Ramblings

It's 3:23 in the morning at home, but here in Hawaii, it is 10:23 at night and I am still wide awake more or less. I thought about doing several things, but I just don't feel like doing any of them. Some of them include:

-reading the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (I may do this later, actually)
-watching The Boondock Saints
-doing P90X - I have been majorly slacking off this week...not good

I am obviously not doing any of those things. I'm actually sitting here, listening to the Avett Brothers: Live, Vol. 2, and thinking about the week and what's been going on. And I have come up with some different thoughts, probably none long enough on their own to make one solitary post about. So...here are some ramblings:

Church. Just a precursor: everything I mention about having a problem with the church is something I am guilty of, too. So I'm not casting stones. I've been thinking a lot about church lately. What it is, what it should look like, things like that. And one thing that is disheartening to me about a lot of churches is that it seems like they are trying to isolate themselves from the world. I mean, think about it. Some churches have their own gyms, their own coffee shops, their own schools, their own bookstores, their own...shoot, you name it and they have it. I remember a few weeks ago I wound up at a church in Hattiesburg, MS (dreadful town, BTW) and walking around and literally feeling my spirit crushed because of the symbol of Christian excess this church seemed to be. Looking at everything in there, there was no reason whatsoever for a member of that church to ever interact with a person who was not a Christian. Shoot, there wasn't even any reason for a member of that church to interact with a member of another church. The reason that society is "degrading" or whatever it is doing is because we, as Christians, are removing the light from the world. I don't necessarily think it is Satan at work (in some cases it obviously is, but I think a lot of Christians are too quick to write off bad stuff happening as the work of the devil), but I think it is the fact that a. Christians are withdrawing from public schools, the local Y, the coffee shop downtown with the weird looking kids working at it, whatever it may be, and b. in the absence of the light, natural man is just acting like...well...natural man. Obviously in some places our enemy is working and doing things, but I think we want to just say "oh that's the work of the devil" so that we can absolve ourselves of responsibility. But the Bible describes the human heart as wicked! Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" It's just the condition of totally depraved man. So, when you take the light out of a place, the darkness prevails.

Calvinism. I'm pretty sure I'm a full fledged, five point Calvinist now. Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and the Perseverance of the saints.

The Baptist Faith and Message. I just read it (http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp#x). I agree with most of it, which surprised me a little bit. Part of what I have a hard time agreeing with is the stance on baptism, which states "Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." It goes on to be a lot longer, but my problem with the statement listed is that...where is that scriptural? I haven't seen anywhere in the Bible that emphatically states "this is the right way to do baptism and not that way." I've come to a point where I see the great merit in both believer's baptism AND in covenant baptism (which many would label "infant" baptism, though that's not necessarily what it always is.) It ultimately boils down to a heart issue, but "Christian baptism is the immersion...?" Is it really? I don't think immersion is wrong. I don't think covenant baptism is THE be all end all to the baptism debate. But I also have a hard time going with something that says that the Christian way of life is emphatically this, and therefore not that, when scripture is not clear on the issue. Personally, I have come to believe it is a sign of the new covenant, similar to the way circumcision was the sign of the old covenant. One major objection to covenant baptism is that often times, babies are being baptized, and people say "well that baby doesn't know what it's doing!" But they didn't exactly have any say in circumcision at 8 days old, either. This point actually probably could be turned into an entire post, but I'm not going to do that. Another interesting point of the BF&M is point XVI, "Peace and War." It says that Christians are to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness, and that Christians should seek to end war at all costs. I agree with this completely, but I'm afraid we've done a pretty poor job of it. I'm as guilty of this as anyone - I remember back in 2003 when I heard that we had attacked Iraq, I was literally excited. It literally was like some kind of bloodlust for war. Funny how seven years later, that war is still raging. And the church, the politically conservative, Christian, evangelical church has remained largely silent on the issue. I think we can both support our soldiers (as we should - it is not their call to go to war) while still oppose the war itself.

Morality. In line with what I said earlier, about saying "this or that is emphatically right", where does a lot of our morality come from? Alcohol is the best example I can come up with right now (my body does still feel like it's on central time, ha), but as southerners, where do we come up with this idea that alcohol is completely and totally wrong? I mean, Proverbs 20:1 says that "wine is a mocker and beer [or strong drink] is a brawler." OK...so if it's across the board wrong, the New Testament would affirm that, right? Well, in Paul's description of what a deacon, or overseer, should be, doesn't seem to say that it's completely wrong. 1 Timothy 3:1-13 suggests that they should be temperate, not abstinent. Further, 1 Corinthians 6:12 says everything is lawful, but not everything is helpful; everything is lawful, but I shall not be enslaved by anything. Obviously, if it becomes a controlling thing, it's wrong, but the same standard applies to...anything. Caffeine. Chocolate. Church. Money. Cars. Sex. Music. Fame. Anything! So why does alcohol get such special treatment? I just don't understand why it's such a big deal.

Sports. I am sick of college baseball. I want this season to be over, so we can move on to thinking about football. I want to learn golf, too.

Movies. Can't wait to see the A-Team. This summer has been solid with movies so far and should only get better.

Music. Been listening to Matt Costa, Mumford & Sons, and of course the Avetts. Lots of other stuff too, but those are the main 3. Jon Foreman is good, but sometimes can be super super whiny.

So those are some things I have been mulling over lately. My mind has been working overtime, it seems, but I'm having a blast in Hawaii. A full report from the trip will come when I get back.

Insomnia is for winners
<3 chanchan