The Singularity?

 
     What is "The Singularity"? Have you ever heard of the "The Singularity"?  I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't. I actually first heard about it a few years ago but didn't have a name for it.  The easiest way that I can describe this is as one of it's biggest proponents put it  "The Singularity is the the point when humanity transcends biology".
     Still not clear? Basically it's the point where we've developed computer and artificial intelligence technology to the point where humans will either have to merge with machines or die out, essentially.  This isn't a new idea, anyone who is a fan of  science fiction has ran in to this idea many times and probably didn't realize it, The Matrix and The Terminator are probably the most recognizable in pop culture.
     The idea itself sounds like science fiction, but I propose that where we realize it or not it's a goal that's been slowly invading our culture. Recent technological advancements such as micro chips that can be implanted in to living being, the xbox kinect, cybernetic implants that restore sight, smart phones that are continually connected to the internet, google glasses and even tattoo that are functional microchips, while individually seem to have little relation to each other but together are building to a world that is continually connected by an ever growing network and not just connecting computers but humans being connected to the network as well.
      So let's summarize, simplify and flip this around. The Singularity is where human's have created their own super intelligent technological gods and are ourselves attempting to gain immortality through the use of cybernetics and nano-technology. Is this in reality going to happen? Probably not, not the way the proponents want it too, through the downloading of our conciseness into computers, robots or whatever. This is a real goal. This isn't a conspiracy theory. There are people actively working towards this goal! (The Singularity institute)
    But what does this mean? Could this type of technology be the instrument used to create the "One World Government " that many  (including me) believe the governments of the world are working toward and that many believe is prophesied in the Book of Revelation?  Could be.  Could this be the technology that is used in implementing a physical "Mark of the Beast" Maybe.

      I don't know the answers to these questions but this is something that is happening. We are moving closer and closer to being to connected all the time look at Facebook and Twitter. Even look at our video games, and our phones and even our T.V.'s all connected to the internet. Information on where you are and what you are doing being constantly collected and we don't realize it, think about it and I'm sure their are a lot of us who don't even know this is going on!
     So again what is this? What does this mean? What does this mean to the Christian? Is technology the new tower of Babel?  I'm not sure I have a sufficient answer. Technology is a tool. Internet technology has allowed the Gospel to be spread 24/7 365 all around the world but it has also allowed evil to be spread 24/7 365 all around the world.
    I do not believe technology in itself is evil. I quite enjoy technology myself always have but it we must we vigilant that it does not become an Idol. We must push back and realize that as powerful and advance as it has become that we do not elevate it above God. We must be aware that many out their believe that because we have these marvels we have no more need for God. But the truth is as liberating as technology can be in the helping and healing of those who are sick or injured or connecting loved ones around the world. It can also be a prison. It can be a prison of pride.  The same pride we saw in Nimrod. And the same temptations offered to Adam and Eve that the knowledge we have can make us like God. I could go on about the sin and dangers that are promoted throughout the internet and the pride and idolatry that is in the scientific community but I don't think it's necessary.
     I think what I'm really saying here is be vigilant their are people who will abuse what ever they can.

Chrislam?

Chrislam...really? I first heard about this a couple of years ago. This is dangerous. No good can come from this. Islam and Christianity do not worship the same god. Allah has no son -- Suras 72 and Jesus of Nazereth is the Son of God and the second member of the trinity.

The Bible as well reveals to us God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit but again this is NOT Allah. Allah is only one. (Quran 17:11)

I know that Christ is already the victor but as this spread it does nothing but dilute the message of Christ in the visible church. This is part of Jihad! If they can not destroy us militarily then they will infiltrate us socially, politically and religiously. We must acknowledge this is happening so that we can speak against it. Christianity wishes to spread the word and it is God's will that all might be saved it is not the goal of the Church to well...take over the world. It it the goal of Islam that whether by
the sword or any other method that the whole world come under the rule of Islam under the control of the Mahdi, the Islamic savior.

We as Christians must become literate in our own faith and in God's word so that this type of infiltration can become exposed and removed from the visible church.

However with this being said, we must not (as the movie says) give in to hate. While the Muslim is not a brother or sister in Christ we are called by Christ to love both our neighbor and our enemy and a Muslim can be either or both.  

Sola Fide
Sola Scriptura
Sola Gracia
Sola Christo
Soli Deo Gloria

Christmas Part 3

So...the why of Christmas. Why is the birth of this Jesus something to celebrate?  Why do we celebrate on December 25th?  These are some pretty common and reasonable why question. Why why do we have this holiday that is pretty much a worldwide phenomenon and why is it in the middle of winter, for at least half of us?

I'll look at the second question first. Why December 25th? Do don't have to look very hard  on the internet to hear somebody claiming that Jesus Christ is a mythological copy cat of the vast array that they will claim were born on or around December 25th or the winter solstice.  Well to dispel this myth first. The man we call Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth  was not actually born on the 25th of December. In fact we actually don't know the exact date when he was born and as far as I've read the best guess would actually put his birth sometime in the spring. ( this seems like a pretty good article and this one guesses it to be sometime in September)

So why do we celebrate Christmas in December? This is actually something that I'm finding to be quite easy to find as well and to be honest the reason all boils down to recognition.  December 25th and the days preceding it ,especially the Winter solstice have been for centuries already established pagan holidays.   Yule, Saturnalia, Larentalia, feast of the new sun, the winter solstice itself, and I'm sure I could find others were all already established holidays.  So the Catholic church that ruled Christendom and eventually Rome decided that since there was no feast to celebrate the birth of Jesus they would  appropriate one of the already established Pagan feast days. And thus we have Christmas or the Feast of Christ.  Because of this, after the reformation many protestant Christians didn't actually celebrate Christmas due to it's day being historically a pagan feast day. In fact it was illegal in many states until the 19th century.

Ok so we've figured out that Christmas is a holiday stolen from the Pagans to worship a man named Jesus who was born 2000 years ago.  So what makes this guy so special that we still have a near worldwide holiday for him? Why does this guy deserve a holiday to begin with?

 As many times as we hear it I that we've become so accustomed to hearing it that it doesn't register like it should any more but the reason that we celebrate the day of the man Jesus's birth is that he is the only begotten son of the living God. Think about that. Not only that but Jesus himself said that he and the father are one. He is God made flesh. He is the God that spoke this entire universe into creation become one of us. Both fully man and fully God...here on earth living as a poor carpenter.  When I sit and just think on that I am awestruck!  Jesus Christ both man and God!  He gave up his majesty his riches in his kingdom, to slum it with us so that we would know him! He did not just live with us, he died as one of us. He was subjected to one of the most humiliating, painful deaths imaginable not just as one of us, but for us! All so that we might know how much he loves us. So that we would believe in him and not suffer his wrath and the Fathers wrath because of the sin of the world! THIS is why we celebrate this man's birth 2000 years later. This one day a year, whether they know it or not, whether they like it or not, whether they acknowledges it or not all eyes turn to this man, the only son of the living God, the son begotten not made, the second member of the holy trinity, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.

None go to the Father except the go to the Son. Have you Gone to the Son? Do you know Jesus Chist as Lord and Savior?

Christmas part 2

     So, from Christmas Part 1 post we've seen that the meaning of Christmas is literally Christ. So what about Christ? What about Christ specifically does Christmas celebrate?  It celebrates the birth of Christ.
It celebrates the long prophesied, coming of the messiah, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords!  The one prophesied even in Genesis!

How did he come? Did he come like a king? Did he come in glory and majesty with trumpets and soldiers proclaiming his arrival? No, Gods only begotten son came humbly. As a servant.  He wasn't born in a castle or a palace or even a decent Roman hut or hotel, he was born in a barn.  His bed that first night, was the feed trough for the animals. His parents weren't royalty. His mom was teenage virgin and his step-dad a carpenter. And those who came to pay homage the night of his birth, not foreign royalty but shepherds.

To the world this is absolutely ridiculous. What kind of second rate king or deity actually would subject his offspring to this type of entrance to the world? Or for that matter what kind of horrible person in this day and age would let their kid even be born at home with out the attendance of trained professionals?  This is definitely not what the Jews expected when reading Isaiah.

Paul wrote in the new testament that God makes the wise of the world foolish. This is part of the story of Jesus birth. Those who consider themselves very wise tend to consider this story foolishness. The story not only showing that Jesus first coming he come in humility and service but is a parody of the world. When Jesus returns the rulers of this world will bow to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who entered into his time on this earth in the most humble way possible.

Is Magic(k) real?

Is magic(k) real?  This is something I don't hear much discussion of, but in this pluralistic age where getting information or instruction on the subject of magick is as easy as going to Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com I felt the need to discuss it a little. I'm going to use the term Magick, with a k to differentiate from David Copperfield type stage magic. I'm talking about "spiritual" magick. According to the 19th/20th century occultist Aliester Crowley the definition of this type of magick

"The art and science of creating change in accordance with your will"

This, as far as I can tell from their own literature, is not completely accurate. Not to mention this is completely vague. So...what is "magick"? Magick falls in to four general categories, spells, spirits, divination and "spiritual evolution". All four of these take various forms ranging from the obvious to the covert and they're sometimes used in different combinations. I'll continue with short overviews of all these categories.

Spells short rituals or ceremonies using chants, candles, ribbons and various other implements ranging from the mundane to the exotic. Spells can be used for anything from enticing a "deity",spirit or demon to answer a request or command, to affecting somebodies actions or feelings ie...love spells or even darker uses such as hexes or curses.

In magick spirits abound. People attempt to contact spirits for all different reason, for information, servitude, worship, guidance, protection, and even in some traditions to be possessed by. This can be done by various ways, ceremonies and rituals, the use of mirrors, Ouija boards, dances, chants and meditations. 

Divination  is a description of the methods used to try and know the future or prophesying. This as well has several methods. Tarot, Astrology, crystal gazing, palm reading, tea leaves and runes (stones, bones pieces of wood with symbols carved or drawn on them) are probably the most well know and most popular. There are other methods such as Mirror gazing, fire gazing, Geomancy ( a method of drawing random dots in the earth and reading them) and even sometimes spirit contact is used for this.

The last but not least category is "spiritual evolution". This is the attempt to become a god or god like. All of the above mentioned can be used for the attempt at this goal. As well as the addition of lengthy meditations, lengthy  and elaborate ceremonies in the attempt to reach altered states of consciousness

Ok so all of this stuff is nonsense and superstition right? . Remnants from a primitive and less enlightened period of our history made popular for a short time by hippy thowbacks and emo kids who suck at video games right and can't play guitar right?  I don't think so. This the phenomenon of  the occult  and magick in our culture is not something that just popped up overnight. This is something that has been throughout the history of the world and continues today.

Is it real? The Bible certainly treats it as such. A quick search of references to magick in the Bible found 55 verses many read similar to Revelation 21:8

 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death

Magick and sorcery as it's often call in the Bible is taken very seriously and no where is it indicated that it's not real or simply superstition, Another example in the Book of Ezekiel.

Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive?19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.
20 "Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds

As I said before it's not treated as mere superstition or fancy. It is spoken harshly against and given the harshest punishment, death and hell.  So should Christians worry about magick?  No, we shouldn't worry about magick,  However we should be on our guard. Jesus said that Satan is a liar seeking to deceive even the elect if he can. Many of the things that I've listed do not always come in nice packages that have "Magick" or "Occult" printed in big letters on the outside. In fact many come in the guise of a supposed form Christianity. Though many more come disguised as self help or displayed as harmless by pop- culture figures.

So my conclusion?  Yes magick is real. It is the power displayed by Satan as a counterfeit of Gods. As God uses man to carry out his will on earth Satan will do the same through the false prophecy, miracles, and signs that is more simply called magick. 


I may do another on how these things have wormed their way in to our culture and even our churches and many are none the wiser but that will be another time




 

Christmas part 1

       We have reached the official start of the Christmas season. Anymore it actually seems like the the "Christmas season " is starting earlier and earlier, in fact I believe that Wal-mart began putting decoration out before Halloween. It's really gotten kind of silly, because you've got Freddy Cruger and Dracula at one end of the store and Santa and Christmas trees at the other.

     So what is this "Christmas" I'm speaking of. Ok, some of you may say that's a dumb question, but in today's world is it really that bad of a question?  What is Christmas?  What does this time of the year really mean? Well in this pluralistic age this is not the easiest question to answer.  However I think I can answer it or at least try.

     Christmas as we know it today is a hodgepodge. A mishmash of cultural and religious celebrations and traditions. The Christmas tree comes from Germanic and northern European  religious traditions. The day itself  ,December 25th, comes from various winter solstice traditions.  The tradition of giving presents seems to have come from St Nicholas a 4th century saint, as well as other pagan gift giving traditions. The famous and sometimes infamous nativity scene depicts the birth of Jesus Christ.( see the Christmas Wiki for additional details)

   I ask the question again...what is the meaning of Christmas. Can we get the meaning of Christmas out of any of these traditions? Many of these pagan traditions predate Christ. So is this the meaning of the season, celebrating the winter solstice and honoring pagan gods? Another possibility is the celebration of wealth and materialism that kicks off the day after Thanksgiving.  If this either of these are the meaning of Christmas, then why call it...Christmas? Yule or Solstice day or Saturnalia, or there may be others that fit these meaning better.

     So if we're not getting the meaning of Christmas from the origins of the actual traditions that we use, so we must divine the meaning of the season from the name we give the season. Christmas or Christ - mass, the root here is Christ. Christ mass, or the Mass of Christ, these words actually mean death of Christ however the meaning we've assigned to the word Christmas is the birth of Christ.  So the meaning for the season based on the name association is literally the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.



   

Marriage...the blog I really didn't want to write

     This a blog I've had in my head for awhile ,but have been reluctant to put to paper (or keyboard). I'm not quite sure of the reason for my reluctance but my suspicion is I simply grew tired of the debate over why and who should get married

    So I'm going to start simply by answering thee questions. Who do I believe should get married? Why do I believe this and thirdly what involvement do I believe the federal government should have?

     To answer, I believe that marriage is for a man and woman and I believe this because this is what Jesus Christ said. As far as the federal government this fall squarely in the category of not they should butt out because as far as I can tell this is a states issue.
  

      So what is marriage? In this country a marriage is a contract between two people. Most states it's only legal for a male and a female to sign a growing number of states are allowing this contract to be signed by same sex coupled. The purpose of this contract. Is to create a legal partnership between two people that governs custody and care of children, insurance coverage, tax issues, property issues as well as it joins two families.

     This is not wrong per se, this is essentially the way it has been for centuries.  Though the recent debates over who should be able to get married and who should not has forced the question, Is it more than just a civil contract?

     If not, then why the firestorm over gay marriage? Are there sociological and anthropological implications? Sure any civil or social arrangement has those.  My question becomes what are the spiritual implications of marriage? Does God actually care about who gets married?


     I believe that the spiritual implications of marriage are great as well I believe God cares a great deal about who gets married, it was the first institution he created. Before the nation of Israel, before he set the law in stone, he created marriage between a man and woman, the first man and woman.

Genesis 2:24-25 ESV
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

      This is the beginning of marriage Genesis chapter 2, day seven of creation.  On the sixth day God created man, woman and marriage. Marriage is the first institution created by God for men and from the way I see it a very important one.  It's continually used throughout the Bible as the analog for Gods covenant with his people.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:7

     And their are many more like this even in the Old testament, in the book of Isaiah, Israel is also described as the bride.  Showing God desire the intimate relationship with his people comparable to that of a married couple.  With this said marriage between a man and wife is a foreshadowing of  the time when God reunites with man not after death but in eternal life. In the Book of Revelation when Jesus returns and is physically reunited with the church the event is described as a great wedding feast.

Revelation 19:7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God

     The marriage supper of the Lamb, the bride, the church, dressed in fine linen ready for her bridegroom, Jesus Christ. It's an amazing image of Gods love for man, for the church, his people.

      Now lets look at another aspect of this very important institution. If the physical church is made of of all kinds of people, both men and women why does it matter whether the union is man and woman or man and man or woman and woman as long as it's a union of love?

     The simple answer that Gods intention for this institution as stated in Genesis is for a man and woman. No where in the Bible is this contradicted.

Hell...

NThis is going to be my look at Hell and what I believe the Bible actually says about Hell. Hell is (pun intended) a hot topic right now because of  a controversial book by ,as far as I can tell, a heretical pastor.  So I'm going to start this off pretty straight forward and tell you what I believe about hell and then go in to scripture to support this.  I believe, what I assume is a pretty traditional view of hell.

I believe that when you die you immediately go one of two places, heaven or hell.  Heaven, to spend eternity in Gods new Eden or Hell to spend eternity bearing Gods wrath and judgment in torment flame and darkness. I believe they are both actual places in the afterlife and not just states of mind on in this life or the next. I believe they are both eternal.

So where to start in scripture? The easiest and most obvious place to start is Luke 16: 19-31;

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in epurple and fine linen and fwho feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gategwas laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with hwhat fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by ithe angels jto Abraham's side.6 The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in kHades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and lsaw Abraham far off and Lazarus jat his side.24 And he called out, m‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and ncool my tongue, for oI am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that pyou in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house—28 for I have five brothers7—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’29 But Abraham said, ‘They have qMoses and the Prophets; rlet them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, sfather Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear qMoses and the Prophets, tneither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

These verses , to me at least seem pretty self explanatory.  You die you either go to a place of torment or a place of rest.  Though I am seeing this debated and explained as a metaphor. My question is a metaphor for what?  Jesus never gives an alternate explanation or goes on to say any different or indicates that it has some alternate meaning in any way.  So why are we to say it means anything else than what it says?

To contrast this a little bit we have the parable of wheat and tares (weeds) in Matthew in 13: 24-30 and he goes on to explain this a little later in Matthew 13: 36-43

24 He put another parable before them, saying, w“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds3 among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants4 of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, x‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

and explained

36 Then he left the crowds and went into ithe house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 sand throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear

He doesn't do this in the parable from Luke. How ever we do see that these two parables are in agreement.  Both are describing a fiery place filled with torment. Jesus doesn't explain this parable as bad times during life or even simply separation from God. It is a place of torment and you are sent there by God. Do I need to go on?   These are parables from Jesus himself, not the apostles, not church fathers, not theologian.

I would think it would be fairly obvious that Jesus is talking about a place not a state of mind and from the parable in look it indicates a permanency in the chasm that neither side can cross over to the other.  Lets go on in Revelation 20: 10-15

10 and the devil lwho had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Judgment Before the Great White Throne

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence on earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, the was thrown into the lake of fire.
Again here in the Revelation given to John by Jesus a description of Hell.  A lake of fire where the inhabitants will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. The inhabitants being, Satan, his demons(Jude 1), the anti-Christ, the false prophet, Death, Hades, the fallen angels and all those whose name is not found in the book of life. Jesus underpins the seriousness of hell several places as well saying its better to pluck out your eye or cut off your hand if they are causing you to sin than GO TO hell (matt 5: 27-30) this to me doesn't sound like some temporary hell on earth or hell state of mind, because all things on this earth pass and if you cut off your hand that's it it's gone. So...from what I can tell these are some main places where Jesus talks about hell pretty specifically and I believe that hell is real. The scriptures point to that, Jesus points to that and that it is an eternal place of fire and torment! But there is some good news! Jesus Christ came to earth, lived a perfect life then went willingly to the cross, enduring torture and beatings before finally being crucified all for you. He did it taking the punishment we all deserve. Then he over came all the sin and death and wrath rising three days later so that all you have to do is believe in him will have everlasting life and not everlasting torment. Next...pt 2 the why of hell

Avatar the sermon

  No, this is NOT a repeat of the Matrix blog. In fact its going to be the oposite. I'm not going to be redeeming Avatar, I'm going to be JUDGING it!  Which is ironic considering the sermon that inspired this blog told the congregation that judging is bbbaaaadd.

     So the inspiration for this came from a sermon by a local pastor. It was part of a "God at the movies" series from North Point church One of the first things I would like to say about this, is if you've been to the movies much lately, it's hard to say with any certainty that God is actually there. Especially in a movie such as Avatar.


The Sermon, which I don't think you can see on their website but you can find on ITunes, was not good. "Pastor" Tommy Sparger used the movie as an example of empathy, learning to walk in some one else shoes. And the movie does explore that quite literally. There is nothing wrong with empathy. Empathy is good and the world probably needs more of it. However this was a church and the pastor was using a decidedly unGodly example  to try to make a point of Godly empathy. I would have thought a better thing to preach from would be say maybe Mark ch1 where Jesus goes to the desert to be tempted by Satan, or any number of points in the New Testament where the writer talks about Jesus taking on human form for us.


The sermon was decidedly not Jesus centric.  The high point of the sermon came towards the end where he talked about how their was not judgement at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ just grace. Which is true, however he neglected to say grace for what.  Never once when talking about the cross did he go in to any explanation of why Jesus went to the cross.  He didn't explain that Jesus Christ went to the cross in our place. That he took the punishment that we should have gotten for our sin and that we all need to repent of our sin and believe and accept Jesus Christ as our lord and savior! Apparently he was too busy talking about how judging is bad and that we need to be empathetic and not hurt peoples feeling to tell them that we are all sinners bound for hell except for the those who accept the saving grace of Jesus.


This is not an anomaly. This is pretty much par for the course for this church and for more and more churches around the country and the world. The job of the pastor is not to tickle peoples itching ears with little feel good lectures and pretty speeches, it's to proclaim the Gospel. that Jesus Christ died for our sins. That he rose on the third day and now sits at the right hand of God and he's coming back for those that believe and to judge those that don't.


So lets turn now to the movie he use, Avatar. Don't get me wrong I actually like the movie. It's a good fantasy/sci-fi flick, beautifully filmed and technically amazing.  However with that said I don't think I would ever take any theological ideas from it.  Pastor Mark Driscoll once called it a "Demonic and Satanic film" and I'm not sure he's far off. The Ideology put forth in Avatar is not in any way, shape or form Christian. It's just not. 


The Na'vi, the natives of the planet on which the movie took place were the very model of paganism and pantheism.  They worshiped the planet and everything on it as well they had a "goddess" called "Ehwah" who was said to be part of everything, and that the whole planet is "alive".  This is the Ideology that they fight for in going up against the human who want to mine the planet.  In the end they win with the help of the planet as the many of the wild creatures begin attacking the humans in the last battle of the movie. 


The whole movie could be considered a Gaia theory/extreme environmentalism PSA with a little new age spirituality tossed in. So ,yeah you could easily call this movie demonic from a biblical point of view. Which is why I say it was completely inappropriate to use this or pretty much the majority of movies as examples in a church.  I did write a blog using matrix point of view but I don't think I would actually preach that as a sermon in a church, it was a response to another point of view.


This same church has a sermon series coming up about Hell. I am both curious and concerned about his take on Hell.  The bottom line is, that Pastors need to get back to preaching the Gospel  and if you're going to use an example from the world you better be able to tie it back to the Gospel or not preach it.

On Gnosticism

Gnosticism is some thing I find fascinating and it's something that is very seductive. Here is the point where I would try to define gnosticism, unfortunately defining gnosticism is like trying to nail jello to a wall or prove whether or not Barack Obama is a natural born citizen. It's a subjective ,every flowing ,ever changing thing.
Their are a few points I think I can corral in general.

First a twisting of the Bible. Like in my last blog, many gnostics consider God as portrayed in the old testament as a false, dictatorial, entity that's not actually God and they see Satan as portrayed in the garden in Eden as a liberator or savior who brought man out of ignorance.

Second they don't see Jesus as god or savior of man. In gnostic thought line that I am most familiar with, Jesus is not even seen as actually existing. He is seen as a savior archetype and his mythological death and resurrection was not to save men from their sin but to reconcile the fallen "Sophia" to the unknowable god.

Third that God  did not create the universe but he did. Ok this is where gnosticism gets a little confusing. The Unknowable god Created the Heavenly realms and after that their was just a bunch of junk (matter) laying around. At some point comes along this "Demi-urge" character who thinks he's God and from the junk laying around fashions the material universe and calls himself god.

Next is the character of Sophia. Sophia is a Greek word that means wisdom. In gnostic mythology Sophia or wisdom has been personified as a goddess with her own storyline and various incarnations. In fact she's actually seen as the savior of man and not Jesus Christ. When in gnosticism like with Kabbalah when talking about the various heavenly or diving entities they are spoken of as emanations from the one "unknowable" god. Sophia  was one of the last emanations from the one and wanted to create something without paring with the one and actually created a deformed blind arrogant creature who was the Demi-urge. (it seem Wisdom wasn't so wise) and thus causing her to be separated from  "the one".

Many gnostics also have espoused the idea of reincarnation as well as other eastern ideas. Many a hatred of mainstream Christianity especially  Catholicism, anything with orthodox in the name, and any that consider themselves fundamentalist and of this created world in general seeing matter as evil.  As they see them as worshiping the evil demi-urge. Another strong trait is that they don't recognize the authority of any scripture really, they take ideas from the Bible, nag hammadi, and other apocryphal and psuedopigraphical works though seeing non of them as the ultimate authority. And still others look to other works such as the writings of the mystery schools, works of Jung, works from Philip K. Dick, and even movies such as "The Matrix" and "Dark City" for spiritual ideas.

Gnostics often claim to be the christianity before christianity and were spoke about in the Bible as false teachers. Some claim Paul as a gnostic saint as he never met Christ in the flesh but had a vision of him on the way to Damascus. Though I have listed some common points here the stated goal of gnosticism is supposed personal revelation of  god or "gnosis". Which is fine, Paul talked about having spiritual knowlege of God, he also talked about testing it under the light of scripture and if it didn't measure up it should be considered the teaching of demons (tim 4:1) . The gnostics take all spiritual wisdom as good whether and especially if doesn't agree with scripture.

This is just a very very quick over view of gnosticism, as I said gnosticism is like looking an ever shifting desert almost impossible to pin down, Knowledge from God is not though, James the brother of Jesus Christ writes, Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. (jam 1:17), and like I said above, while Gnosticism is extremely seductive and it tends to speak a language similar to Christianity it is a shifting shadow.