One of the problems with Christians

One of the problems with Christians is that we tend to want rules to measure ourselves up against, this is not something exclusive to Christians but it is something that effects most of us.
Humans crave recognition for our actions and Christians are no exception, while very few Christians believe that just good works or following rules get one into heaven, a large number try to do those things not because God told them to, but because they want to feel holier.

As Christians our religion is unique, unlike other religions ours is not based on following laws or doing good works to get into heaven, unlike other religions ours is one where having a personal relationship with God trumps every other action. You can be a horrible person all your life, but if you repent on your death bed and accept God into your life you'll be just as redeemed as the picture perfect Christian at Church.

We are not required to follow rules or do good deeds for salvation, we just need to repent and allow God into our hearts, but what does letting God into one's heart mean?
I'm mortal and not Omniscient, I can't claim to perfect or know all the right answers, but I'm of the opinion letting God into your heart means letting him guide and direct your actions while having a personal relationship with him.

Unfortunately having a relationship with someone is work and requires dialog and trust, something that many Christians fail to give, prayers are not asking for guidance but are instead asking for money or goods or the end to a tribulation or trial.
This is not to say that these are bad things to pray about, no they are not, there is a time and place for prayers like those, however for many Christians this is about the extent of their prayers.

To put this into contrast suppose every day some random person on the street came up and begged you for money, and no matter what you did he rarely thanked you and always came back begging for more money. And if you tried to find out why he needed the money it was always for something selfish like a new TV or Golf club. And if you tried to talk to him to learn more about him personally he would not reply.

That is what most Christians are, and that fact that God puts up with us is quite surprising.

What this means though is that many Christians have a hole in their life, they don't how to have a relationship with God, so they try to prove their love to him, and to the world. They give to the poor, they help the sick, they follow all the laws in the Bible to the letter, they go to every Church meeting and study. These are not bad things to do, but they are done not because God told them to do it but because they're trying to prove to God, other Christians, and to themselves that they are good Christians. They find people less virtuous and say to themselves. "I'm not perfect, but if God can forgive that person then I should be fine."

This is an entirely wrong way of looking at things but since they don't know how, or they don't want to put the effort into it, they don't have a personal relationship with God, but at the same time they don't want to go to hell so they default to the next thing, buying salvation and being holier then others.

However without a relationship with God, memorizing the entire Bible, following every rule, giving every penny, attending every service, going on every mission trip, and everything else IS WORTHLESS! And will only make you feel better about yourself.

Relationships are hard work, it requires dialog and trust both ways, the best way to start is to ask God what HE wants you to do, don't go to the Bible, don't go to the pastor, take some time and ask him directly what he wants you to do.
There's nothing wrong with reading the Bible or talking to your pastor, but if you want a personal relationship with God you have to go directly to him because in the end your relationship is between you and him, and you and him alone.

Romanov's death.

Early this morning at around 02:00 AM in 1918 Former Tsar Nicholas the second, his wife, four daughters, his son, and a few servants were led into the basement of the Ipatiev house. They were told by the Bolshaviks they were being moved out of the city of Yekaterinburg to avoid being caught in the attacks by the White Army, spear headed by the Czech legion. The leader of the local Cheka, a man by the name of Yurovsky, entered the small basement after a short bit followed by a group of soldiers. Nicholas asked what was going on and Yurovsky stated that according to the Ural Executive Committee he was to execute the Tsar.
With that Yurovsky and his men opened fire on the family until they ran out of ammunition for their side arms before advancing and finishing off anyone who had somehow survived the hail of lead with Bayonets, the bodies were hauled off and doused in acid before being burned and buried.



On the anniversary of their death I have come to ask a question in morals.
“If a leader is incompetent, does that make him a bad person?”



Nicholas the second was raised in royal splendor, he was born in the dieing age of kings and queens, and the noble families of Europe were enjoying the last years of their wealth and power.
At the age of 26 he was abruptly handed the throne when his father died at a young age, his father had taught Nicholas nothing about ruling, planning to instead save it for when Nicholas turned 30, Nicholas had no desire to become the Tsar but took the throne out of a sense of duty.
On his coronation date several hundred people were killed in a stampede caused by poor organization and free stuff (Like Black Friday) Nicholas, rather then taking a day to recognize the loss, was advised to go to a French Ambassador’s event to try and maintain relations with France, this was seen as a very poor omen and led to resentment by the Russian people.
The next debacle was the Russo-Japanese war, Russian expansion in the far east clashed with Japanese ambitions and led to Japan launching a surprise attack on Port Arthur. The Russian forces dispatched to fight Japan ended in utter defeat and an embarrassing peace treaty.
In 1905 Nicholas was out of the city when a massive peaceful demonstration took to the streets of St Petersburg, when they approached the palace, the soldiers guarding it opened fire, whether the soldiers panicked, or were provoked has not been determined. In light of this Nicholas gave many powers to a newly elected state Duma (Like Congress) but the damage to his reputation was done.



Nicholas's only son Alexei was a Hemophiliac, his blood would not clot so even the smallest cut could bleed until it became fatal, the only man who had shown the ability to help heal Alexei was a wandering Monk named Rasputin, in time he became a confident of the family and an adviser, the public however did not know of Alexei's disease and ill rumors about Rasputin were spread, in addition while Rasputin was a skilled healer his advice on world events was terribly flawed. This led to problems since the stress of Alexei's disease led to the family, especially the mother, giving him their full trust.



When Russia entered WW1 it did so with much fan-fare and promise fulfilling a defensive treaty that should never have been made, however the war soon turned sour as incompetent commanders and poor equipment lead to defeat after defeat. Finally as logistics collapsed the people revolted and State Duma called for Nicholas's abdication, which he gave in a railroad car he was traveling in from the front lines where he had been trying to repair the situation.



The family spent the next year in varying states of arrest as the Bolsheviks took power in a coup against the Duma and established a Socialist regime, this was not taken well by some Russians who fought against it with tooth and nail and revolted into many factions across Russia, united mainly by a desire to stop the Bolsheviks.



Reports on what kind of man Nicholas was very widely since the Communists painted him as a monster while those who escaped painted him as a saint, especially compared to the Communists.
The reports in his favor state he was a very spiritual Christian who loved his God and family deeply and above anything else and that he genuinely tried to do his best to rule the nation and felt terrible guilt for everything that went wrong in the country.



The reports against him state he was a power hungry Tyrant who blamed everyone but himself.




My question is this, if the reports in his favor are true, and he was personally a good man but a bad leader, does that make him a good man? Or does his failings as a leader and inability to distinguish between bad advisers taint even his good traits?
I'm not asking whether or not his rule was poor, his actions as a leader reeked of incompetency and he should be held responsible for his mistakes, but is good intentions marred by incompetence and poor advice enough to make him a bad person? How would you judge a man like that?

A large thought dump I had.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein

I am very anti-abortion, I honestly think it is a vile immoral act. But I look at those who appose Abortion and I see that they can not win the fight against this evil. They've already lost.

There is no way to win this fight using the current tactics, I hate to sound like a wet blanket but the reality is that Abortion in America is not only well entrenched, but it is is well armed and ready.




Question: How hard would it have been for God to avert the Nazi Regime and prevent both WW2 and the genocide of German people?

Answer: Every member of the Nazi leadership could have died in their mother's wombs.

So why didn't God do this? Why didn't he save all those people? It would have been easy, he could have done it without lifting a single finger.



Maybe, God is more concerned with the individual rather then what their country is doing.

Tsar Nicholas II, the last of the Tsars was by quite a few accounts a good man who loved God and his family greatly but was just thoroughly terrible at ruling Russia.
While accounts of his life after he resigned were covered up by the Soviet leadership, those that have been recovered often (Though not always) say that during his time under house arrest with his family he was actually happy, torn from his lofty throne and forced to work like a normal person with his family he found joy. According to many reports during that time he found comfort in faith and his family that he never had in his lofty palaces.
The Tsar and his family were brutally murdered by the Bolsheviks by order of Lenin when when the city they were imprisoned in was threatened by advancing members of the White Army.

Now some of that may be exaggeration or people trying to paint him in a good light, and while he may not have had the terrible conditions of Stalin's labor camps the fact remains that those in terrible conditions or strife often turn to God for deliverance and solace while those in comfort tend to take it for granted and start to feel entitled to stuff rather then thankful for it.

America is at the pinnacle of comfort, we have everything, I write this on one of my family's four laptops, If I were home I would have the choice of writing this on one of our seven computers, I can watch movies on our TV or play video games on the Wii. And we're in the poorer side of the Middle Class.
Now sure some of those are for work and some of it was on sale but the fact remains that the Poorest Americans are much better off here then anywhere in the world, Homeless have shelters and opportunity that does not exist in other nations.

We are spoiled, and the Church and society reflects this.

Now I want to make it clear that I am not pointing to any one person or church, I am not saying wealth and prosperity is bad nor am I saying that everyone in America is well off.

But.

Most people in America have lost the love of God.
If there is one thing I can respect about Atheists it's that at least they're honest about their lack of Christ,

Being a Christian is not about showing up on Sunday and memorizing the Bible. It is not about giving to the poor or praying before a meal, It is not about following the laws in the Bible or putting money in the offering at Church.

Being Christian is about having a loving relationship with God.

Now there is nothing wrong with showing up on Sunday or giving to the poor, and there is nothing wrong with memorizing the Bible or praying before a meal, but if you don't have the love of God in you the those actions are MEANINGLESS!

Good deeds alone will not get you into heaven, most Christians will tell you that, then they'll go and try to do good deeds to get into heaven. Then when those Christians realize they've still got a hole in their life that is missing they'll point to other Christians that didn't give as much as they did or that screwed up and they'll say "Well I may not be the perfect Christian but I'm better then that guy!"

That is Christianity today, a contest to try and buy God's love and show that they're better then everyone else and more worthy of God's love.
Now of course no one will say that out loud but they'll think it, subconsciously that's what's going on.

We can not fix America until we fix ourselves. And the Church of today is pretty screwed up.

Now I'm not perfect okay, and once again I'm not pointing fingers or saying every Christian is like this, I'm not naming names nor do I want to. I'm just as screwed up as everyone else!




So what can we do? Well the first step is admitting there is a problem, the second is asking what should we be doing?
And I think the answer to that is, we should asking God what he wants us to be doing for him. I think we should be praying and asking him "God what do you want me to do?" instead of "God please give me stuff."

Next, I think that we should start looking at our own lives before trying to fix others, now this is not to say we can't spread the good news about Jesus, but if we say to someone "Hey listen let me tell you about Jesus! Thanks to Him me and my family are happy and filled with love and joy!" While the family is falling apart and is screaming for the death of Islam and the silencing of those who think differently, do you think that is a convincing argument?
If we want to spread God's love to the world we have to live it first, going to church and having water sprinkled on your head does not make you any more of a Christian then wearing Camo and marching makes you a soldier.




This is the problem in America! It's not that the forces of Evil have gotten stronger it's that the Christians of America have gotten pathetic and weak! We're not Christians we're Pharisees! We say the words and make the motions but they're nothing but meaningless drivel!

I think the young people of today are leaving the Church today because they see the lies and hypocrisy and it leaves a terrible taste in their mouths, they ask questions like "Why do we do this?" And they get crappy answers, they see poor and ask why God would allow that and no one gives them good answers, they see their Christian parents praising God on Sunday and acting like an A** the rest of the days of the week.

They see the failings of the Church and they're sick of it, so they leave, they renounce their faith and look for something better, something that will fill the void that is NOT the Christianity they've been exposed to. Some find a relationship with God again, others fill the void with other religions or booze, sex and drugs.

So how do we bring these kids back? Make Church fun? Scream that if they don't turn they'll burn?

Here's a better idea, show them how great the love of God is and make them want it.

Now I'm not saying that we should pretend to be happy to trick them into coming back, I'm saying that we deal with the Plank in our own eyes and let God act through us rather then trying to do it ourselves.

We can't fix abortion, we can't fix gay marriage, we can't fix this country. Not without God's help, but maybe instead of trying to fix it ourselves we should fix ourselves before asking if he wants us to fix it.

Read your Bible, Go to Church, but before you do those things talk to God.
Now I don't mean "Dear God Lord heavenly father of Godness, Please father Oh God of lordness help me to make lots of money and wealth oh God of generousness! And please help everyone notice my donations and how great I am!God Jesus, lord almighty God Jesus, Jesus god!"
For one thing I'm pretty sure God knows who he is and doesn't need to be reminded every few words of his own name.
Second instead of praying like that ask him instead. "God what do you want me to do today? How can I glorify you and make others happy?" Then do what he says.
Have a personal relationship with him like he's a real person rather then a white robed Santa Claus!
Don't worry about others worry about your relationship with him. If he wants you to do something or fight against something he'll tell you, but unless he wants you to succeed at it you're gonna fail, and fail, and fail.

I'm not writing this because I'm trying to seem better then you, in fact most of this is just a compilation of someone else's teachings re-written into my own words. I'm writing this first and foremost to help myself, and secondly to pass this message along. I don't care if you listen, I won't lose sleep if you ignore this, if you like it you can pass it along, if you don't you can rant against it. I hope you see value in this, but if you don't that's not my problem, I have no obligation to prove force this upon you or make you see it. Your life is between you and God.

Now before I end this I'd like to point out that I'm not saying that you can't run for public office or donate money to help starving kids, I'm saying that if you have the love of God truly in you heart and allow him to guide your actions then what ever you're doing will be what he wants you to do, you'll screw up, we all do, but he'll pick you up and tell you not to worry but keep the good work.

We all want to fix the world, but the question is, is that what God wants us to do?

Just a link to an article I find interesting, Not gonna say if I agree or disagree with it.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2013/05/06/christians-follow-old-testament-laws?utm_source=aigsocial05062013otlaws&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebooktwittergooglelinkedin

Gun Control rant.

Just discovered something incredibly dumb about Gun laws, apparently Bayonet lugs on "Assault Rifles" can be a felony and make the gun Illegal.
I'm sure this has saved thousands of lives and prevented millions of Bayonet related deaths, (Incoming rant take cover)
WHO'S STUPID, MORONIC, BRAIN DEAD, IDEA WAS IT TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO PUT A KNIFE ON THE END OF THE GUN  AND THINK THAT WILL MAKE IT SAFE? HOW DOES FILING OFF PART OF THE BAYONET LUG SO IT DOESN'T WORK MAKE A GUN SAFER? WHO COULD BE DUMB ENOUGH TO THINK THAT WOULD SAVE LIVES? YOU CAN BUY BROAD SWORDS ONLINE BUT HAVING A BAYONET ON THE END OF YOUR RIFLE CAN BE A CRIME? (end rant.)
Sorry but I'm just rather mad and appalled at the stupidity of this.

Syrian Chemical weapons.

According to this administration that is our line in the sand, if President Assad of Syria uses chemical weapons then America will act against him.

Chemical Weapons, the name alone strikes fear and terror, movies and video games portray them as weapons of horrifying effectiveness and destruction.

But are they really that bad?

The answer is both yes and no, the after effects of Chemical weapons can be quite terrible, but the practical effects in warfare are surprisingly limited, even in WW1 the weapons were used more for fear then actual effectiveness. Wind can send the clouds of gas back at your own men and weather conditions can often reduce the effectiveness of the gas itself. To be effective with Chemical weapons even in the best of conditions you have to use a lot of them, a single Gas shell will be less effective then a High explosive one, to effectively use Chemical weapons you have to drop massive amounts of it down upon the target area and unless your soldiers are outfitted with Chemical suits you will have to wait some time before attacking that position.

So, why would Assad use Chemical weapons to fight the revolutionaries?

The answer is that he wouldn't, or at least wouldn't order his men to use them, especially when he knows that the US is looking for any opportunity to get in on the war.

So who would use them? Well no modern commander would choose gas weapons over any other type of weapon but a desperate officer might use anything at his disposal no matter how ineffective it is. On the same token the Rebel forces fighting against Assad are in league with many terrorist organisations, including Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. For them the places America has "Liberated" are gold mines of anti-American people who will join them.
The Syrian rebels are also supported by America in everything but us sending actual soldiers though many in Washington are itching to send more.

While Assad may not have a reason to order Chemical attacks the Rebels do, if the rebels can launch a Chemical attack and blame it on Assad's men then not only will America come to their aid but most of NATO will as well. For the terrorist factions it will mean a repeat of Libya.

The American Government also has a reason to use contacts in the Rebel army to launch a Chemical strike and blame it on Assad, before getting involved militarily.
First is profit, war is profitable.
Second is that taking out Syria would be a first step to taking out Iran.
Third America is divided and the public is getting sick of politicians, but nothing unites the people better then a moral crusade.
Fourth, Americans are calling for a reduction in our overseas presence, showing them something horrible and then saying "This is what happens when we don't get involved! Children die!" Is a way to counter that and enable them to retain their power complex.
And Fifth, Russia has a military port on loan with the Syrian government for it's Mediterranean fleet and is an friend of Syria. If the rebels win then America could take over the use of the port and Russia would lose an ally and a valuable port.

While I can not say for certain that Assad will not use Chemical weapons I have to conclude that it is highly unlikely that he will do so and if there is an attack it will likely be a false flag to justify American intervention.

My new blog, I hope to post political, religious, and art posts here. This is mainly a thought dump and as such everything posted should be taken with a grain of salt.