Drunken Mystic

We all know the story.  If you want a refresher, read Luke 10:25-37.

I’m including a couple extra verses for context.  Despite the wisdom in that, still not a popular concept …

Jesus was asked, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus asked a question in return, “What does the law say?”

The lawyer’s answer: “Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus says, “Good.  Do this and live.”

It’s an amazing exchange, but the lawyer just has to ask the next question, “Who is my neighbor?”

The story of the Good Samaritan is the answer to that question.  “Who is my neighbor?” in context of loving that neighbor to attain eternal life.

Some observations:

The Samaritan helps a man who is of a different race, a Jew, someone who may not have done the same for him.

The Samaritan didn’t check the wounded man’s citizenship status, doctrinal affiliation, background of sin or righteousness, etc.  The only concern was for the need.

The Samaritan didn’t wait for the leading of the Holy Spirit to help the man.  The man was in need.  The Samaritan showed mercy and compassion.

The Samaritan was greatly inconvenienced.  A man with the ability to pay lodging and care of another had to have other things to do.  He used his own oil and wine (symbolism anyone?), let the man ride his own animal.

The Samaritan didn’t blame the man for his own condition, tell him to get a job or rebuke him for walking alone in a dangerous part of town.

The Samaritan is more concerned with another’s need than his own safety.  This dude just got robbed and beaten.  You’re a rich man with oil wine and an animal … you’re not concerned?  The Samaritan wasn’t.

The Samaritan didn’t lend money to the man, he paid it all from his own account.

Look over the observations .. is this not the love of Christ?

Jesus clearly contrasts the “unclean” Samaritan with the religious Jews.  The priest and the Levite saw him, didn’t just pass him by, but passed by on the other side.  Their safety and distance was more important than the man’s dire need.  They couldn’t be inconvenienced and were probably more concerned with tithes than paying for another’s restoration out of their own pocket.

Maybe they believed it was the government’s job to help him.

Jesus ends his story by asking, “Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among thieves?”

The answer: “The one who showed mercy.”

Jesus says: “Good, go and do likewise.”

The question: What type of Church loves their neighbor as themselves?

The answer: The one that shows mercy.

Which one are you?  The priest and Levite or the Samaritan?  How often do we, carrying our Bibles and devotionals, pass by someone in real need on the way to what we perceive as spiritual.

How is moving further into the suburbs away from the poor/lower class/foreigners moving into your neighborhood NOT “passing by on the other side”?

Some are too worried about kicking illegal immigrants out of our country to be concerned about their physical need or even their eternal soul.  Others shake their heads and vote Democrat so the government will just make all our problems go away.  Either way, we are inactive and not personally showing mercy.

If, as I’m suggesting, we are more like the priest and Levite than the Samaritan/Christ, then we are NOT loving our neighbor as ourself (it is difficult to love your neighbor as yourself when you’re busy noticing how different he is FROM yourself), and therefore not doing a basic, necessary thing to inherit eternal life.

If we are not like Christ, we are not Christian.

Our neighbor has no citizenship status, no doctrinal affiliation, no wisdom or righteousness to make him worthy, no ability to ensure our safety.  He is a human being, created in God’s image, in NEED.  If the Church is to be like Christ, She is to show the world this level of compassion.  Otherwise, we can’t fault them for not believing what we say.

Peace.

Oh, I know.  The liberals blame those evil oil companies.  Conservatives blame those insane environmentalists.  It is a crisis, and believe me, I’m aware of all the economic affects and ramifications.

But I also believe that this could be a positive thing.  I’ve implied such before, but I’ll be more specific with some ideas of positive things that could come from an extreme jump in gas prices.

1.  Buying more fuel efficient vehicles.  SUV factories are closing down, thank God.  No one ever needs an SUV, I feel.  Pack less, have less, use less … it is good for you.  While this trend began even before gas hit $4, consumers were trying to be more wise in their choice of transportation.  That’s a good thing.  Oh, and before my convenience-hungry friends correct me, I know that some companies are trying to build SUVs with better gas mileage.  That’s good and all, but you’ll never fully compete with a little Toyota Corolla.

2.  Developing better sources of energy.  While I don’t believe we’ll ever use up the amount of oil on this earth, that doesn’t make it a great source of energy.  It is dirty and unhealthy.  Necessity is the mother of invention.  Maybe we’ll finally develop some cleaner energy solutions and force the system to adjust.  Might be difficult in the short run, but better in the long run.

3.  Open up domestic drilling.  It’s a little racist to me that environmentalists are OK with drilling in the Middle East, Africa, and South America but not in the domestic US.  While it will take years to get oil out of newe drilling, the impact will be felt sooner than later.  Companies would have to invest in new technologies, people hired, and the threat of a new abundant supply would cause other suppliers to adjust or get undercut real quickly.

4.  Creating more local community.  One of the major factors inhibiting the American Church from living in greater community is how spread out we are.  And we feel the freedom to be so spread out because of inexpensive fuel – well, no more.  That mentality needs to change.  More people are desiring to live closer to their jobs, friends, and places of worship.  It is easier to have relationship with those who live five minutes away instead of 30 min away.

5.  Simplicity and practicality will win over convenience and frivolity.  Frivolous spending will decrease.  People will eat in more, maybe invite more people over, go to movies less. borrow books from the library, take mmore inexpensive vacations, and basically settle for less in a variety of areas.  It might be bad for the economy, but it’s good for the soul.  Decent trade to me.

6.  Charitable giving will increase.  Unfortunately, higher taxes from our Democratic friends will cut into this as a positive.  What liberals don’t understand is that, in their pseudo-attempt to be compassionate, they remove motivation for personal compassion.  Raising taxes inhibits the motivation for personal giving.  Why should I personally help the poor?  That is the government’s job.  That’s why they raised taxes.  Tragically, when we see a need, we’ve been brainwashed by decades of liberal media doctrine to believe the government should do something about it.  All that does is put more power in the hands of an institution that doesn’t really help.  It’s become a form of idolatry.

When hard times come, private individuals help way more than the government ever could.  It is one of the secrets of the Great Depression.  Most of the New Deal was an abject failure.  Noble, perhaps, in its ignorance, but a failure nonetheless.  While it was a very difficult time economically, private citizens gave like never before through all classes of society.  Stories of charitable giving during that time are amazing.  Poor people will share their last meal with joy, thanking God.

It’s usually high middle class philosophers living in comfort, seeing these conditions, that question the existence of God.  If they would just live with the poor, they would know God existed.  The poor don’t need socialist ideas to share with those in need.  They just do.

Private giving is also pointed, to the heart of the real need, not judgmental or wasteful (no one has to fill out a form to prove they deserve government charity … and new bureacracies don’t have to be created to manage it all).  Real needs are assessed and addressed by individuals in relationship.

The Church could be the perfect example of this if She would collectively get Her head out of Her materialistic ass and worry about the needs of others more than Her own, trusting WE have a good Father who will always take care of us.

Freely given, freely give and all that.

So, in conclusion, these are some ideas on how high gas prices could be a good thing if we’ll see this as an opportunity to simplify, to give, and to become more connected locally.

Peace.

An article earlier this week covered Dobson’s intent to address his views on Obama’s theology after recent attempts by Obama’s camp to reach out to evangelical Christians. Of course the article concentrated mostly on what both individuals said and basically believe.

While I don’t agree fully with either individual’s theology, and don’t feel I need to make that choice, I do take issue with something.

Obama does his best, and consistently has for some time now, to make his Christianity sound more compassionate, but I have a hard time with anyone’s “compassionate” Christianity that is okay with the of unborn children.

If you believe abortion is okay and should be legal, regardless of your reasons, you’re not compassionate. You’re not a pacifist. You’re pretty much a hypocrite for decrying the of the opposing party, the Republicans, and their “unjust” war while willfully supporting the massacre of hundreds of thousands of s a year in your own country. It was Mother Theresa who said, “Any nation where abortion is legal is the poorest nation.”

Even if Obama solves poverty and war, which he won’t (higher taxes and appeasement policies increse these things), we’d still be the poorest nation on the earth. As we are now. God has very different views on poverty, wealth, war, and peace.

Peace.

Just going to share a few thoughts today.

Surprisingly, Hillary did capitulate.  I theorize a lot of it had to do with money, since she mishandled it and is millions in debt.  Even though we wouldn’t have said it a couple months ago, she’s the front runner for the VP slot.

Actually, I think that’s why the Dems Obama has already asked have turned him down.  Partly, they want their dream ticket.  Not my dream, really, but you know what I mean.

The Dems windfall tax got shot down, thank God, although they’re still using words like “price gouging” in the media today.  The government makes more on the gas you buy than the oil companies … who exactly is “price gouging”?  They actually wanted to raise taxes on one of the most overtaxed items in the nation (besides alcohol and cigs), gasoline.  The tax would have increased the price of your gas, caused the Dems to blame the evil oil companies (and those evil Republicans) and therefore raised taxes again to punish them.  Its a little game they play.

Obama has already been talking about raising taxes, even on your retirement accounts like 401k’s … Forced redistribution of wealth will increase if he’s elected.  Few will actually get helped, but hey, that’s the way socialism fails.

Be prepared for one of the most slanted coverages of a presidential election EVER.  It will be hard to out-do Bush/Kerry, but the media’s Obama luv might actually trump their Bush hate of four years ago.

A couple examples.  Did you see who was on a very special Jimmy Kimmel right before the high-rated Celtics/Lakers finals gave?  Oh, there he is, celeb Obama.  I wonder if McCain as a guest was even considered … you know, to be fair and balanced.  Probably not.  Was Mrs. McCain invited on the View?  Hmnn.

Also, what would happen if McCain had been closely tied to white-supremacists and Neo-nazi terrorists?  Even though he might have tried to back off of those associations, the Republicans themselves would have taken him down and removed him from consideration.  I guess that’s one of the differences between the two parties. 

“But Obama’s about change!”

Oh.

Honestly, I’ve lost a lot of respect for Obama.  While I disagree with much of his policy, I would respect him more for taking responsibility and ownership of his past and close acquaintances instead of throwing them under the bus and going into this political makeover mode he and his wife are in.  Lying and changing your positions to get elected is not “change”.  It’s further down the wrong path.

More on this stuff tomorrow …

Peace.

Power is in the fruit not the feeling.

Sometimes getting what you want actually means you have less – it’s called “leanness of soul”.

Peace.

Well, its finally over.  Did you hear the Democrat collective sigh of relief?  Actually, I’ve heard even relief from my conservative friends who are just tired of the noise and constant news.

This is pretty funny.  We have one of the most historic political races in history, a primary where a major candidate will either be a black man or a woman, and it drug on so long that people were more concerned about it being over than who was the better candidate.  Americans just don’t have the heart for anything that takes a … long … time ….  Whether or not the Iraq War has any validity is a different topic … but this generation wouldn’t have won World War II.

Heard Jesse Ventura on 96 Rock the other day.  Cool stuff.  I don’t know if I’d vote for him, but I appreciate what he’s stood for in the whole political process.  Ventura stated that if he ran for Senate his campaign would be short and just a few weeks before the actual election.  That’s pretty smart, because that’s the only time people pay attention.  This long drawn out process is silly … but it gives 24 hour news stations something to pontificate about.

So it is Obama and McCain.  Although I think McCain has a shot if he’s smart, I think Obama will win … which means we will be paying five or six dollars a gallon for gas AND be paying higher taxes.  The economy will probably finally get into the recession the media has been clamoring for, and somehow it will be the fault of conservatives and/or Republicans.  Funny how that happens.

Of course the solutions are still available but remain unthinkable to those in power, and a majority Democratic government will only make it worse.  Drilling in the Dakotas and Alaska would help the gas prices and lower taxes helps everybody … but socialism demands punishing those who work hard and make money in the name of helping the poor and radical environmentalists have the Democratic Party by the family jewels, so good luck with all that.

People are already not going anywhere “because of gas prices” and when taxes go up (unless the House or Senate becomes majority Republican … which won’t happen because Republicans aren’t that smart anymore), people will be cutting corners like crazy just to make their rent or house payments or send their kids to school.  Some of this might be good if the Church can pull their act together, preach contentment and simplicity, and share resources in the name of love … and it will happen, I feel.  I’m not optimistic about government or political parties … but I choose to have faith in the Bride of Christ … well, especially the Christ within the Bride. 

Congrats goes to Obama.  The race is on and while I may not agree with much of his policy, it is a historic day to have the first black presidential candidate from a major party.  God bless.

Peace.

This is Arnel Pineda again, new lead singer for Journey, and his cover band, the Zoo, doing Heart’s “Alone” in the original key … one of the most impressive vocal performances I’ve heard in a while.

Get over the muddy sound and watch here.

Peace.

Unfortunately, Journey and Steve Perry haven’t been able to get along since the late 80′s … so in the rush to make money off of a couple decades of awesome music, Neal Schon found some dude on YouTube and called him to audition for … Journey.  This dude is from the Philippines and close your eyes … it could be Steve Perry.  He actually sounds awesome.

Check it out.

Peace.