Call me weird, but I like the vampire diaries. Ever since I was young I have liked some things about vampire shows. It isn't the gore, that's gross. It's the power. They are fictional beings that don't die very easily. That have great power. They are almost supernatural. Which is why I think I was drawn to them before I knew Jesus Christ as my Savior.
And now I think maybe it is a reminder to me and a pull on me that there is a world beyond this one; where there are beings of great power, where God is real, where amazing things do go on that are beyond the hum-drum of my life. As a missionary I know said recently, "God is at work." He is.
He is doing great things in this world. He is miraculously transforming sinners like me to become eventually like His great Son. He is rescuing sinners like me from the wrath all the world will face. And justly face. He is healing people. He is forgiving people. He is bringing love to hearts that never thought they could feel or know love, in hardened tough guys, and abused women, and mistreated children. In wealthy bankers, and sophisticated preachers, and downtrodden migrant workers. The list of broken hearts and worn out lives goes on and on and on. God is at work. From a world beyond.
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4
I also like this particular show, the Vampire Diaries, like Moonlight, because I meet fictional characters that are interesting and well developed. And in both the lead characters, Stephen in V.Diaries, and the PI whose name I can't remember in Moonlight, they are beings caught as vampires who are apparently good at heart. So they struggle with their "vampireness." The strictly evil vampires that hurt and maim and destroy, ever since the first Dracula book, are simply to me an allegorical way of discussing demons. Soul-sucking powerful evil beings who hate God and Christ. They are basically disgusting, but their power is "attractive," and I suppose that is why power is tempting and turning to evil can appear that way. But behind it lays great evil and horror. We must never lose sight of that, with such power that draws its life by destroying others lay only blackness. There is no redemption in that, just as there is no redemption for demons. They are doomed and damned. And therefore should have no ultimate attractiveness.
But in many ways the modern "good vampires" displayed in V. Diaries, Moonlight, and the Twilight movies and books represent something different to me. Perhaps they are an attempt at a deception that we can try to hide our evil nature but it is still there. Ok. But, these characters are portrayed as good. They have good intentions, they protect people, they use their power for good not evil. It is redemption, in many ways, that is being portrayed. Finding a way out of the evil in which we are trapped. That is what the real human being actually is. We are caught in bodies as sinners under the wrath of God, who need a way out. We are lost. And only because God made a way, through Christ and His death for us and resurrection, do we have hope. We can be made good. In spite of being "trapped" here as sinners in fallen bodies, facing temptation, we can by God's grace and intervention in our lives seek out and not only do good, but be made good and become good. Like God. Only through Jesus Christ.
So, remember, we live in a world where the unseen world beyond is much more powerful and enduring than the seen world. Where God is at work. Into this world. And He is redeeming beings like you and me and wanting us to walk in the resurrection power of His Son. Let's walk with Jesus. And keep our eyes steadfastly focused on the unseen world beyond this one.
a blog of thoughts on life and faith by K T Mat
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
stand up to them
Recently I wrote on facebook that it is not the high road to make rules for other people on debatable issues. There are some people in this world who think they have the right and maybe the obligation to figure out what is good and right for everyone else to do. You wear makeup that is flashy, like that British singer (I can't think of her name right now), and these type of people want to challenge you about that. Perhaps they question why you think you need to wear makeup when God made you beautiful to begin with. And then they take the step of deciding that you MUST have bad motives and it has to be wrong. Or maybe you have a tattoo. They take the step of deciding it has to be a wrong motive that made you get it and therefore it is wrong to get tattoos. Or perhaps you smoke. They can see no way around the scripture that says your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and since smoking hurts your body, they call it a sin to smoke.
I would call these people "next steppers." They find something wrong for themselves and take the "next step" and apply that to other people, too, and decide it has to wrong for all people. They are today's Pharisees that have a list of rules for others to follow to be holy. THEY ARE ALSO LIVING IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION TO ROMANS 14, WHICH THE PHARISEES DID NOT HAVE. Romans 14 requires Christians to not pass judgement on other Christians in regard to disputable matters. It requires it. You just don't get to go there. A debatable or disputable matter would be one that is not clearly laid out in the New Testament as a command or is not a moral issue clear in scripture. When Paul took the issue on in Romans 14 he used the issue of what we eat, and of one day being more holy than another. These were 2 debatable issue to him. Now this latter one was HUGE for Jewish people because this implies the Sabbath. And what Paul was saying was that to keep or not keep the Sabbath was a matter of conviction one had personally. It was a debatable issue. How could he, a Jew, say that? In Colossians Paul talks about how all these issues of the law were a shadow of Jesus, and he includes the Sabbath in that there in Colossians. So Paul sees the Sabbath, and the rest of the law, as having been fulfilled in Christ. That is why we do not have to keep the Sabbath in the same way as old testament time people (Jews especially) were supposed to. And the same can be said of other old testament laws that are not repeated in the new testament or are not clearly tied to the character of God and true moral living. An example from scripture of a clear case of an immoral choice would be rape. Rape is a clear violation of another person sexually. It is a CLEAR example of not loving a neighbor as oneself. It is clearly a sin that we can rebuke each other over. And that the state has obviously decided is punishable (at least in America and most other places), for which we should be glad.
So when an issue is not clearly addressed in scripture, such as smoking, it is a debatable issue. And therefore, as from Romans 14, we cannot judge and require other people to do what our conscience requires us to do. And to do so is not being a better person or more holy. It is simply to be disobedient to Jesus. Those that can smoke, according to Romans 14, are considered the stronger brother, because they feel freedom to smoke and don't see a limitation by scripture (of which there is not one that is direct). Romans 14 says we are not to judge those brothers who feel that freedom. It also says that the stronger brother must not "look down on" those who are called weaker brothers there and don't feel such freedom. We are to give each other the freedom to do or not do these debatable issues without causing an issue over it.
So it is not taking the high road to be a person who makes all kinds of rules, or any kinds of rules, for others to follow on issues that are debatable. It is WRONG to do so. And making these rules does not lead someone closer to Christ (see Colossians 2 end and 3).
Further, I think Christians that understand Romans 14 need to start standing up to other Christians who do not get this passage and want to make rules for others and tell them to back off and leave other Christians alone. In Titus 1 we are challenged to rebuke sharply people like this (I see them clearly fitting in with what Titus says here, although many of them don't make rules for others to get money or fit some of the other descriptions there, but they do fit in as people of "the circumcision" group. These were people who thought Christians still needed to get circumcised to be saved, in obedience to the law of Moses). It is said there that they are ruining whole households. They are called mere talkers and deceivers. They are the type of people who don't think anything is pure (so they make up huge lists of what we cannot do as Christians).
So Christians, stop tolerating these rule makers, and correct them. They are wrong to do this.
Having said that, Christians, do make sure that you feel freedom on the issues you find freedom in, and you are not just going along with the easy crowd. Because as Romans 14 says, we each stand or fall before our Lord. So we should feel confident based on scripture, not just because we don't care or are following slacker traditions of other slackers around us. We need to be convinced of our freedoms.
I would call these people "next steppers." They find something wrong for themselves and take the "next step" and apply that to other people, too, and decide it has to wrong for all people. They are today's Pharisees that have a list of rules for others to follow to be holy. THEY ARE ALSO LIVING IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION TO ROMANS 14, WHICH THE PHARISEES DID NOT HAVE. Romans 14 requires Christians to not pass judgement on other Christians in regard to disputable matters. It requires it. You just don't get to go there. A debatable or disputable matter would be one that is not clearly laid out in the New Testament as a command or is not a moral issue clear in scripture. When Paul took the issue on in Romans 14 he used the issue of what we eat, and of one day being more holy than another. These were 2 debatable issue to him. Now this latter one was HUGE for Jewish people because this implies the Sabbath. And what Paul was saying was that to keep or not keep the Sabbath was a matter of conviction one had personally. It was a debatable issue. How could he, a Jew, say that? In Colossians Paul talks about how all these issues of the law were a shadow of Jesus, and he includes the Sabbath in that there in Colossians. So Paul sees the Sabbath, and the rest of the law, as having been fulfilled in Christ. That is why we do not have to keep the Sabbath in the same way as old testament time people (Jews especially) were supposed to. And the same can be said of other old testament laws that are not repeated in the new testament or are not clearly tied to the character of God and true moral living. An example from scripture of a clear case of an immoral choice would be rape. Rape is a clear violation of another person sexually. It is a CLEAR example of not loving a neighbor as oneself. It is clearly a sin that we can rebuke each other over. And that the state has obviously decided is punishable (at least in America and most other places), for which we should be glad.
So when an issue is not clearly addressed in scripture, such as smoking, it is a debatable issue. And therefore, as from Romans 14, we cannot judge and require other people to do what our conscience requires us to do. And to do so is not being a better person or more holy. It is simply to be disobedient to Jesus. Those that can smoke, according to Romans 14, are considered the stronger brother, because they feel freedom to smoke and don't see a limitation by scripture (of which there is not one that is direct). Romans 14 says we are not to judge those brothers who feel that freedom. It also says that the stronger brother must not "look down on" those who are called weaker brothers there and don't feel such freedom. We are to give each other the freedom to do or not do these debatable issues without causing an issue over it.
So it is not taking the high road to be a person who makes all kinds of rules, or any kinds of rules, for others to follow on issues that are debatable. It is WRONG to do so. And making these rules does not lead someone closer to Christ (see Colossians 2 end and 3).
Further, I think Christians that understand Romans 14 need to start standing up to other Christians who do not get this passage and want to make rules for others and tell them to back off and leave other Christians alone. In Titus 1 we are challenged to rebuke sharply people like this (I see them clearly fitting in with what Titus says here, although many of them don't make rules for others to get money or fit some of the other descriptions there, but they do fit in as people of "the circumcision" group. These were people who thought Christians still needed to get circumcised to be saved, in obedience to the law of Moses). It is said there that they are ruining whole households. They are called mere talkers and deceivers. They are the type of people who don't think anything is pure (so they make up huge lists of what we cannot do as Christians).
So Christians, stop tolerating these rule makers, and correct them. They are wrong to do this.
Having said that, Christians, do make sure that you feel freedom on the issues you find freedom in, and you are not just going along with the easy crowd. Because as Romans 14 says, we each stand or fall before our Lord. So we should feel confident based on scripture, not just because we don't care or are following slacker traditions of other slackers around us. We need to be convinced of our freedoms.
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