Theocentric Musings

Whenever I see American Christians™ supporting war, speaking about how their enemies deserve to be destroyed, praying for God's covering on those dropping bombs on innocents, praying for the deaths of those of other religions, saying that there is a point where you don't forgive, that people should be caged for their sexual orientation, and even going so far as attacking those of us who preach the non-violent, all inclusive, forgiving, Love filled, message of Jesus, I hear on their voices... "Give us Jesus Barabbas! Give us Jesus Barabbas! Give us Jesus Barabbas! Give us Jesus Barabbas! Give us Jesus Barabbas! Give us Jesus Barabbas!*" We must break free from this destructive belief system that has infected those that should intimately know Him. *Barabbas's name appears as bar-Abbas in the Greek texts of the gospels. It is derived ultimately from the Aramaic בר-אבא, Bar-abbâ, "son of the father". Some ancient manuscripts of Matthew 27:16–17 ha...

I notice there are large groups of people that are very vocal about not just bashing and mocking followers of Christ who preach and live out the non-violent teachings of Christ, but also portraying them as naïve or ignorant simpletons. It's quite interesting to watch them brazenly celebrate the anti-Christ behavior and life of the real life, severely flawed, psychopathic, racist, in need of Jesus, person portrayed in American Sniper. I could understand if they were just engaging in enjoyment of a make believe, fictional character, with no desire to emulate the behavior in the real world, but that isn't the case. They want more like him to go out and destroy their "enemies," foreign and domestic, if they can't snuff the life out of some faceless adversary themselves. But, what I do find surprising is that those people genuinely are of the belief that they also are following Jesus with their celebration of violence. They hold their holy book in one hand, a...

Many people believe strongly that God killed countless numbers of little children, as well as unborn children in the womb, in the OT. They also believe strongly that God is against abortion. Which one is it? 1 ) He either did those things and is then holding man to a higher standard than He holds Himself, and His Son's words and actions on Earth were lies. Or.. 2 ) He didn't do them and is wanting man to love others and consider life as sacred as He obviously does by His Son walking to the cross to give man eternal life and union with Him, and telling His followers to walk in love for even their enemies. I pick #2 even though it goes against trusting traditions of man. It does go along with trusting Jesus and right division of scripture.

Sometimes we can confuse an action that glorifies God. We have a tendency of looking at things in the "here and now" and sometimes we think violence or something else negative is the best course and gives God glory. As an example we can look at the many deaths in the OT, but Jesus came to show us a different way. I wanted to take a moment to use a word picture to define something glorifying God and something that doesn't. Here we go. ... .. 1 ) Karen is bathing her child, she gets a phone call, she never usually answers the phone, but this time runs to get the phone, she is lost in the conversation and without realizing it 20 minutes pass. She finally goes to check on her child and the child has drowned. When she conveys the story to others she says " I was distracted, and left my child in the tub and she drowned. Glory to God!" 2 ) Karen is bathing her child, she gets a phone call, she never usually answers the phone, but this time runs to get the phone...