Dude, this thing is dead for right now. we shall see if it comes back come around the time I movie to hollywood. Or maybe after I graduate either way. Lots has changed so take what you find here with a grain of salt, when and if this gets back up it will be way different.

A hint to where I'm head'n..

A hint to where I am going......















Click here to get an idea of things to come.....

Yea, I'm alive, and yes I still believe in Jesus

I know I have never been the greatest at this whole regular posting thing, but I have a good excuse why I have not done so at all lately. One word, School. I am 3 months from getting my bachelors in Computer Science, with a concentration in Information Systems. But a bulk of the work will be done come May 5th when I walk and it will be all over come July 25th. So much has changed in my time being away from this blog and I look forward to telling who ever reads this rag about it. So I look forward to kick starting this thing again, I may even do some thing a little special with it, but then again don't hold your breath. Oh, and keeping with the whole random thing I think I'll leave you with a Spurgon quote that has been stuck in my head lately: "The default mode of the heart is religion"

The Me Monster

Hi, guys its been awhile but I thought I would post. Ill be honest I am not going to take 4 hours to edit this thing down to perfection(yea right they've never been perfect), and honestly I want it a little raw. I hope it makes sense cause I am not rewriting it. As you have noticed I have not posted here in a while I even stopped a series dead cold. Cause the God to honest truth is I have been dead. Dead spiritually, dead emotionally, just sinning my self numb. I have not wanted really to be around any one. I really did not enjoy reading my bible so I stopped. I was just eh. I hated it. It was constantly one day trying to keep my head above water(thank God for a strong Body of believers). I was aware of God, but I was just dead. That was the best way to put it. I did not love I did not hate I was just dead. I slept in, i ate to much i did no work or reading etc.

What caused it well I could give the easy breezy answer and just say “I’m a sinner”, or the typical “pride.” But honestly it’s those things but that would be like saying what killed that car accident victim and you saying he stopped breathing. In other words it’s not very helpful. No the truth is its more complicated. The truth is I grew board complacent and lazy with the truth. I stopped preaching the gospel to my self every day. And boy howdy what that will do to your mortification of sin. At this point I don’t go to God, I go to other things. Things like oh Things, material things. Mind numbing things, like tv, video games, wasteful hours on the internet. It’s amazing what drowning in the world will do to you. It will make you not care about things that used to just drive me. Like people, evangelism, the Gospel, Serving others, even teaching. I was dead, always watching the hand of God offering his grace and just simply passing over it. This is lethal when you are lost, this is torturing as a Christian, just a numb torturing on your soul.

But as always thank God for his Grace, Thank God for me being his child ( I always loved being called a child of God). What did this little funk in? Others, thinking about others. I have realized I had been so me centered lately, I have thought only how to improve my own wrenched self and that even as a person in this world not a child in a kingdom of greater promises. Tim Keller’s book, Ministries of Mercy helped(I just read the first part on who is my neighbor. humbling). So did reading in Matthew about the life of Christ and how others focused he was (matt 20:29-34). But most of all being others focused led me to be Jesus focused to live as ever before Him. My desires and my affections followed suit. It’s great to feel again and not just be numb to lost and dying people. It’s great to love friends again, to love God again, to dislike things again, to serve again with a real heart, and to worship with a clean heart. The hope of Christ has broken though the storm. Alan is a little wiser, a little more mature, and holds on to Christ a little more. Well God mission accomplished. Ill be broken yet.

God bless, and with all the love in Christ. Alan

God and Politics #2: The Law and The Cross

This is the second post of a four part series on God and politics. Ok, ok so it took me longer to get this out than I thought. But I have almost edited this thing to death trying to get it right. (And probably still is not enough)

Last time it seemed like I had a problem. So you ask, "What's the big deal Alan" Here is my problem with the political idea of God put forth by the average Republican. It’s incomplete. Why is this? Their version of God has to cover Catholics, Mormons, Jews, and Protestants. All have differing ways on how they try to get to God. You try fitting one version of the cross in that mix. I sure can’t. Sure, Jesus exists in the GOP version of God, but the Cross is a very vague and muddied, if not a distorted picture. And when their politics determines your view of God you wind up with…. Ta..da! A very vague and muddied, if not a distorted picture of the Cross. (As if you didn't see that one coming.) How do I know this? I have listened to enough talk radio to last me a life time.

This idea put forth of God and left unchecked and taken at face value, leads to moralism. You see, there is little to no idea of Grace there is only the Law. The Law says: You should do this and this, and your life and society will be fine. But what it fails to account for is when we fail. It may pay lip service to Grace, sure, but this ideal of God and the Law put forth knows nothing of the true concept. Why? Because the highest ideal of Republican God is the Ten Commandments, not the cross of Christ. The Law was designed to point to Christ not to be the end means that so many have made it. Sure you follow them perfectly and you will have a wonderful life. Break them, your messed up pal. So who can keep them all? But this part is skipped over. The Law of God is left there all by its self. So left to that it leads to two things: legalism and self-righteousness. And that my friends, is a dangerous place to be. I think Jesus had a lot to say about that.

Next time we will look at how Jesus himself treated politics.

God and Politics #1: Good and Moral God, Good and Moral Alan

This is the first of four bite sized post on God and Politics. Look for them to come out in fairly rapid succession. ( I know its weird I am blogging again)

I guess no one wants to interact here so I'll just stick with my ideas. (They are obviously far superior to yours). So lets just get down to the nitty griddy. Eh? This quote got me to a thinking?

We're willing to call Hugh Hewitt and Michelle Malkin and Scrappleface "GodBloggers", but on the flip side those kinds of "GodBloggers" are completely unwilling to link to (for example) aomin.org or TeamPyro. Their reasons are, well, their own, but the bottom line is that they want to be affiliated with the political idea of God and not the actual person of God because frankly, somebody might get hurt.

Just as an aside, I am not terribly familiar with the guys that Centuri0n, here was mentioning, I don't wish to question these guys salvation. I don't even read their stuff. But what I am familiar with is what he is trying to say about God being a political concept. The God of politics ( i.e. The Republican Party), is a pretty good guy. He is very black and white, so is the God of the Bible. He is against homo-sexual marriage, so is the God of the Bible. I could probably think of more, but I'll spare you the long repetitive prose of it. The point is these guys are right about some things that God is for.

I personally, have fallen into the idea of God being strictly a political idea. The idea that I was moral because of the party I voted for (or did not vote for) and my politics were my righteousness. Politics (and the God of politics) was my end all be all. Instead of God being the end all be all, my view of God was just one more thing to tack on to my idea of my own righteousness. This is one of the "good" things I held on to when I was lost. So I let my politics define my God instead of my Bible.

Next post we will look at the problem with this view God is.

Baptist?

I'm going to need a little audience participation for this one. So here is my question. What are the bare essentials for some one being classified a baptist?