A New Project?

Some interesting things have been happening over the last week or so.  On January 1st, I wrote a post about New Year's resolutions.  Near the end of that post, I expressed that I had a nebulous goal of wanting to write a book but was not sure what type of book it would be.  The idea of someday writing a book was something that I had always thought about but had never expressed to anybody prior to that post.

That same day, I also finished reading a book called Jesus Is No Joke by Heidi Hollis.  After finishing the book, I did something that I don't normally do; I went back to the Amazon listing for that book and clicked for to go to the author's info page.  I saw that Hollis had a webpage where I found her Twitter ID.  So, I sent her a tweet telling her that I enjoyed her book.

That was the start of several tweets back and forth between the two of us.  In those initial tweets on January 1st she asked me if I would consider writing an honest review of her book on Amazon.  The next day, I did write a review of the book, but posted it on my blog instead.  I went ahead and sent her a tweet with the link to the blog review.

That tweet was the start of a conversation related to my New Year's post.  Heidi thanked me for writing the review of her book.  She also told me that I was a good writer.  She tweeted back to me that perhaps it was time for me to put a book together.  Who would have thought that a writer that I had read would think enough of what I wrote to think that I could write a book?  She doesn't believe it a coincidence that the two of us have begun this discussion.

My tweets with Heidi Hollis have really got me thinking more about trying to put a book together.  I still am not sure what type of book it would be, though I am 99% positive it would not be fiction.  I have thought about writing something in the spiritual vein or perhaps even about the struggles of having a child with autism. It is something that I will be devoting a good bit of thought and prayer to.

Jesus is No Joke

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been spending a lot more time reading and concentrating on the spiritual side of my life.  On a regular basis, I peruse the Religion & Spirituality section of the Kindle store on Amazon.com.  One of the books that I downloaded and finished reading recently was a book written by Heidi Hollis entitled "Jesus is No Joke."

Actually, the full title of the book is "Jesus Is No Joke: A True Story Of An Unlikely Witness Who Saw Jesus."  From the Amazon website, here is a description of the book:

Once a skeptic of “Holy Encounters,” Heidi Hollis shares her true story of four unexpected journeys with Jesus, which led her deep into the reality of His Presence among us today. Hollis shares how Jesus and His angels revealed glimpses of Heaven and Hell, even healing her physically of an incurable disease, leaving her with the utmost passion to share His inspiration with the world!

As humanly as possible and lacking a religious tongue, Hollis pours out her raw emotions with all of the errors, yet new understandings, which came with meeting someone she highly misunderstood when she heard claims of Jesus appearing to people around the world today.

Hollis once thought that Jesus had traversed these lands long ago, never to be seen or heard from again—now, in admitting her error, she encourages others to hold their “J” for Jesus up in the air for all to see: Jesus Is No Joke!

I have to say that this was a difficult book for me to stick with at times.  Not because the subject matter was above my mental capabilities or because the writing was bad.  Quite to the contrary.  Hollis does a nice job of writing as if she were sitting in the room talking with you about the subject matter.  She injects her own brand of humor into the conversation and is very open and honest.

The reason the book was sometimes difficult to get through was that Hollis' experience in meeting Jesus was unlike anything that I have ever experienced before.  You see, prior to meeting Jesus, Hollis had an extensive background in exploring the paranormal realm.  So, when she says she met Jesus on four separate occasions, she literally means she saw him.

In addition to describing her encounters with Jesus, which also includes an encounter in which Jesus heals her  of an incurable disease, she describes some darker experiences.  After the first time she met Jesus, she had an encounter that would be safe to attribute to demonic forces trying to instill doubt in her mind about her Jesus encounter.  She also describes in detail an experience in which she saw the literal Hell.

My background tends to be more in the mainstream protestant church so you can probably understand why I saw her encounters as unlike anything that I have ever experienced before.  Shoot, in the churches that I belonged too, we even express doubt that the gift of tongues is active in the church today.

The closest that I can say I have come towards any experience like Hollis occurred 20 some odd years ago while in prayer.  At that time, it was my practice to lay quietly in my bed at night and pray.  During one nightly prayer session I experienced a presence that I can only describe as Holy.  It was unlike anything that I had ever experienced before.

If, as a Christian, I say that I believe that God the Father and Jesus the Son are both omnipotent and omnipresent, then I would have to say that anything is possible.  Just because I have never experienced anything like the visions that Hollis has experienced, does not mean that They couldn't reveal Themselves to Hollis in the manner she describes.

I do believe that there is a spiritual realm out there that most humans do not experience knowingly.  I also believe that there are people who are able to experience that realm.  In Biblical times, God spoke to the prophets through dreams and visions.  Prophesies of the last days say that God will pour out his Spirit and there will be those that will have dreams and visions.

It is not my place to try to determine if Heidi Hollis did see Jesus.  The main thing is that she believes she did and it has caused her to seek to follow Him.  If Jesus did decide to reveal Himself to Heidi Hollis in this way, then she is truly blessed.  Again, just because I haven't had these types of visions, doesn't mean that I should outright dismiss the possibility of them occurring.  The desire of my heart is to experience the presence I felt during my prayer session I described.

As difficult as it was at times to cast aside my preconceived notions while reading the book, it was enjoyable to read.  Putting aside the difficulties, there were things that I was able to take from the book like the idea of picture prayers and even a bit of an informality to praying.  If you decide to pick up the book, read it with an open mind and decide for yourself.  One thing that I am in 100% agreement with Hollis is that Jesus is No Joke.

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Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link?

There have been a number of books putting forth the theory that the teachings and ministry of Jesus was influenced by Buddhism.  The theory suggests that during the period of His life that is not discussed in the Gospel accounts, Jesus traveled to India where he studied under Eastern sages.  It is an interesting theory, but one that can not be proven definitively.  Granted, there are a number of parallels in their teachings, but there are  a number of parallels between most religions.

R.E. Sherman has put forth a different theory for the many parallels between the teachings of Jesus and those of Buddha.  In is book Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link, Sherman puts forth the idea that Buddha could have been influenced by the writings of Solomon.  During the diaspora, the Jews could have settled in India and brought scrolls of Solomon's teachings with them where Buddha could have been exposed to them.  Since Jesus was a Jew and often quoted Old Testament scripture, it would have been natural for his teachings to be influenced by Solomon.

In the first part of the book, Sherman introduces the reader to Buddha and Buddhism.  He devotes a good bit of time laying out Buddha's Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold path and argues that you can see precursors of Buddha's teachings in the Proverbs of Solomon and the Book of Ecclesiastes.  Starting with a proverb of Solomon, Sherman then shows similar proverbs and teachings from both Buddha and Jesus to make his case that rather than Jesus being influenced by Buddha, both were influenced by Solomon.

The second half of the book, Sherman devotes to comparisons of the similarities and differences between Buddha and Christ.  He discusses the idea of whether or not somebody could be both fully Christian and at the same time be a Buddhist.  He argues that while there are a great many similarities between Buddhism and Christianity, there differences are so profound that they can not be reconciled to be both Christian and Buddhist.

For his part, Sherman is a Christian.  However, he see the benefit of recognizing the good and having respect for those of divergent faiths.  He feels that there is much that can be learned from others and that we should not have an arrogance in our own faith that makes us think we are superior to others.  He points out the positives and negatives involved in both Christianity and Buddhism.

The book was a very thorough examination of the subject matter.  There was a bit of repetition of a lot of materials.  The one drawback that I had in reading the book on my Kindle is that there were a number of charts in the book.  A lot of the charts would not fit on the screen of my Kindle so I could not read the full quotes of the proverbs being discussed.  Other times, the text was so small that I could not read the charts.  All in all though, a very informative and interesting book.

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Westboro to Protest Powell Funeral

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In the book of Matthew, Chapter 7, Verses 21-23, the LORD Jesus Christ is quoted as follows:

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Whenever I see anything in the news that concerns the folks at Westboro Baptist Church, I think of those verses.   To be perfectly honest, I probably should not be posting about this right now because my wife and I just had a nice dinner at one of my favorite local brew pubs.  I have had a couple of pints and am feeling slightly buzzed.  On the way home from dinner, I read the latest object of one of Westboro's protests, so instead of feeling mellow and relaxed, I am downright angry.

If you are not familiar with Westboro Baptist Church, they are an extreme independent Baptist Church known for their ardent anti-homosexual point of view.  They are known to protest at the funerals of our fallen soldiers claiming that their deaths are the result of our country's lax views on homosexuality.  They often have signs that state "God Hates Fags" or "Thank God for AIDS."  Hardly the love the sinner, hate the sin view expressed in most mainstream churches and far from the view that Jesus would express.

I have had three previous blog posts that have talked about Westboro Baptist Church.  If you care to read them you can find those posts here:

• Hate in the Name of Jesus
• Free Speech vs. Common Decency
• Tucson Memorial Service

After dinner, I let my wife drive home and started flipping flew some articles on my phone.  The story begins with the story of Josh Powell, who recently killed himself and his two sons in the state of Washington.  Powell was the main focus of an investigation of the disappearance of his wife Susan Powell a few years ago in Utah.  He had recently been denied custody of his children, and as a coward that he is, took the lives of his innocent children.  A special place in Hell is waiting for him.

The story that set me off was this one that I saw in my USA Today mobile app.  The members of Westboro Baptist Church have announced that they are going to protest outside of the funeral of the two Powell sons.  They state that their deaths are a direct result of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire's decision that she will sign into law a bill authorizing same sex marriage in the state.  Westboro claims that the two children died as a result of her rebellion against God's law by authorizing gay marriage.

HOGWASH!  Regardless of where you stand on the issue of gay marriage, to make the connection between that and the senseless murder of two young children by a murdering coward is nonsensical.  I tweeted a link to the article on Twitter with the comment that Westboro Baptist Church is the lowest form of life on Earth.  It must have resonated with some of my followers on Twitter because so far it has been retweeted five times.

I have longed believed that those that are the most vehemently anti-homosexual are probably harboring their own latent homosexual tendencies.  I remember joking with a coworker one time saying that the reason he was so homophobic was that he was afraid that if he tried it he would like it.  His reply was "damned straight."  It makes me wonder what really goes on in the mind of the leader of Westboro Baptist Church.

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Communion and Confirmation

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As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, my son attends and lives at a school on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  I believe I have mentioned this, but just in case I haven't, it is a Catholic school.  My religious background is Protestantism, primarily Baptist, and I have studied other religions such as Buddhism and a few other Christian denominations, including Catholicism.

My wife, on the other hand, was raised in the Roman Catholic Church.  Our first marriage occurred in the country clerk's office in Key West.  We then had a church wedding a few months later to make it official in the eyes of the church and her father.  During the early years of our married life, we did not attend church much.  However, when our son was born, we had him Christened in the Catholic Church.

From then on, we pretty much stopped attending church.  I had a few bad experiences with some of the Protestant churches that I had attended.  I do a lot of studying on my own, but quite frankly nothing on a consistent basis.  My wife eventually became totally disenchanted with the Catholic Church.  I think a lot of her disenchantment occurred during the time frame of all the reports of priests molesting young boys.  She eventually decided to seek a new church and decided on the Mormon faith.  She attended regularly for a while, but has not attended regularly for the past year or so.

Cover of Rich Mullins

The bulk of my son's religious instruction in his almost 18 years has been through children's religious music.  I also introduced him to the music of Rich Mullins.  We used to watch one of his concert videos together for hours on end.  I still remember my son reciting one of Mullins' monologues when Mullins talked about Jesus being a little boy and imagining him playing baseball.  "If Jesus was going to play baseball, just how many windows would he knock out around Nazareth, and who was going to make him pay?"

The reason that I bring all this up is that we had a meeting today at his school to discuss his IEP (Individualized Education Program).  When we got home from the meeting a couple hours ago, we had a letter from the school.  At first I thought it was going to be an incident report from the school that they talked about at the meeting where he ended up getting a bruise on his back from some behavioral incident.  Instead it was a letter from a woman at the school who prepares the kids for their First Communion and Confirmation sacraments.

I would like for my son to go through some sort of religious training.  Even though I do not agree with everything that the Catholic Church teaches, he is there and I think it would be important for him.  I do wonder if he would be able to understand what they are teaching him.  Another question that I would have is would he eat the Communion wafer, or would they have to douse it in BBQ sauce?  The biggest question would be whether or not my wife would want him to go through it given her disenchantment with the Church.    It could make for interesting dinner conversation this evening.

Muslims Sue Catholic University

Image via WikipediaWhat would you expect to see if you were to enter a building associated with a particular religion?  As for me, I would expect to see symbols and signs of that religion.  If I were to enter a synagogue, I would expect to see the Star of David.  If I were entering a Christian institution, I would expect to see the cross and images of Jesus.  I would expect those images to be even more prominent in a Catholic institution.

Here in the DC area, a group of Muslim students are suing Catholic University.  They feel that their human rights have been violated because Catholic University has, horror of horrors, Catholic  symbols like the cross and pictures of Jesus through out the campus.  They complain that they have no place on campus in which to pray without being subjected to symbols of Catholicism that they feel is inappropriate.

WHAT THE FUCK!!??  What the hell did these people expect to see when attending a private, Catholic institution?  The school, after all, is called CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY!  I could understand if the school was a secular public university.  Then I could see the need for the school to accommodate all view points.  Do you think that a Muslim institution would accommodate a Christian or Jew with a separate place to put up their symbols and pray?  Oh wait, they wouldn't even get in the door.

The 1st Amendment guarantees that we have freedom of religion.  It does not guarantee that we have freedom from religion. We live in such politically correct times that some people feel that every accommodation should be made in every circumstance so as not to offend anybody.   I certainly do not deny these Muslims the right to practice their religion, but they chose to attend a Catholic institution.  There are times when accommodation is appropriate, however, a Catholic University should still be allowed to be Catholic.

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Pagan Christianity

Image by Andrew B47 via FlickrKnowledge is power.  From the time that I was a child to this day, I have always had a great desire to learn new things.  Aside from doing a lot of reading, one of the ways that I have spurred on my desire to learn was by questioning authority or status quo, not in an obnoxious or arrogant way, but to learn the wherefores and the why's of how things work.  I believe that it helped me in my critical thinking capabilities.

When I found "Pagan Christianity?:  Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices" by Frank Viola and George Barna takes that approach in exploring the practices of the Christian Church today.  The product description reads as follows:

Have you ever wondered why we Christians do what we do for church every Sunday morning? Why do we “dress up” for church? Why does the pastor preach a sermon each week? Why do we have pews, steeples, choirs, and seminaries? This volume reveals the startling truth: most of what Christians do in present-day churches is not rooted in the New Testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles. Coauthors Frank Viola and George Barna support their thesis with compelling historical evidence in the first-ever book to document the full story of modern Christian church practices.

Needless to say, I was intrigued.  It is important to note that when Viola and Barna refer to "pagan" they are referring to it in the classical non-Christian sense and not in the modern understanding of being evil or satanic.  It is an important distinction.  The authors do not attack or condemn any of the practices that they explore, but rather explain their historical development.  They caution against taking the information to incite rebellion within the church.

I would like to take an aside here for a minute to relate a story from my past that relates to the chapter on wearing one's Sunday best to church.  A friend of mine, who is a graduate of Washington Bible College and a knowledgeable Christian, visited a church I was attending.  I can't remember if he wore jeans or shorts, but one of the deacons took him aside and offered to give him some money to buy an "appropriate" pair of slacks to wear to church. 

From that moment on, I have always felt that Jesus would be more concerned with somebody being there and not what clothes they wear.  In fact, the book of James admonishes against showing favor to those who wear fine clothes to the assembling of the saints.  "Pagan Christianity" shows us that the concept of wearing one's Sunday best is a relatively new phenomena thanks to the mass production of clothing that allowed the middle class to dress more like the rich.  Hardly a Christian concept.

Viola and Barna raise questions regarding the concept of having a dedicated church building, concluding that it came from Greek and Roman temple buildings, not the Jewish temple.  The idea of the sermon and professional clergy came from the Greek orators.  They argue that these things go against the concept of the priesthood of all believers and make us passive participants in the worship process rather than active.

Viola is very active in the organic church movement where folks meet in homes and all members of the church participate in the worship service, sharing what Jesus has done in their lives and what they have learned during the week.  Sharing can be in the form of spontaneous song or prayer.  The authors provide information and encourage readers to decide which format of worship works for themselves.  They do not imply that current Christian worship is necessarily a bad thing, but rather that it is not rooted in biblical Christianity, but more through tradition.

If you are interested in the historical aspects of the church and church practices, I would encourage you to pick up the book.  It is written in a loving and informative manner.  The authors are more concerned with the growth and development of the true Christian church and are not out to destroy institutions of faith. 

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Bitterness and Regret

Image via WikipediaI have been thinking a lot more these days about mortality, my own and of others.  Thinking that you might have just had a stroke or were close to having one will do that to you.  It got me thinking about just how precious little time we all really have. 

Over the past year and a half, I have had two former classmates and friends pass away suddenly, prior to the age of 50.  At work, we had one of our coworkers pass away while on a business trip.  In addition to that, I have had a couple of salespeople that called on me also pass away.

As I ponder my existence and think about my life, I think it is important to not let regret rule the day.  As I look back, I think about the things that I regret.  Usually that regret revolves around something that I didn't do, rather than something that I did do.

For instance, I had two really close friends in high school and college.  After college we all went our separate ways.  Nearly three years ago, we finally reconnected through social media.  We met two years ago for the first time in nearly 25 years.  Unfortunately, one of my friends passed away less than a year later.  I regret that I waited so long to reconnect.

Another regret involves another old friend of mine.  This particular friend of mine was somebody I was very close to for years.  We had the same hobbies, and we did everything together.  After one particular occasion, I felt slighted by something that happened.  I let my bitterness ruin a great friendship.  Years later, we started talking again, but things were never quite the same.

Bitterness is a particularly tough pill to swallow.  It does nothing but breed contempt and regret.  I have come to learn that it is important not to let a perceived wrong, whether real or imagined, lead to bitterness and cause our pride to put a barrier up in our relationships.  Life is too short for that.

If I may take liberty with the words of Jesus in Mark 8:36 when He says, "For what shall it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life."  Perhaps we should think, "For what good is it to be justified in ones mind to be angry if in the end it costs you your friendships and family."  After all, Blessed are the Peacemakers. 

No Rapture for You

Image via WikipediaLike most Saturday nights I was scheduled to deliver pizza from 5pm until midnight or until it slows down enough that I can leave, usually around 11pm. I was kind of bummed that I was working seeing as how Harold Camping said the world would end at 6 pm. That really is something you would want to be with your family should it occur.

Technically, Camping predicted that the Rapture would occur which consists of Jesus returning to take his follower to heaven in the twinkling of an eye. Still, I have read enough of the Bible, end times theology, and Left Behind books to know you wouldn't want to be out driving around when the Rapture occurs. All of those suddenly unoccupied cars could cause some major traffic headaches.

The appointed time of 6pm came and went with a whimper. No apocalyptic earthquake, no out of control cars, nothing. I turned the radio on to WAVA, a Christian station I used to frequently listen to and not affiliated with Camping's Family Radio, and they were still broadcasting. So was the local Family Radio station. About the only sound I heard were two kids yelling they were still alive.

It is a good thing for Camping that we aren't living in biblical times. The biblical standard for prophets is perfection. So far Camping is 0 for 2 in his prophecies which wouldn't even qualify him for Minor Prophet status and would likely end with him being stoned, and I am not talking about the kind where you fire up a fat one.

Personally, I didn't put much stock in Camping's prediction. After all, I believed Jesus when he said no man would know the day or the hour of his return.  Unfortunately, not everybody was equally discerning in separating the wheat from the chaff and believed Camping's false prophecy.  There are a number of stories out there of folks who emptied their bank accounts to help promote Camping's falsehood.

I do not know the heart of Harold Camping.  I am sure that in his mind he was sincere and doing the right thing.  Much like he should have heeded the words of Jesus when Jesus said that no one but the father would know when Jesus would rapture the church, perhaps Camping should heed these words of Jesus from Matthew 7: 21-23:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Just sayin'....

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Digging My Kindle

Image by goXunuReviews via FlickrIt has been a little more than a month since I bought my new Kindle.  I have to say that I am definitely digging the Kindle.  I had debated for a long time, at least a year, on whether or not I should spend the money for a Kindle or other ebook reader.  I'm sorry I waited so long.

One of the reasons that I was hesitant to buy an ebook reader was that over the past few years is that I have become very reluctant to spend much money on myself on extravagances.  We usually do not have a lot of extra money in my household.  My son, with his special needs, has a tendency to not take care of some of his possessions very well.  He is pretty rough on his CDs, DVDs, and portable devices.  Consequently, a lot of our discretionary income goes to replacing those things he breaks.

Another reason that I was hesitant was that I was afraid that I was going to go crazy downloading books, and spending even more money.  Thankfully, Amazon has a lot of low priced books available for download.  You can get a lot of classic literature free or at a buck or two.  One of the things that I have recently discovered when perusing the Kindle store at Amazon.com is that occasionally you can find some recent books for free.  For that reason, I try to regularly visit the website to see if anything new is available.

A few weeks ago, I downloaded for free a book called "Imaginary Jesus" by Matt Mikalatos published in March of last year.  Currently, "Imaginary Jesus" is selling for $8.59 for the Kindle version.  It was a humorous story about one man's search for the authentic Jesus rather than the imaginary Jesus that we tend to create in our own minds to meet our own needs.  Along his journey he encounters the multiple stereotypical version of Jesus.  It was definitely an enjoyable read.

It also came in very handy during my recent trip to Anaheim.  I was nearly finished reading Mark Sisson's "The Primal Blueprint."  I finished it early in the first leg of my trip.  I then had my choice of 4 or 5 books that I had downloaded onto the Kindle before heading out for my trip.  This allowed me to be able to pack very lightly so that I could bring home a few samples and brochures from the show.  I definitely wish I had taken the plunge earlier.

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