Choices

Many Christian theologians through out history have debated weather human beings are as free to influence their own life and destiny as once thought. People such as St Augustine refers to dignity, which is assed to be a gift from God enabling human beings to choose their actions as they have been anointed by God, sanctified by the holy spirit and redeemed by Christ. This means that as human beings we are free to choose and therefore autoumonus and responsible for their actions. Aquinas writes, “man chooses not of necessity but freely” this free will is exercised when Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit. Not only are we free to good in this life and therefore affecting our own destiny but also to do bad (sin). This dignity previously mentioned can grow through righteous living but on the same token, immoral behavior can corrupt and tarnish it.  It is a gift from God as humans are made in his likeness and therefore destined to join God as it is given in love it leads to the service of love (supernatural and social dimensions).

   However the omnipotence (all powerful character) and omniscience (all knowing character) of God inhibits some theological thinking. The question formed is; “if God knows all that we will do, is what we do truly voluntary? And if not, how can we be accountable for our actions?”. The founder of the Calvinist church writes “the eternal decree of God” implying that not only does God create human beings so that they can be redeemed but also “for some eternal damnation” is their destiny. Therefore how much free will do human beings really poses? St Augustine echoes this argument by writing the potter has authority over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for contempt” suggesting the idea of predestination firstly written by St Paul in his letter to the romans chapter 8 “For those God foreknew, he also predestined…” and therefore it could be said that because of God’s omnipotence the fatalism of human beings if out of their control, thus rendering them blameless for their actions… or does it?

   6^th century philosophers Boethius and St Thomas Aquinas argued that God is timeless, that is outside the human perception of time “God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow” (Isaiah 39) this means that in a way he has already seen our life run its course almost like watching a movie. For anybody, just because you have seen a movie before and know its ending, doesn’t mean you are going to change the outcome by knowing what happens. It’s the same with human beings and God’s all knowing character (omniscience). So human beings are totally free to influence their own life and destiny.

Hot Like Hell!

Love is perfect, love is kind…

Dating, man what a messed up topic. In Christian settings they are so confusing! There are so many books of the subject and everybody seems to have there bit to say on the subject. In my experiences one Godly person will say “DON’T DATE YOUR TOO YOUNG” and the next Godly person says “DATE A CHRISTAIN ONLY! AAAAARGH!” and to be honest at the end of that I genuinely don’t have a clue what to do.  At the end of the day life is too important to look back on these years with regret.  Don’t get me wrong, I'm not saying dating is wrong! However they way our society has twisted dating is massively “unhelpful” to us as Christians.  A lot of the time we look at relationships with worldly eyes rather than Godly eyes. Chasing a girl or guy can be great but things that seem right in the moment can lead to regret. Gods way is the only that does not lead to regret.

My question to you is; Do your unsaved mates see the life you live with Jesus is different from the life they live with out him?

Purity is such a big thing, or should be, but embracing a life of purity isn’t necessarily about saying no to going all the way( read sexed up ), its about the way you think, the way you talk, the jokes you choose to say and even laugh at, what you do in your private life. All this comes out through in our attitude to dating and to the opposite sex.

Dating wasn’t really around during biblical times. You were ether married, betrothed or single. No dating went on which isn’t very helpful to us however it does say a lot about how to relate to each other and about marriage and in that there is lots about being a godly man or woman.

Now in some places like school and even youth group an church there can be a dating culture which may press you into getting into a relationship. And all to often people are chasing after guys and girls for fun, which unfortunately more often than not results in hurt. To often we forget your unmarried years are such a gift from God! When you get married you will be spending the rest of your life married. Here are some questions about dating. What is the point of dating, where its going, what will the outcome be? If the answers are marriage orientated then your somewhere on the right track. God designed us to be in relationships, which are firs and mostly with him. God is the author of love so what’s the point in trying to love someone until God teaches you what perfect love is.

UNTIL YOU LEARN TO TRULY LOVE GOD, EVERY OTHER RELATIONSHIP WILL FALL SHORT.  We can know perfect love.

THE RIGHT THING AT THE WRONG TIME IS THE WRONG THING.

Principles to apply. Take time, no need to rush. Any relationship must start with a friendship. Keep it public -> accountable. Don’t dump your mates once you start dating. They keep your relationship grounded. Be sensible. Spend time in prayer. Avoid anything that could corrupt your purity.

Mistakes- too focused to get the right person, and neglecting being the right person. Get the relationship with God right.  Be Hot like Hell! How to be attractive? Aspire to be Godly. Love God radically. Aspire to marry, but make yourself marriageable!  Aspire to be a leader, start with leading yourself. Learn to love like God does. Guys, be obedient to God, even when it doesn’t make sense. Be a real man by being radical for Jesus. Be hot men of God. =p

Girls, have a passion for God. Beauty creates security. Invest in  a beauty that lasts. Love god with everything. Be who you are. Love on a biblical standard.

Your value comes from God. Love never fails.

biased on a newday seminar

out of the Mud- inspired by

waddle

Not sure how many people follow this blog but hopefully not too many people will see this before january 7th as this is what i made it for. This video is for Christians who need to fly. sounds weird, but watch it and you'll see! btw, when we say island we are talking about cyprus. =]

Believing Like MJ

what is believing anyway? I mean, is it really what its cracked up to be?
Im not sure about you guys but when i want an answer to something I generally ask a question. They help a lot.

-Question one) why should you believe in something?
is it is because it gives us a deep sense of belonging? because we can come together in our belief (like Santa and the easter bunny etc)? or is it because we need (a religion to help us) to formalize our panic about death. "quick! death is coming! put on the gold hat and sing songs about dead people!"... well some of this is true and some, not so much. but personally i like to believe in stuff because its true and kinda mandatory for... well, everything! like i believe in cars coz they are really there and thats why there has been no need to scrape me off the road (yet). this works for me, this believing in cars thing.

-Question two) what is true?
don't you hate them stupid true and false question on tests! they just bug me. never the less truth is generally needed for people to understand things. Example of true and untrue things: Unicorns= Not real, people= Real, Michele Jackson= em, not sure! The way we find out truth is when we check it out and try to understand through our own research.

in faith our own research is reading the bible and stuff. people can tell us stuff too, but sometimes we just don't want to listen coz we think it won't help us. like when the waiter puts a plate down on the table and says "careful not to touch it, its very hot." when he leaves i always touch it to see how hot it is... and i burn the hand off me usually.

Look for truth, all you can do is gain, you can't lose a thing, but if you don't look you can lose the world.

"what good is it if a man gains the whole world, yet loses his soul?"

sexed up!

Sex. This word gets loads of different reactions from different people, and personally i think some of them are hysterical! Christian reactions are the funniest though coz nobody knows how quite react so its great. try it the next time your with a bunch of Christians. just look them in the eye and slowly say "sex..." its great.

   The christian view on this is often fuzzy and therefore leaves it open for attack from the outside world. but personally i think sex is fantastic! amazing! such a gift from God! God doesn't think we should ashamed of sex, he invented it for goodness sakes! a whole book in the bible id dedicated to it! (songs of solomon)

I can't wait until i get married so sex can be a big part of my relationship with my wife. Sometimes i get pretty mad at some of my "mates" who go on about what a great night they had with some girl one night, or things to that effect. then i just become sad because they have such a lie in their head. They think that sex is all about how much i can get or who i can get it from... That is not what sex is about. sex is an selfless act of giving. It is a time when you give your whole physical and emotional self to that someone you love. That is a big deal. the thing is, if you keep giving bits of yourself away to that girl who you spent the night with or whoever else who happens to pass by, will you have enough left to give to the one you love? I want to be able to say to my wife on our wedding night "I kept myself for you because i love you. Now you can have my whole heart.", i pray she can say the same to me.

  There was this kid, and he really was siked about christmas! i mean who isn't? This kid was more excited that usual because he had asked his parents to buy him a PS3 for christmas. one day in November he caught a glimpse of his parents carrying a box covered in a big black bin bag, they carried it through the house quickly and up to their bedroom, making sure their son couldn't see what it was. Every friday and Tuesday his parents Got back late from work so the Kid had some time on his own on these two days each week. so as Tuesday arrived he sneaked up to his parents room, searched around and then he found it, the black bag. Through the plastic he could just about make out "PS3". he was so happy and excited about this gift and he left the room content. Then on friday he came up for a second look, this time he pulled the bag out from where it was hidden and opened it a little just to see the box. he  spent a good 20 mins just looking at the closed box enjoying what was in his hands. he put it back in its place and left the room, making sure his parents wouldn't have known he was there. The on friday he opened the box to see the the clean plastic of the console in its stirafome padding before putting it away before his parents returned. By early december every tuesday and friday the kid had his PS3 plugged into the TV and was playing away. Then came christmas day and there was his PS3 wrapped up under the tree. he opened it, then moved on to another present, unfazed.

That amazing Gift was used to much before its time and became worthless. don't do the same with you Gift.

Faith

"suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food and one of you say to them, 'go in peace, keep warm and well fed', yet you do nothing about their physical needs what good is it? in the same way, faith if it is not accompanied by action, it is dead." JAMES 2:14-17

What in the world is this stuff called faith? Jesus talks about it so much! from what i can gather from other parts of the, faith can do stuff. like jesus said "get up, your faith has made you well."... okay, so this faith stuff must be like some kinda medical thing or something coz it heals people. right? so i guess it does a lot of good. also other jesus said that "your faith has saved you." that sounds pretty cool, coz the army saves people and so does 'air sea rescue' and they have them big fancy helicopters, so this faith stuff must be pretty cool. however in james says if you don't use this faith then its pointless having it.

   i want you, yes, you if your reading this, to think of the coolest thing in the world! for some of you it may be the avatar movie or Emma Watson, but try to stick to tangible things for now. for me the coolest thing in the world is my "jeep wrangler." that i wish i had. now if my dad bought me a jeep wrangler i would be freaking out! i would be ecstatic. Once i have my jeep wrangler i can come to youth club, or school, or wherever a group of my friends are and i can tell them "I have my jeep wrangler! wooohooo!" then a friend says, "so aren't you going to drive it?"
 "no!"
 "well why not?"
"pff, i don't know, im just not."...

if i go on about my car as much as i do, then when i finally get it i don't drive it, anybody would have the right to think im slightly crazy. that is kinda like faith. our father has given us this amazing gift! that we should be freaking out about coz its so cool! coz it can move mountains and do loads of cool stuff. but once when we get it and don't use it, its pointless.

sometimes when you see the news and you see the famine that is spreading all over the world and the degenerative living conditions of 1000's of people sometimes, i bet you get angry at God for allowing this. i got angry at God when i was in a place called garbage city in egypt. i was so mad at God because he let kids i had come to love, run about the streets without shoes on, he allowed people to drink disgusting water! he allowed people to have no education, right there in front of my eyes. i asked God "how can anyone called God allow this?"
he replied "how can we allow this?"
"you cant say we, im not God!"
"yes, but are you not my hands, are you not my feet? why aren't you doing anything?"

shall we get to work?