The tomb is empty.
He is risen from the dead.
Go, make disciples.
Matt 28
John <><
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Monday, February 25, 2019
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Friday, February 22, 2019
F-f-f ... Facebook Fasting Fail
It's a day short of a week and I've done pretty well at avoiding Facebook. I said that I'd keep my linked posts from my blog and Instagram, and I said that I'd check daily for comments. I found myself scrolling through my news feed and seeing some posts that were informative for me ... my church site, some motorcycle forums and cigar forums, and some family and friend posts.
I stopped following several news feeds and picked them up on Twitter. And I don't think I've made any responses via comment and only a few reactions or likes. I can live with that -- for now. I'll probably continue with relatively few posts and limited or no comments. I'll just be a Facebook lurker.
* * * * *
I have been spending a little more time with some people interaction. They've pretty much been from church (something with church peeps every day but Tuesday this week), but they are people interactions, nevertheless. I've actually talked to someone other than Chris every day this week! That's quite an accomplishment for a guy that's pretty comfortable being alone all of the time.
One fail, one bit of progress for the week.
Balance.
I'll take it!
John <><
I stopped following several news feeds and picked them up on Twitter. And I don't think I've made any responses via comment and only a few reactions or likes. I can live with that -- for now. I'll probably continue with relatively few posts and limited or no comments. I'll just be a Facebook lurker.
* * * * *
I have been spending a little more time with some people interaction. They've pretty much been from church (something with church peeps every day but Tuesday this week), but they are people interactions, nevertheless. I've actually talked to someone other than Chris every day this week! That's quite an accomplishment for a guy that's pretty comfortable being alone all of the time.
One fail, one bit of progress for the week.
Balance.
I'll take it!
John <><
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Monday, February 18, 2019
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Teaching How to Think vs Indoctrination
I get to teach a high school class at church this week. We are looking at the topic of apologetics.
Last week was an introduction to the topic. This week's lesson is How can I know there's a God?
The point of my lesson isn't to prove to them there is a God, nor is it to defend my beliefs. The point is to equip them to examine and defend their own beliefs -- even if they differ from mine!
Looking over the lesson this morning has me thinking about how my own thinking on Jesus has evolved over time. I am really beginning to value the freedom of slowly leaving religion behind and simply following Jesus. I'm not sure when or how I came to the realization that religion (not just Christianity) tends to seek control, but God wants to set us free.
In evangelicalism, we always talk about Jesus delivering us from sin and the punishment from sin. We tend to ignore that Jesus said he came to set the captives free, give hope to those in poverty and release the downtrodden from their oppressors. Jesus didn't come to burden us with religion. He came to set us free from religion!
I'm finding this following of Jesus to be both freeing and uncomfortable at the same time. The difficulty is in becoming less religious and being okay with that. The voices and religions of the past still speak to me. All of them are not traditional religions.
Voices like, "Be a man!" and "Proud to be an American" are also semi-religious voices that seek to control our thoughts and behaviors. In the Bible Paul writes that in Jesus there are no national boundaries, no economic divisions, no gender biases -- just simple followers of Jesus. Everyone is welcome and everyone is equal.
It is this present philosophy of religion and following Jesus that makes me want to be very careful as I teach and preach the way of Jesus -- especially to young people. As much as I want them to know what Jesus said two thousand years ago, I also want to equip them to figure out what that means for them in 2019.
I don't want them to follow John.
I want them to follow Jesus.
The Old Testament has 613 laws for the Jews to follow.
I have no idea how many laws today's religious Christians have to follow.
Jesus summarized the 613 laws into two -- Love God and love people.
Then he said, "Follow me."
I can live with these three.
John <><
Last week was an introduction to the topic. This week's lesson is How can I know there's a God?
The point of my lesson isn't to prove to them there is a God, nor is it to defend my beliefs. The point is to equip them to examine and defend their own beliefs -- even if they differ from mine!
Looking over the lesson this morning has me thinking about how my own thinking on Jesus has evolved over time. I am really beginning to value the freedom of slowly leaving religion behind and simply following Jesus. I'm not sure when or how I came to the realization that religion (not just Christianity) tends to seek control, but God wants to set us free.
In evangelicalism, we always talk about Jesus delivering us from sin and the punishment from sin. We tend to ignore that Jesus said he came to set the captives free, give hope to those in poverty and release the downtrodden from their oppressors. Jesus didn't come to burden us with religion. He came to set us free from religion!
I'm finding this following of Jesus to be both freeing and uncomfortable at the same time. The difficulty is in becoming less religious and being okay with that. The voices and religions of the past still speak to me. All of them are not traditional religions.
Voices like, "Be a man!" and "Proud to be an American" are also semi-religious voices that seek to control our thoughts and behaviors. In the Bible Paul writes that in Jesus there are no national boundaries, no economic divisions, no gender biases -- just simple followers of Jesus. Everyone is welcome and everyone is equal.
It is this present philosophy of religion and following Jesus that makes me want to be very careful as I teach and preach the way of Jesus -- especially to young people. As much as I want them to know what Jesus said two thousand years ago, I also want to equip them to figure out what that means for them in 2019.
I don't want them to follow John.
I want them to follow Jesus.
The Old Testament has 613 laws for the Jews to follow.
I have no idea how many laws today's religious Christians have to follow.
Jesus summarized the 613 laws into two -- Love God and love people.
Then he said, "Follow me."
I can live with these three.
John <><
Saturday, February 16, 2019
Good-bye, Facebook!
Ugh!
I'm tired.
And I'm dirty.
We all know that posting links to our social and political perspectives on any social media platform is never going to change the mind of someone with a differing perspective. People don't look to social media for information to educate themselves; only to validate themselves and their opinions.
It seems that the same has become true of the news! We no longer look to the news for news, but rather subscribe only to news outlets that present the news that fits within our own political and social ideology.
If you are caught up in the social media game of political posts and other social shaming, maybe you are also getting tired ... and dirty. I think I'm opting out of the game.
Last December I took a few weeks off of sharing any politically charged posts. I'm going back to that.
As a matter of fact, my Facebook wall will be a "post only" kind of page for a little while. It will have posts when I write something on one of my blogs and pics that I share on Instagram. I doubt that it will have much else.
And ... since I'm not going to be checking my feed for several weeks, if there is something you want me to see or know, you will have to contact me via PM, text, email, or give me a call. I'd love to have a conversation with you -- either on the phone or in person if you are in motorcycle round trip distance (500-600 miles gets me home in time for dinner).
I'm not abandoning the World Wide Web and will most likely maintain my activity levels on Instagram and Twitter. I'm @magicianary on both of those if you want to connect with me on one or both of those platforms. I am trying to change my overall outlook on life and Facebook seems to be getting in the way.
The funny thing is -- it's not other people's posts that are the problem. It's my own posts (and re-posts) that are keeping me from being the person that I want to be.
Yesterday, a pastor on Twitter posted that she was preparing a message on prayer and asked how your prayers have changed over the past several years.
I responded --
"Less to change others to be the way I want them to be; more to change me to be like He wants me to be.
Wow.
Change is hard.
At first, trying to love like Jesus is hard. Later, when you realize how much God loves you, hating becomes hard."
Yeah, I'm still working on it.
And even though hating is becoming more difficult, the sad truth is that indifference is still too easy.
So while the US continues its debate about building a wall, I'm going to work on dismantling the personal walls I have been building for quite some time. When I get the height of the wall down to where we can see each other again (picture Wilson from Tool Time), let's talk.
Until then, I'll be dealing with the never ending job of building up a better John and beginning the task of tearing down walls.
John <><
I'm tired.
And I'm dirty.
We all know that posting links to our social and political perspectives on any social media platform is never going to change the mind of someone with a differing perspective. People don't look to social media for information to educate themselves; only to validate themselves and their opinions.
It seems that the same has become true of the news! We no longer look to the news for news, but rather subscribe only to news outlets that present the news that fits within our own political and social ideology.
If you are caught up in the social media game of political posts and other social shaming, maybe you are also getting tired ... and dirty. I think I'm opting out of the game.
Last December I took a few weeks off of sharing any politically charged posts. I'm going back to that.
As a matter of fact, my Facebook wall will be a "post only" kind of page for a little while. It will have posts when I write something on one of my blogs and pics that I share on Instagram. I doubt that it will have much else.
And ... since I'm not going to be checking my feed for several weeks, if there is something you want me to see or know, you will have to contact me via PM, text, email, or give me a call. I'd love to have a conversation with you -- either on the phone or in person if you are in motorcycle round trip distance (500-600 miles gets me home in time for dinner).
I'm not abandoning the World Wide Web and will most likely maintain my activity levels on Instagram and Twitter. I'm @magicianary on both of those if you want to connect with me on one or both of those platforms. I am trying to change my overall outlook on life and Facebook seems to be getting in the way.
The funny thing is -- it's not other people's posts that are the problem. It's my own posts (and re-posts) that are keeping me from being the person that I want to be.
Yesterday, a pastor on Twitter posted that she was preparing a message on prayer and asked how your prayers have changed over the past several years.
I responded --
"Less to change others to be the way I want them to be; more to change me to be like He wants me to be.
Wow.
Change is hard.
At first, trying to love like Jesus is hard. Later, when you realize how much God loves you, hating becomes hard."
Yeah, I'm still working on it.
And even though hating is becoming more difficult, the sad truth is that indifference is still too easy.
So while the US continues its debate about building a wall, I'm going to work on dismantling the personal walls I have been building for quite some time. When I get the height of the wall down to where we can see each other again (picture Wilson from Tool Time), let's talk.
Until then, I'll be dealing with the never ending job of building up a better John and beginning the task of tearing down walls.
John <><