Many come right out and admit they do not believe everything in the Bible is any longer true. They will openly regulate Christ's teaching to the limbo of metaphor. That is hardly hypocritical and seems more honest than the so what defense implies.

the suddeness of now

Your body is not going to want to give you up. But someday it will fearfully leave you and it is certain you, and we, will all be surprised. It is just that no one thought it would be now. No body likes change. But since it was alright after all to be born, maybe it will be alright to die.

church hoppers hopped up

Church Hopping at first flush seems a harmless bit of shopping fun. If it keeps up too long there must be a time when a bell tolls somewhere in a tower far away in the Hopper's mind. The bell that tolls for an end to this fearful game. Church hopping requires a singularly self-centered point of view. It is selfish because it is for certain the Holy Spirit is not the leader in this quest, since the Holy Spirit knows where to go and would say so if He were consulted. One would think the Holy Spirit directs where we are most needed, not where we most wanted. This is better for us where He directs because it is there where we grow. Instead the church hopper acts out a dance like a confused bee flitting around looking for honey. Self consciousness, perhaps even fear, is at the core of any definition of introversion. A Christian imbued with the boldness of the Holy Spirit is turned outward, not inward. He is not quiet and withdrawn but happy, and with a spirit within him that causes him to witness, sharing it with others. Every time a church hopping church hopper leaves a church I've asked him, Did the Holy Spirit tell you to leave? My question has always gone unanswered, so apparently not. Not an enviable position to be in.

only one thing Christians must do

There is only one thing the Christian must do to be Christian and that is to believe the commandments of Jesus. First it is only through faith that they can please God. Faith is believing and Jesus said his teachings were commandments, he never hinted that they may be just qualifying suggestions that could be limited and or redefined according to our belief abilities. He never said anything whatsoever was just for now, but would not hold up or not be required later. God is not a man that he should change. His word is the same today, yesterday and forever. If they only believe some and not something else, then they are luke warm and will be spewed out of the mouth. That is the word and the spirit of the commandments of Jesus. The law cannot be used to wiggle around anything for those who would be Christians.

defining the Christian atheist

A churched Christian atheist denies actualized meaning and power of certain Christ's sayings by regulating them to the ineffectual limbo of metaphor. The church is more real than Christ's teachings and occupies a greater space in their speech. While they may profess to believe that Christ rose from the dead among other to us miracles, they cannot stretch that belief far enough to cover what Christ says about us. For instance, if you believe, casting a mountain into the sea. The only conclusion one can draw from this is that they not only do not have faith to do that, they do not have faith to even believe Christ actually meant what he said. They then qualify, dilute, distract, or otherwise avoid the meaning of what He said. If someone does not believe in all of Christ's sayings, then I would call that person a Christian, but an Christian atheist because he is more than just an atheist, he is a luke warm Christian who Jesus said he would spew out of his mouth. This unbelief often extends to the healing stripes of Jesus and denies the power to believe what Jesus actually said about healing as real.

churches bing bang boring

Current research talks about a slight gain in church attendance in recent years coming largely from an aging population. Over all, attendance is declining in all the developed countries they say. Those who study these things attribute this to negative media coverage (and indeed they have a lot to be negative about) and boredom during church services. There you have it. Can't come up with solutions unless you are willing to discuss the problem, something religious leaders seem reluctant to even talk about casually in the corridors.