Realizations

Philosophy in the Middle of the Desert

These Elaborate Machines November 6, 2012

Filed under: Christianity/Theology/Spirituality,Science/Atheism/Evolution/Creationism,Terremoto — milesprowers @ 5:14 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

[as written 81311 – 31712, with additions on 11612]

 
On 81011 during our Bible Study prayer time, when it came time for my prayer requests, my small group leader prayed over me and lifted up my requests from the night, and I just started praying for the requests myself as if I wasn’t me.  As if from my universal, eternal soul that is not confined to a body or circumstances or personality, but the universal spirit that we all have before being shaped by our lives.  As I (the spirit, of God Himself perhaps, which is universally the same but individually molded depending on each person’s nature and nurture) was praying for Miles Prowers, who he is and has become, all that makes Miles Prowers Miles Prowers, that particular character in God’s story of Earth History.

And it produced in me a bizarre sympathy for me, as if I was praying for a dear friend who I knew more intimately than anyone else.  I prayed for his job, knowing just how stressful it was and how it conflicted with his extreme desires to be an artist.  I prayed for his brother, whom he’d always known and loved since youth.  It was a surreal experience that had no reason for happening, it just happened.  Since then I’ve never attempted to recreate that perspective, because it was kind of weird, and I’m not sure it was God-honoring, though I have no reason to believe it isn’t either; it’s just that I’d never thought or heard about something like that, so I don’t know what to think.

 

Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

 
But what are we really?  I can’t figure out how to distinguish between soul and spirit and mind and heart and body.  All I know is that in the beginning God created Adam from the dust and then breathed life into him, as if breathing in His own Spirit into him.  As if he constructed all these little organic machines and then turned them on by breathing His electricity into them.  So then do animals have spirits?  Do they have the spirit of God in them, keeping them alive?  Or was it just His Spirit that sparked them into motion and got fate in motion to carry itself out?  Obviously there is a stark contrast between the most sophisticated animal and the dumbest human, in that the dumbest human is still a human being.  Is the contrast because man has a spirit and animal does not?  As if when you took away the spirit in man he became an animal?  Or do they both have the breath of God’s Spirit in them both keeping them alive and man’s body is just that much more elaborate than the animal’s to allow for consciousness?  The electricity through these elaborate machines of ours.

 

Or do man and animal still have spirit at all after the initial God breathe?  If man is cloned will it be an animal version of man, with no consciousness?  I used to think so, but I doubt it now.  He’ll still have all the functions for consciousness that the physical brain allows.  He may be mentally retarded, as a copy is never as good as the original, but that doesn’t make him unconscious.  We are truly unique, self-conscious beings, but are we only machines made to resemble the one true Being?

 

[11612- An interesting note, made by an old, pot-smoking hippie I randomly met in The Parthenon while writing “Fade To White”: The Bible doesn’t say God breathed animals into being, only humans.  So there is a spiritual difference between us and animals, whatever that may be exactly.]

 

Humans are in a class of their own, caught between the animals and the angels, but the choice is ours as to which end of the spectrum we fall on.

 

And yet there is something supernatural in us that allows us to transcend nature and have intuition, feelings and other supernatural capabilities.  So do we each have individual spirits of our personalities, and that’s who we are?  Or are we anything at all?  Isn’t our individuality just the unique combination of our two parents’ previously-existing traits, mixed together and shaped through our surroundings in life?  If we do have individual spirits, where do these spirits and personalities come from?  The only logical conclusion is that they must have been directly assigned to us by God Himself who put certain spirits in certain bodies to have certain outcomes to make History go according to His great plan.  So it all comes around to the fact that we have nothing God has not given to us and we are nothing that God has not made us.

 

But there is no evidence of individual spirits that give us our personality aside from our nature/nurture make up.  I think perhaps more logical is that there is only one Spirit, that is, God Himself, who, according to His will, moves in us individually to give us those supernatural capabilities in certain times.  He periodically manifests His spirit in our hearts and minds and the natural realm to intervene and guide us away from the natural path of fate so that by divine inspiration we change our natural course, that we would naturally go down aside from His intervention.  Of course if there is only one Spirit, then what are we when our bodies die physically (the breath of life leaves) and yet we live on separately?

 
Ecclesiastes 12:7: “then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.“

 
In Heaven what are our souls if we no longer have the body that created our personality?  Without our bodies what’s left?  If we do each have souls are they all the same generic soul/spirit that manifests differently given a different body to come out of, a different-shaped outlet?  It’s a mystery no mortal can solve.  So then, when those bodies die, wouldn’t the Spirit of God return to its source (God)?  This is the equivalent of Nirvana, where we exist in the afterlife, conscious, but not as our individual personality.  Rather we all exist as The Personality of God Himself.  And yet, there’s no mention of that concept in the Bible (our only sure-fire source of truth on the subject).

Isn’t it interesting that the Apocalyptic Bible passages all refer to us having bodies in Heaven.  Almost implying at times that we have no consciousness until our bodies are resurrected/glorified.  So, “we” are nothing without our bodies, but in Heaven our bodies are there, therefore our bodily-induced personalities live on through the bodies that make them.  Still, it’s entirely possible that at some point in the future of eternity even our glorified bodies will fade away, leaving behind the One Spirit in all of us, and “we” return to experience the euphoria of existence in oneness with The Spirit.

 

John 17:22: “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me.”

 
Our bodies are simply our parents’ bodies combined.  God breathes spirit into us, giving us life, but it’s just the natural mysterious energy as it naturally flows through that machine of our parent-combination bodies.  However, when we’re born again, God’s Holy Spirit indwells us, which is not just the spirit of life, but actually God’s own personal Spirit living in us, actually Christ Himself.  So it’s not just our natural bodies at work, but Christ living and working with that physical body.

Which is why you actually witness people change to become different people after they’re Christians.  Non-believers can try to change and do self-help formulas and show signs of change, but they’re still the same people they’ve always been with the same tendencies they give into.  Only when another being comes into your body, living through you and changing you (not of your own energy and will-power), then can a person actually change into a real different person.  Because it really isn’t them anymore. It’s the perfect spirit of someone else, His mind living in our bodies, making choices and offering an alternative to our natural bent.  I am now partially Miles Prowers and partially Jesus Christ, but gradually becoming more of Jesus Christ and less of Miles Prowers, to the point where Jesus Christ is me, just with the looks, personality and memories of Miles Prowers.

 

Who am I? What am I? What even is “I”?  I don’t know.  Something between a random combination of atoms and God Himself.

 

[The mysteries expressed in this essay were condensed into a song entitled “Fade To White”.  You can hear it at soundcloud.com/terremotoothers.  Enjoy!]

//

 

CASTING [BAL]LOTS September 25, 2012

Filed under: Christianity/Theology/Spirituality — milesprowers @ 11:30 am
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

[as written 51212-61312, with additions on 92412]

 

Is it wrong to vote for something good, if it means that that same vote will support something bad?  When it comes to voting, it’s always a packaged deal.  And unfortunately, while politics used to just be about how the government operates, now America is so perverted and complicated that you’re forced to vote for and against moral issues.  And it’s come down to voting for the lesser of 2 evils.  Every single election. There’s just too many things you have to vote for these days.  But voting for 3 out of 4 good things isn’t bad, right?  I mean, if abortion is really the same disgusting holocaust in God’s eyes that it is in ours then it trumps all other political issues.  Shouldn’t we do whatever it takes to stop it just like we would stop Hitler if given the chance?  It seems obvious!  But it isn’t.  If killing a baby is murder and intrinsically wrong simply because it’s killing a human life, then why is it less evil to kill Hitler?  Is it less intrinsically evil to kill human lives if those lives are evil (or what your country sees as evil)? Maybe.  Maybe not.  Jesus is silent about it and so people are forced to disagree.

 

Stereotypically if I vote against abortion I’m also voting for a government with tendencies to enforce capital punishment and prolong war.  So it ultimately comes down to killing the unborn vs. killing adults.  With something as important as people’s damnation on the line, if you’re going to truly determine the “lesser of two evils”, you need to over-analyze all-case scenarios, taking logic as far as it can possibly go; and you’ll inevitably end up on metaphysical grounds.  It’s wrong to kill, as God commanded in the Ten Commandments right from the start, but which is worse: killing the unborn or adults?

 

Looking at it from a politically conservative side, the unborn are innocent and have absolutely no guilt worthy of punishment, whereas a criminal on death row has been tried and convicted for a crime which the country/state’s majority has deemed deserving of death.  It’s not unfair for the man on death row because he knew the consequence for his action before he did it; it is unfair for the innocent infant.  And when it comes to war, the soldiers that die died for a cause, usually a noble cause like defending their country and family or liberating an oppressed people group, and they also die with honor as a hero in their country (most of the time freely signing up for it).  Whereas the “noble cause” of abortion is to retain people’s careers, convenience and money.  And in the miniscule cases of rape, incest, or potential birth defects (which is often a wrong diagnosis on the doctor’s part), the benefit of abortion is that the child won’t have a potentially miserable life (by not existing at all).

 

But now we get to the crux of the whole issue.  As Christians we don’t live according to a physical perspective, but we need to see everything through the lens of eternity (aka salvation and damnation).  Our first and foremost goal in life should be to help the most possible souls go to Heaven and the fewest possible souls to go to Hell.  This includes the area of politics.
But coming from this traditional Christian perspective, if you’re completely honest, which is really worse: abortion or just war?  What happens to an aborted fetus in the spiritual realm?  Sent to Hell for the sins it didn’t exist long enough to commit?  Most Christians I know (clergy and laity alike) consider this unjust and they assume there must be an age of accountability, in other words a soul isn’t responsible for its sin until it becomes old enough TO sin, or at least consciously reject God’s salvation.  If this turns out to be how God really does things, then all abortees (over 50 million by now) are in Heaven.  But what happens to a “soul-dier”?  Chances are he goes straight to Hell, especially if he’s from a non-Christianized country.  And Death Row?  If they committed a sin worthy of capital punishment they probably ain’t going to Heaven.  Legalize abortion, no one goes to Hell.  Outlaw war/capital punishment and people have a better chance of finding salvation through Christ.  Outlaw abortion and you’ll possibly get a sudden surge of juvenile delinquency.

 

By that reasoning infanticide must be good!  And why stop at the infants?  Why not take it up to the very age of accountability?  Some say it’s 13 as that’s when a Jewish boy officially becomes a man, but other, more lenient, Christians point to the Biblical passage of men going to war at age 20, as if that’s the age that they truly became adults.  So then we should exterminate all people under 20?  And then we’d have to keep people from having any more kids lest they go to Hell.  So amp up the birth control and abortion, and bring back eugenics.  And soon there would be no one to repopulate the Earth and we’d all die.  But surely less souls would be in Hell!  With that line of reasoning you might as well just nuke the whole Earth right now because inevitably there are less people to go to Hell now than in 100 years when the population is doubled!

 
Hold on.  Take a breather.  How’d we start with “who should I vote for’ and end up with nuking the Earth?  Isn’t it always right to save a soul from Hell no matter what it takes?  At that rate it’s better to kill them and essentially save them from Hell in doing so (Hell being infinitely worse than death).  But then we’re playing God.  Taking vengeance when “Vengeance is Mine,” says the Lord.  Breaking His clear, certain commands for an uncertain greater good.  Isn’t there something intrinsically evil about murder?  Should you ever do evil, even if it produces a good deemed as more significant/influential than the evil?  Isn’t there really absolute truth and morality?  So that if it’s wrong to kill then it also must be wrong to kill Hitler, even if ending 1 evil, guilty life saves 6 million lives.  But isn’t that essentially the sin of omission?  You personally commit no murder, but by your refusal to murder you murder 6 million innocent people instead.  And here we are back to the “lesser of two evils” stale mate.

 

[Checkmate:  While it’s wrong to kill, isn’t it worse to assist in someone going to Hell?  In the case of the holocaust, it isn’t as much about saving the lives of 6 million Jews as much as it is about saving 6 million souls from being sent to Hell early.  Isn’t it better to send one undeniably evil man to Hell in exchange for the souls of 6 million Jews ?  Surely many of those 6 million (though many were undoubtedly Christians), if they were rescued, would have sought and found Christ after the horrors of the holocaust.  This is the one valid argument for killing I can think of.  Still I feel safer not killing anyone and leaving the mysteries of the after life to God.]

 
All this to say, no one really knows what’s truly right and wrong on these issues, because quite simply we don’t know for certain exactly how the after-life operates.  We outlaw an obvious evil like abortion (only for it to cause more souls to go to Hell), and we hasten the hand of God’s “obvious” justice by wiping out the Hitlers and Charles Mansons (but they, along with the evil and good soldiers fighting around them, go to Hell in the process) before they murder the innocent (which are more likely to go to Heaven when killed than the enemies when killed).

 

But abortion is an obvious evil which surely God wants stopped as soon as possible, and war is a less obvious evil, some would argue a necessary evil (as it’s always been around, has been used for many noble causes, and was even God-ordained in the Old Testament).  And when you consider how many deaths we’re talking about here, when it comes down to it, nothing touches abortion.  All the murders of Hitler and Stalin combined are less than the number of abortions in America alone.  And there’s no way to know how many executed criminals and fallen soldiers will actually go to Hell, versus how many un-aborted juvenile delinquents will go to Hell.  Maybe one is more than the other, maybe they’re the same.  But the whole point of this is to show that you can only follow the logic so far before you get sucked into a whirl-pool of circular arguments where philosophical speculation is the basis of your conclusions.  Are you willing to take the gamble?  There’s nothing in the Bible that definitively says “there is an age of accountability” or how many “infidel” soldiers go to Hell.  But you make your theoretical calculations and cast your lots.  Inevitably voting for someone’s damnation.

 
So.  When all the arguing dies out, you’re left with one question:  Is it right to support something that seems good even though it will have some consequences that seem bad?  Good luck with that one.  In other words, which would you vote for?  Blowing up Africa, Europe and Australia, or just blowing up Europe and Australia? Obviously I’d never vote for Hitler, but if he was running against Stalin, I’d have to think about it.

 

Or should you wash your hands of the whole thing, being innocent in your own eyes but essentially assisting evil by not stopping it? It’s because of your uninvolvement that the world keeps getting worse and worse.  The sin of omission again, perhaps even worse in this case since you did no good at all, neither to the 1 man nor the 6 million.  Was Pilate really guiltless just because he publicly washed his hands of the whole affair, protesting it?  No.  The blood of the Son of God was on his head as well, even though he didn’t scream with the jews “his blood be upon us and our children”. (Matt. 27:25)

 

But what if by voting for the lesser evil you’re withholding your vote for good, withholding your vote from a candidate who is not evil?  Who would you vote for: Hitler, Stalin, or Jesus?  Jesus has no shot at winning, because he tells the truth and not what people want to hear.  By voting for Jesus (who won’t win) you’re essentially voting for whichever candidate does win (which is inevitably going to be a worse candidate than Jesus, but more than that will promote some form of evil).  But wouldn’t Jesus want you to vote for Him?  Your vote for Jesus is a vote for the right thing in every area of politics.  Even though he doesn’t win you are still voicing your opinion as to who you want to win, and what policies you want the government to have.

 

After all this, past all the questions and ambiguity of my own personal opinion, politically I’m leaning towards finding the best possible candidate (even though he isn’t likely to win) and getting involved to do whatever I have to to make it likely for him to win.  Even if he doesn’t win this election, I’ve made it more likely for independent candidates like him to get elected in the future, outside of the 2 party nominations.  Isn’t that what Jesus would want?  If He was running for president, we’d feel obligated (but excited) to vote for Him (a vote for nothing evil, unlike the other candidates), but also forced to realize that the only way for Him to get elected is for us to get involved and make people want to vote for Him.

 

I end with an open-ended statement:  Vote for the candidate that will allow the most souls to go to Heaven, and the fewest souls to go to Hell, but is there any way to truly know which candidate that is?  I know one that definitely is, but he won’t win…yet.

//

 

Breathing Blue & Green September 18, 2012

Filed under: Terremoto — milesprowers @ 2:46 pm

What do you think these lyrics are talking about? Any comments?

Verse:
Sun lights up the cracked mirror of an endless blue-green desert.
It’s forever coming closer.
Living mountain ranges rise just to die and come back to life.
Tinfoil blankets pulling over one another.

Chorus:
A tapestry of the colors blue and green,
weaving them together as its cloudy cobwebs sing.
And when the wind begins to blow it starts waving,
Exhales the salty life it is breathing.

Verse:
From the sun-capped peaks a breeze carries nostalgic life deceased,
passed on from things since passed away.
Cliffs of oranges collapse, they pour into a frothy glass,
release the scent of death that refreshes back to life again.

Chorus

Bridge:
It feels like life though it, smells like death as its,
mouth spits saliva when it, lets another breath.

Chorus

Outro:
Oh, it is breathing.
Blue and green are breathing.
It is breathing blue and green.
Breathing green and blue.

//

 

Knights of Cydonia: An Atheist Anthem? September 13, 2012

Filed under: Christianity/Theology/Spirituality,Science/Atheism/Evolution/Creationism — milesprowers @ 12:27 am
Tags: , , ,

[as written on 81512]

 

When asked what my favorite Muse song is, I’d have to say it’s New Born, though Knights of Cydonia rivals it. However, while the song’s music as a whole perhaps is a little better than New Born’s music as a whole song in all it’s parts, for me in rating each song I’m biased against KOC for the lyrics. Matt Bellamy was at least at one point a seeming atheist in real life, though that perspective rarely comes out in his songs (and often you’d get the opposite reaction from his lyrics), but this is one of the few songs where it does come out. Which is unfortunate because it’s possibly their best song musically. The one time he bashes God is in the one song that’s best musically! Why pick that song to offend people?

 

Connecting the Lyrics with the Art:
The more I thought about the lyrics, the more it appears to be not only a random, weird nod to Atheism, but in fact an atheist anthem of sorts. The song itself has no mention or reference to either knights or Cydonia, except for the sound of horse galloping in the beginning referencing the knights riding on horses, and the sound of laser guns indicating that these are science fiction/future/space knights. What is Cydonia? It’s the area on Mars in which the “Face on Mars” was found in old photographs taken of the Martian surface, thus “Knights of Cydonia” apparently refers to Martian knights, or knights from the supposed Martian civilization in Cydonia (by whom the Face on Mars was constructed, perhaps in their humanoid likeness). The cover of the album “Black Holes and Revelations” shows 4 men sitting at a table in the red Cydonian desert (it’s not Earth because planet Earth is seen at a distance in the background) with horses on the table, linking them to the Knights of Cydonia (in which the song opens up with horse sounds). Why four knights? It’s an obvious link to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the biblical Book of Revelation (perhaps why Muse chose “Revelations” in the album name).
So how does this connect with lyrics? The lyrics in the song are minimal for a Muse song, but they suggest alot: “Come ride with me through the veins of history. I’ll show you a god who falls asleep on the job. How can we win when fools can be kings? Don’t waste time or time will waste you.”

 

Paraphrased it says this: “Look at the same history I’m looking at. With all the wars, natural disasters, and plagues in history, there’s no way there could really be a loving God involved with Earth. Therefore we’re on our own, and there’s no fate involved in who becomes a ruler; we’re at the mercy of these tyrants who are elected by chance and happenstance. We must not waste any time, but make things right before it’s too late. It’s only a matter of time before they ruin the Earth.”

 

How in the world does this statement at all relate to 4 Martian Knights? Because there’s no God, so life on Earth must have originated from a superior alien civilization on Mars, aka, “Panspermia”, another interest of Matt Bellamy’s lyrics (as seen in such songs as “Exegenesis: Cross-Pollination”). This is a serious proposition suggested by such leading atheists as Richard Dawkins, so it’s not that radical.
[But this is where it gets radical (maybe too radical for Muse): perhaps the lyrics and cover art are suggesting that these Knights of Cydonia, after planting life on Earth, are now in fact running all the politics of the world, establishing rulers as their puppets, from behind the scenes. So electing rulers is really out of our control and we must rise up and take the power back before it’s too late. Also if there’s no God, then the Book of Revelation isn’t supernatural and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that St. John saw are more realistically 4 aliens (a common theory among skeptics, who say the same thing regarding the 4 angels in wheels in Ezekiel’s prophecy).]

 

Atheist Anthem:
Therefore, after establishing an Atheistic worldview, the songs ends with a chorus of people chanting this anthem:
“No one’s gonna take me alive. The time has come to make things right. You and I must fight for our rights. You and I must fight to survive.”

 

Paraphrased, this is essentially saying: “There’s no God, so it’s all up to us. We must take everything into our own hands. We must resist these authorities, to the point of death. We will take control and make the world the place it’s supposed to be.” And then it closes the song with an evolutionary reference to “Survival of the Fittest”: “You and I must fight to survive.”

Sounds a little to me like, “I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14:14). It’s an Atheist Anthem.

 

It’s Influence on my Song-writing:
Even though this song seems to have an evil message (if you believe Christianity is the truth, and songs like this steer people away from God’s truth and towards Atheism), it’s so tempting to listen to because the music is absolutely incredible. So people like me end up listening to it and enjoying it, even though we know it is displeasing to God and it advances Atheism (aka, one of Satan’s most successful attacks on Christianity). And what better way for Satan to keep people from going to Heaven, than softening the heart of the average person to the ridiculous, impossible worldview of Atheism, indeed making it look cool and suddenly popular. And softening the Christian’s disgust towards atheism. All through the vehicle of the most amazing, catchy music the world has to offer today. “Though I don’t agree with an atheist, I’ll listen to him speak over and over again because his speech is so attractive and amazing.”

 

It just goes to show once again how powerful music is, even to the supernatural level. And what Satan uses for evil, God can use for good. I don’t know if Muse is actively trying to make people into atheists, agnostics, or deists, but they are. Even if their motives aren’t mission-minded, Satan’s sure are. And so Muse inspires me to likewise make the best music the world has to offer, but to include in the vehicle of irresistible songs a God-glorifying message of truth that wages war against Satan’s army of songs. For if I, as a devout Christian who’s aware of how the supernatural works, am even willing to keep listening to this Atheist Anthem (which I can acknowledge firsthand has caused me for a moment to question God’s existence in a world of pain and suffering), how much more will the average person (with no conviction) be likely to listen to it and be persuaded away from God (being undeducated in apologetics)?

 

And on the opposite side of the spectrum, if I, as a devout Christian following a universal moral standard, go against my convictions of pleasing God to listen to a song for the sake of the flesh’s entertainment, than how much more would an audience with no moral standard, numbed to convictions, be willing to listen to an incredible song, even though it throws in a random, weird nod to Christianity, or even a Christian anthem?

//

 

Sociosuicide August 23, 2012

Filed under: Christianity/Theology/Spirituality,The American Dream — milesprowers @ 5:43 pm
Tags: , , , , ,

[as written from 81611-6412, with additions and editions on 82312]

 

When first talking to my Dad about the possibility of going part-time to focus on music and life he said, “Don’t do that!  You’ll go through Hell!”  What, as if this is paradise?  Maybe I have to go through Hell to find out what paradise is.  Otherwise I may be in paradise right now thinking it’s Hell all the time.

 
You can survive without money, but there’s no point in surviving if you don’t have time.

 
Why waste the best years of your life?  Why spend the prime of your life confined to a cube, not even taking advantage of your young, energetic, healthy body?
Waste the prime of life slaving to save up money for the end of life when your body’s too achy from all those years of slaving to really enjoy it.  Work during the only years when you could actually be adventurous and do anything you want, only to retire when your outings are confined and safe.  I say the exact opposite: retire while you’re still young and work when you’re old.

 
It’s not like a job is going to be anything too physically-challenging for someone in their 60’s.  Especially since by the time I’m in my 60’s everything will be copy-and-pasting on computers anyways, so I’ll be confined to a cube (just like an old person would be in a retirement home) and clicking mouses all day (just like an old person would be doing anyways, playing solitaire and surfing the web).
Slave your whole life away and by the time you can finally retire you’re too old and achy and fragile to do the things you would do if you were younger.

And sadly you have to factor in the possibility that you wouldn’t even live long enough to retire (especially with the age of retirement getting pushed back), in which case your whole existence was all about school or working since you were like 5, and then ended before your life could be known for anything other than that.  What a shame it would be for you to invest all your time in a job, just longing for the day you retire, only to randomly get killed by a drunk driver at the age of 60.  “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you.  Then whose will all these things be which you have acquired?’” [Luke 12:20]

I wonder if an old man on his death bed would be happy he played it safe his whole life, giving up the risk of adventure for the mediocrity of comfort and security?  I doubt it.  After all, he still dies just like the man who dies while mountain climbing or sky-diving.  What does it matter at that point how you die?  And though the latter died sooner, who had a more fulfilling life overall?  You’re going to leave this earth one way or another; you might as well go out with a bang!  And live a more exciting life until that bang comes (if it ever does indeed come).

 
“Stand by and see the salvation of our God.”

 

Whereas on our first trip to the new city I was yelling “Livin’ the dream!  Livin’ the FLIPPIN’ dream!!”  Now I somberly mutter under my breath with reverence “Living the dream.”  Do I have cold feet?  Of course I’ve got cold feet!  But I choose to force those cold feet forward.  I don’t wake up everyday with such a strong conviction of faith so as to meditate on every one of my problems until I have peace about each one, but I do have an over-arching faith that says “I’m scared about these circumstances I’m going through, but I know God will make it all work out in the end one way or another.”  And so my act of faith isn’t staring at my fears in the face and laughing at them, my act of faith is to not think of them at all and trust that God’s plan isn’t dependent on me having faith about each one, but instead having faith that he’ll make it all work out, and it’s not going to help anything by me thinking about them.  Even if my goal is trying to muster faith against each problem individually, chances are if I think about a problem I’ll unavoidably worry; so why even think of them?  My act of faith is to keep flying by the seat of my pants, not paying attention to the details (lest I worry), and trusting that God will make me land where I’m supposed to.

 

[This is something I had to learn from going through major depression during the struggles with my band’s old drummer.  It seemed that he would be quitting the band (which for me was ultimately a sign that my dream of music wouldn’t work out and everything I’d banked my life on was a mistake), and so I was stressed, depressed, and anxious as I was forced to wait for him to get his act together and figure out what he was doing.  The mood of every day hinged on what kind of response I got from him.  Then one day he randomly just hit us with the news that he was moving out of state, which had nothing to do with the band but had to do with family issues, so it was completely out of our control.  That’s when I realized that all this time I was trying to fix the situation and manipulate it to work out in my favor, but in the end the outcome was completely independent of me, and I couldn’t have influenced the situation one bit.  The outcome was still going to happen regardless of me.  I had the realization that instead of spending that month in depression, stress, and anxiety, I could have simply not cared or thought about the situation at all, and instead chilled out and enjoyed life for a month, and the result would have been exactly the same!  …only in the second scenario I would have had a much better month of my life.]
“Stand by and see the salvation of our God.”  For some reason, in times like this, a verse will just randomly come out of my inner being, and the same verse keeps coming over and over (as was the case when I was nervous about talking to Mike Minter on the phone and the line “Why do the nations rage when their king is on the throne?” kept coming to me all week).  This particular line is one that got into my head from one of Minter’s sermons referring to Moses’ statement when the people were dead-ended by the Red Sea (the specific wording I think is a combination with Isaiah 52:10, after being recently amazed by Rich Mullins’ song “52:10”).  Just as in the past when God had everything fall into place miraculously and amazingly, even now I’m seeing the pieces coming together and all I can do is keep going, awaiting the miraculous as in the past, and say “Stand by and see the salvation of our God.”  May I fall into place, and then stand back and be amazed at the puzzle You have made!

//

 

[Interview] Miles Prowers: “Judaism is the one true religion.” May 30, 2012

Filed under: Christianity/Theology/Spirituality — milesprowers @ 12:44 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

R: Miles, thanks for taking the time to do a short interview for us.
M: Anytime!
R: It seems that on your latest album you had more blatant Christian references than usual.  Would you consider Christianity to be the one true religion?
M: No.
R: Really.  I’m sure that will surprise a lot of our listeners.  So, I’m guessing you’re one of these philosophical types that see all religions as having the same purpose, leading to the same place, and you just try to be devout with the one you’re raised in?
M: Not really.  I’m actually anti-religion altogether.
R:  Wow.  ‘Cause all your lyrics appear to point to a consistent, conservative religious background.  So I guess it’s more of just an artistic form for you, whereas in reality you’re agnostic?
M:  No, I’m not agnostic.  I believe there is one truth, and the same reality for everybody on Earth, and anyone who doesn’t believe that truth is deceived.
R:  But there isn’t one true religion?
M: No, there is.
R: [Laughs]  Okay, now you’re just messing with me!
M: No, I’m being serious.  There is one true religion.
R: Okay, you just said there wasn’t!
M: No, I didn’t.
R: Then which one is it?!
M: Judaism.
R: ………
M: This may surprise a lot of people but Judaism is actually the one true religion.
R: I would have never guessed you’re Jewish!
M:  I’m not.
R: …….. Okay, enough with the questions.  I guess I should just let you explain.  What is it exactly that you do you believe?
M: So I believe in one God who created man, then man rebelled against God, forever separating God’s presence from Earth with man.  God then set up a system to atone for man’s sins so he could once again dwell with man.  This system for atoning man’s sins is what’s known as Judaism, and it’s the one true set of laws that God created to allow man to atone for his sins.  But it still wasn’t anything like the perfect relationship God had with man in the beginning, and depraved mankind continued breaking God’s covenant, thus incurring God’s judgement.  This system of obedience and sin, blessings and curses was frustrating to God, so he told his prophet Jeremiah he wasn’t satisfied with the current covenant and he was going to establish a new covenant and a new law, this time written on man’s heart.  This new covenant would be so much better and easier than the old one that all the world could easily take part in it and have that perfect relationship with God again.  And so God told the prophets that a man would rise up from among them to establish this new covenant, as the Jewish prophet Isaiah said: “A child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on his shoulders.”  But what’s interesting about this man whom the prophets refer to as “The Chosen One”, is what Isaiah says next:  “The government will rest on his shoulders; and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father.”  So what child is this that will be called God, Eternal Father?  What they were prophesying is that this Chosen One would be God himself, born as a man!  God himself enacts the first covenant, God himself enacts the 2nd!  Of course this Chosen One already came in the person which the world knows as Jesus, and he established God’s new covenant.
R: Aha!  So Christianity is the one true religion!
M: No, I already told you it’s not!
R: [expletive]
M: See, that just goes to show that most people don’t understand what Christianity really is, including many people who label themselves as Christian.
R:  Alright, alright.  I’m sorry for interrupting you in this interview.  Keep on going.
M: Most people think Jesus came to start a new religion, but in reality he did just the exact opposite!  Being God, he lived a perfect life, fulfilling every law in the Old Covenant, and though he was perfect and didn’t need to atone for personal sin, he took all the sins of the world upon himself and sacrificed his perfect body as one final sacrifice, atoning for sin once and for all.  This is the New Covenant God mentioned through the prophets, and so all people need to do now is simply believe that God did this and accept this final atonement for their sins. Then God will see them as having the perfect righteousness of Jesus, and with no sin separating them from God anymore he will once again live among all believers of this covenant, as he did in the beginning, only this time inside of them.
R: Okay, hold on a sec.  So you said you believe Judaism is the true religion, yet it seems you believe Judaism is obsolete.  How do you reconcile this?
M: Yes, Judaism has been made obsolete, but it also remains the only true religion established by God, because it was never replaced with another one.  Now the Old Covenant was replaced by the New Covenant, but unlike the Old Covenant, the new one wasn’t a religion of rules you have to follow to be made right with God.  Just like Jeremiah prophesied that the New Covenant would be written on our hearts, when we believe in Jesus’ sacrifice our sins are instantly atoned for, and in our perfection God begins a relationship with us; there’s no need for religion anymore.  And interestingly enough, secular history even verifies this because only a few years after fulfilling Judaism, God affirmed its obsoletion by destroying the Jewish Temple, making it so the Jews were incapable of trying to atone for their sins anymore through the Old Covenant.
R: Okay, before you go any further we’ve got to start wrapping it up here.  So to recap, it seems to me in the course of this interview you said, 1. You’re not a Christian, 2. Judaism is the one true religion, but 3. You’re not Jewish, in fact you’re anti-religion.  And then you go on some spiel that makes you sound like you’re a devout Christian after all.  Do you have one consistent world-view, or are you changing your mind as we speak?
M: Yes, I have one consistent world-view.  No, I’m not changing my mind as we speak. [Laughs]  But you only got 2 of the 3 right.
R: [Laughs] Alright!  At this point I’ll take what I can get.  Which one was wrong?
M: I actually am a Christian…
R: But you just…!
M: Hold on, hold on.  Let me try to clarify myself and wrap all this up in a way that people can understand.
R: Please, by all means!
M: So Judaism is the one true religion, but it was fulfilled and made obsolete by Christianity.  However, Christianity is not a religion, in fact it is the freedom from religion.  Jesus kept every Jewish commandment for us and then with one final atonement God traded his righteousness for our sin, making us righteous simply by our faith in him, so that we no longer have to keep the Jewish laws.  Essentially Jesus abolished religion.  Therefore, to be pro-Jesus is essentially saying you’re pro-abolition-of-religion and thus anti-religion.  The end.
R: Wow, okay, well, that’s not the direction I thought this interview was going to go, and it seems that took all of our time.  But you left us enough to chew on for a while, so I guess that’s it for now.  Thanks for taking the time to have this monologue…uh… interview.
M: Anytime.  [Laughs]  Sorry about that.  But it is the most important thing to me and there’s nothing else I’d rather talk about.  Thanks everyone for taking the time to listen!

 

America = Fake February 20, 2012

Filed under: The American Dream — milesprowers @ 1:00 pm
Tags: , , ,

[first inspired sometime in 2011, but all written on 21912]

If I had to sum up America in one word it would be…… fake.

A fake country with a fake government run by fake politicians ruling over fake people with fake bodies running on fake energy working fake jobs to spend fake money on fake food and entertainment, but it’s all good because on Sunday you get to go to a fake church and hear a fake message about a fake religion from a fake pastor with fake worship and fake prayers to a fake God. Wow.

In other words… America is a fantasy-land nation living like life is good while most other countries are starving. Yet we don’t have the money either, we’re just taking out loans to live like it. The only reason we have any money at all is because our government has taken out loans and given that money to us. And so we have money that isn’t ours that we get from working in cubicles, riding the fumes of caffeine that our body has become dependent upon, hitting buttons all day that increases numbers in the cyber-world, buying and selling digital concepts like stocks. And after sitting down all day pressing buttons in a box inside an air-conditioned, florescent-lit bigger box we walk 20 feet and sit down again in our car which takes us to another box (that we bought with money we don’t have) where we walk 10 feet and sit down the rest of the night isolated from the world and eat food someone else made for us that delivered to our house, all the while staring at a square that persuades us of a fake reality until we fall asleep. And then we do it all over again. And again. All the while increasing our loans. Alone with a loan. Using plastic to pay for plastic surgery and plastic houses, as plastic politicians with plastic personalities and plastic messages tell us to keep doing it, because that’s what the plastic government takes out loans to pay them to do so our plastic will keep swiping. And we the people vote it to stay that way, because that’s the way we want it. But this is fun! This is the life! Oh, and we’re a “Christian” nation, though no one really believes in it.

But why shouldn’t the government be that way, when that’s how its people are, which make up the government and represent the people? “We the [fake] people”. I was thoroughly disturbed the other night as I heard a speech straight from the top of the DIA who said that it’s too late for America. He said the next president cannot fix it. America will no longer be the world’s superpower in the coming years. People have been paranoid about America’s collapse for hundreds of years, predicting the end as a consequence for anything they don’t agree with. But one prediction is 100% sure: we are closer to it now than at any other time in American history, than any of the times of those predictions (because after every one of those predictions America came out from the smoke every time). But if people were freaking out in the 60’s when the debt was in the billions, they had all the more reason to in the 90’s when the debt was over a trillion dollars. I mean, a trillion is an unfathomable amount of money! A trillion seconds ago there was no life on this planet. How much more now when the debt is increasing exponentially at several trillions a year!!! If nothing else, we are one day closer to the end than we were yesterday.

The thing that’s most dis-heartening is that it could be fixed. It could be fixed soon. With the brilliance and skill and resources and annual gross income of America it isn’t impossible to pay it all off in a few years. But no one would be up for that. No one would let go of their possessions or freedoms for a moment without a fight and lawsuits and insurrection first. No one would give up the American Dream, even if it was to save the American Dream itself. “That’s their problem. It’s not my fault we’re in this mess. Stinks to be the next generation that will have to sell their freedom to pay off the debt. As for me I’m living the dream while it’s still an option, even if it’s at the expense of my children not getting to live it.”

As it turns out, the thing America is known for is the very thing that is rapidly killing us: pride. America takes pride in its pride. Proud to be an American.  But don’t people get that pride is the worst sin of them all? The Bible says pride is what caused Satan to become the greatest enemy of all time, and it’s the main sin charged against the stereotype evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It’s the main thing Jesus railed against on Earth and said kept a person out of Heaven (Luke 18). Because pride is taking the place of God, that’s why it is the worst sin. Yet it’s in all the commercials and Olympics and Super Bowl and TV shows and concerts and YouTube. Pride = America. It puts America on the same level as Sodom and Gomorrah. But every single person in America already knows this, because everyone knows the infamous slogan “Pride comes before a fall,” and so it’s no surprise to us. Everyone knows what’s coming, but we keep on living the dream, hoping that someone else will fix our problems and cut us a break. We can’t stop. Not only are we headed for destruction, but we ourselves are racing there. We are addicted to nihilism. We are ferociously sawing the limb we’re sitting on. So that’s our fate. We see the dead end coming and don’t see a way out, saying, “So be it. Might as well enjoy it while I can.” Rather than experience the pain of losing a limb we choose death.

As the DIA man said, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” All 15 trillion of those dollars will have to be payed. By someone. Someone will have to take a hit. Someone will have to voluntarily lay down the only life he will live and the only chance to pursue his dreams so that someone else can pursue theirs. Or else they’ll be forced to, like in the Great Depression. Kids during the great depression weren’t saying, “When I grow up I want to be a fire-fighter.” You got whatever job you could scrounge for. It stinks for all those talented athletes and artists in the 30’s who didn’t get the option of having a career they loved, unlike all the other American generations before and after them. It’s not fair, but that’s the way it is. It’s not fair that you have to be the generation that gives up your career ambitions and possessions so that later Americans can have them. It’s especially not fair that you’re paying for the mistakes of big businesses, the greediness of Wall Street, and the natural ups and downs of the economy. But either we suck it up, stop pointing fingers, forgive, and all sacrifice together for the good of America’s posterity or …………… America dies.

[Yes, I used 15 dots.]

There’s no fair solution. As mere finite mortals there’s no way to perfectly judge and extract from each individual exactly what they owe, especially since no one thinks they’re to blame. Better to give up money voluntarily than be taxed by force, especially when it’s going to a good cause like saving America. As opposed to the only other alternative of holding onto your money right now and becoming enslaved to another nation again, when you’ll lose it anyways, but having to be enslaved first. Everyone will take a hit, but the sooner we take a hit the better, while there is less to hit. Might as well go ahead and take a hit now while America is still a country and you still have a job. People will lose jobs and people will lose money, that’s not an option. The only option is whether that loss comes through freedom or slavery, choice or force?

My advice: Stop charging, start paying. Stop buying, start saving. When you buy, buy American, and withdraw enough real cash to survive for a while. Otherwise it’s all fake, digital IOU’s stored in a cyber bank that will be wiped out with one delete key or the pull of a plug (as already happened once). Move close enough to your job that you can ride a bike, or move in with your family and friends. Buy enough storage food to last you for several months, and learn how to survive without electricity. Aka learn how people have been living all along.

Or maybe we could just sell Alaska to Russia for 15 trillion dollars and then it’d just be the Alaskans’ problem, and then we can still get that new car we are going to take out a loan for. But then in a few years we’d be back to 15 trillion dollars in debt and have to sell Hawaii to China.

//

 

The Kingdom of Terremoto

Filed under: Terremoto — milesprowers @ 12:46 pm
Tags: , , ,

[written on 011612]

I toil everyday, tirelessly, building this masterpiece Kingdom in hopes of it standing out in history, like a lighthouse, bringing in people to see it for themselves. Yet it is not for me.

And I will bring people alongside me to toil towards its completion also, and on that day when the final brick is set in the highest tower I will engrave on its capstone this inscription: “The Kingdom of Terremoto: A Gift for my King.”

On that day we will celebrate by preparing a great feast. Once everything is ready a great trumpet will sound and the doors will open to all who wish to come in from the streets. I’ll cut the red ribbon (the greatest honor of my life) that hangs over the bright, red carpet which leads into the King’s hall where the pennants drape down over the checkered court as the guests waltz to the Flowers. It will be a celebration open to all for all generations to come. But the most overjoyed of all on that day will be the ones who were celebrating all the while with me during those first years of building.

The smell of coffee and bakery waft through the wooden rafters high above as the young men laugh and the maidens flirt below. And many guests stay there all their lives, never getting too full from the great feast. And all the while in the midst of this great banquet, beyond the stone pillars at the end of the marble palace stands a great throne, yet it is empty.

The people look expectantly to me, awaiting me to sit on the throne, but I tell them plainly, “It isn’t my kingdom.”

But the people don’t care because of the great banquet they feast on, for they know not the King. But some notice the throne and inquire of it. I tell them, “All of this is simply one big offering that I present to my King, to show him thanks for the gift he first gave me, which is the greatest gift that can be given, an unrecompensable gift. Yet it was his gift to me that inspired and enabled me to build this gift for him, and indeed he himself supervised its completion. For except the King build his own Kingdom, I labored in vain. For he won’t be as happy as he could be unless it turns out just the way he wants.

“As for the throne, it is a lasting testament to him, that he is the King of this Kingdom, and no other will ever take his place on the throne, so that those who enjoy the fruit of this Kingdom may praise him for it. For he is a King which cannot even be confined to a throne. In fact he is already here with us, right now, in spirit.”

“And what was it that the King gave you?”

“He saved my life. Now all I have I owe to him. All my time, all my talent, all my treasure. For I would not have any of it to begin with had he not saved me. And this Kingdom is the best use of all of them, the greatest gift I can possibly offer him.”

//

 

Religion: √ Other February 18, 2012

Filed under: Christianity/Theology/Spirituality — milesprowers @ 1:23 pm
Tags: , , , , , ,

[As written on 012912]

“What religion are you?”

This turns out to be a loaded question.
How would the first Christians have responded?  That was before the term “Christian” existed.
How would Jesus (does Jesus) want you to respond?
“Christianity.”
Oh, so Christianity’s a religion?
In most cases, Christianity is a person’s religion…that is, for a person who isn’t really a Christian.  Christianity is the religion of someone who doesn’t understand what Christianity really is.  Of someone who makes Christianity into a religion.

Or you could say, more appropriately,
“I have no religion.” “I don’t follow a religion.”  “I don’t believe in religion.”
As someone at work asked me,
“Are you religious?”
To which I confidently regurgitated the theologically-sophisticated answer I had been taught to believe:
“No.”
Wow.  I thought he was a Christian.  I didn’t realize he’s an agnostic. 
As I realized what he was probably thinking, all I could do is just stand there, stumped, unable to jump back on my train of thought and explain myself.  I just passed up the perfect Gospel opportunity.

In an ideal situation, their question would be:
“What is your religion?”
In which case, the simple, yet theologically profound, answer is:
“Jesus.”

Most people aren’t theologically aware enough to even realize what Christianity actually is, so most people would think,
Okay, Jesus = Christianity, so Christianity is his religion.
…and be on to the next thing.

But hopefully there would be someone who would at that point question you further.
“You mean Christianity is your religion.  A Muslim’s religion is Islam, not Muhammad.”
And then in that glorious, life-changing opportunity you fulfill the meaning of life, you obey the Great Commission, you plant the seed, you preach the Gospel to them in one sentence:

“Jesus didn’t start a religion; He personally took the place of religion.”
And if they question you further, you answer further.

It’s unclear exactly what the minimum is that a person must believe in order to be saved.  The best example of salvation in the Bible is the thief on the cross in Luke 23, who, to my knowledge, is the only instance in the Bible of someone who is clearly, definitely saved.  Of course the apostles were and all that, but I mean, the thief is the only person God Himself ever told “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”  You are saved.

Specific details aside, the Gospel as simplified as possible is this:
Christianity = Salvation by God’s grace through Jesus.

[42112- Perhaps the next time we fill out one of those forms that requires us to specify our religion we should check the box “Other”, and if it provides a blank to clarify we should write in “Jesus”.  That would throw off the nation’s statistics, perhaps for the better, perhaps for the worse (as it would seem to indicate Christianity dying off, when in reality it’s being resurrected in a new form, stronger and more alive than before).]

//

 

The Greatest Possible Sacrifice January 28, 2012

Filed under: Christianity/Theology/Spirituality — milesprowers @ 10:18 am
Tags: , , ,

[As written on 1/17-18/12, edited 012812]

“The universe is so vast and so ageless that the life of one man can only be justified by the measure of his sacrifice.” ~ RAF Flying Officer Vivian Rosewarne, shot down on 31 May 1940

All this talk of sacrifices…but I don’t sacrifice. Not really. If I did I would be out of my comfort zone, doing things I don’t want to do. As it is, I sacrifice…in my comfort zone. I sacrifice my time (not wasting time with insignificant things that don’t edify me or others), talent (use my strengths and skills to bring others closer to God), treasure (only buy what is necessary and give the rest to the ministry), body (rebel against the lusts of my flesh) and relationships (don’t let anyone become more of a priority over God, or get in the way of my calling). I sacrifice it to make the biggest impact I can possibly make…..and yet still manage to achieve my own desires, interests, and dreams. Still somehow keep my hands from getting dirty.
A wise man once said “If I even sacrifice my body to the flames, but have not love, I am nothing.” Equally in my case, if I rock the world to its core, but have not love… I am nothing.

I sacrifice my time, talent and treasure to use it for things other than indulging my selfish desires, but even then I’m using them to do something I enjoy doing. So then, is that really sacrifice? Is it that much of a sacrifice to choose not to indulge in fleshly stimulation at all times? I put all my time, talent, and treasure towards a ministry, but it’s a ministry I enjoy doing. So is it really sacrifice?
It’s easy to sacrifice physical things within your comfort zone that you have easy access to like money and food; what’s hard to sacrifice is the intangible, things like your embarrassment and weaknesses. Standing up to defend Jesus’ name or Christianity. Making that first embarrassing detour in the conversation to culturally-awkward topics like religion. Amidst your jam-packed schedule to ask someone if they need help with something or engaging them in conversation. On your day off to look for ways to serve others. Or forcing yourself to smile. Or giving up your spiritual gifts to serve in the area which happens to need the most help right in front of you, as awkward as it is. Or even physical things like fatigue and pain. These are the hindrances of true sacrifice.

Who really does sacrifice then?
The first thing that pops up in my mind when I think of total sacrifice, or the ultimate surrender to God, is the missionary. Surely a missionary who leaves behind all luxury and family and cultural comfort behind to pursue the selfless goal of fulfilling God’s neglected command to preach the Gospel to those most desperate for it. Yet what missionary doesn’t enjoy what he does? What missionary doesn’t feel the unparalleled, divine joy that comes from joining the ranks of the apostles in being obedient to God’s greatest command and fulfilling their meaning of life? Are there really missionaries out there writhing in misery right now, guilt-tripped into the mission field, and merely riding on the fumes of conviction to keep them going? If so, I’ve never heard of them, even if their missionary journey doesn’t bare evident fruit.

Perhaps we should let the missionaries speak for themselves. What would the most sacrificial of missionaries say on the subject? Fortunately for this essay’s sake, one of the most famous missionaries was asked about his sacrifice. To which Dr. David Livingstone replied:
“People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. . . . Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”

Wow. I’m reminded of the passage that “coincidentally” came up today as I’m in the process of reading through the whole Bible chronologically. Luke 17: 7: “Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? 8 But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? 9 He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? 10 So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”

So what then is the ultimate sacrifice?
100% sacrifice would be something like voluntarily going to jail or dying for no cause, where you can’t enjoy anything, nor do anything good which might bring you joy. That’s the ultimate sacrifice. And also that which God abhors.

As it turns out, “sacrifice” in reality is a relative term that requires a balance to be useful, much like the rest of Christianity. For if you truly sacrificed everything you possibly could, you wouldn’t be doing any good. God has called us all to be living sacrifices and yet I believe that in fulfilling that divine charge of making the greatest impact you can possibly make you will experience the greatest possible joy.

//

//

//

//

//

//