Well. I'm back.

So.  I was rejected for a job change yesterday.  I have been trying to stay off of Facebook and away from Blogging for a while because if there is one thing I have learned in my profession, it is this;  Ideas generally are not welcomed.  As I have been trying to move, potential employers check my facebook profile and pour over it looking for traits they find unwelcoming.  Now that my search is officially over, I can get back to being crazy.

This morning I saw a facebook post from a friend.  A guy whose company I enjoy.  A guy I like to see when I go to work.  Since neither him nor his brother (who I love even more) will read this, I'm sure I'm sailing in clear waters.  I would like you to check your emotions at the door for this one.  Just thoughts.  Dan and Aaron are the only ones who read this (except my wife, Thanks!), so I don't anticipate fiery retorts or hate tweets, but Dan and Aaron (and my wife, Thanks!) will attest that I welcome you opinions.  The blog is not called "only MY thoughts about thoughts".  ANYWAY.  The facebook (which shall henceforth be known as FB, since we're paying by the letter nowadays) post was about a new TV show and about how Christians need to pay attention.  Another person commented with an article about how hilarious Christians are when they get emotional and tweet Bible verses into cyberspace in defense of their cause.  First, if you're a Christian and haven't built a relationship with someone, I personally think that a tweet is just a waste of 240 characters (or whatever).  I have yet to hear a story about a guy reading a John 3:16 tweet during his orgy and suddenly repenting.  Build relationships.  But that's not my thought.

It seems that as a country we are headed towards a modern "Salem witch hunt" when it comes to Christians.  My mom always told me that when someone makes fun of you, it's because they know they can get a reaction.  I think as Christians, it's important to recognize that.  I'm not here to point fingers, but it seems reasonable that the world has figured out that they can get an emotional reaction out of us, and are starting to press it.  My friend may or may not know I'm a Christian.  He may or may not know that the post kinda hurt a little.  He may (probably doesn't) care.  What I can glean from the totality of the circumstance, however, is that he is aware that some people believe in a god.  Anyone who knows me knows that I live by a pretty strict idea of personal responsibility.  So in my world, even though I'm called to evangelize, I see no point in trying to talk to a person who lives a life that appears set.  He looks from the outside like a guy who 1.  Has heard.  2.  Has Rejected.  And it's his world.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see my role as that of "guy who needs to keep reminding him that he's going what I think is the wrong way".  He must know that I think he's going the wrong way.  And if not me, he knows SOMEONE who is a Christian.  That all said, if he ever needed anything, I would be there in a heartbeat.  I'd stop a bullet for him.  His idea that Christians are stupid and archaic DOES have an impact on my desire to start the conversation about the Gospel.  It DOES NOT have an impact on my desire to be his friend (or try to be Christlike) no matter what his beliefs are.

That's just one half.  World, don't you think you're acting funny?  What is Christianity really pushing on you??  You have to look at a cross once in a while?  Someone put the ten commandments in front of a courthouse?  I think most Christians would oppose abortion.  And yet, we have it.  I think most Christians would oppose homosexual marriage.  And still, there we have it (I SUPPORT homosexual marriage, by the way, no starting in on this blueberry and ignoring the rest of the pie).   Look at SB1062 that was recently defeated.  The plain language of the bill said that the State will not burden someone exercising their right to freedom of religion.  That's all it said.  And because CNN marched it out as something "Christians" were trying to do to keep down the gay, it was defeated also.  It's pretty evident Christians don't have a voting majority.  Why are you so worried about them?  You really believe, after being presented all that evidence, that Christians are trying to make your life harder?  I'll use another argument, one that has been played by the other side.  "What does it hurt you if I'm a Christian (homosexual)?"  Great question.  Nothing, I think, is the correct answer.  Now, apply that liberally and call me in the morning if the heartburn continues.  (Consequently, because the homosexual agenda killed a bill which would have protected me from the GOVERNMENT, that sorta does have an effect on me).  Let me stop here and reiterate a few things.  I am PRO HOMOSEXUAL.  I am ANTI GOVERNMENT GETTING INVOLVED.  As my thoughts generate thoughts here, I can see this is going to lead me to another place.  I'm not sure I have the inclination to go there now.  My point is this.  I see a time when Christians lose their freedoms because they are Christians.  And not one of you can really point to a credible threat they have towards society.  Name one thing the Christian right has actually defeated in government.  Why are you so harsh?  You want the school to take responsibility for others not bullying your kid, but then you're free to get on FB and remind Christians that you think they're stupid?  So what if they are?  How does that hurt you?  Unless you're trying to show me a better way to live.......in which case, let's talk about it!  There may not be a God.  I can't be sure.  But tell me about how great your life is?  I know that I have as many crappy days as the next person.  But EVEN if I'm dead wrong, I can accept two basic facts.  1.  I won't know til I'm dead, and it'll be too late to change my mind then.  2.  The idea that I might not be wrong gives me hope.  Even on my worst days, I can say "Of course I'm miserable, I don't belong here".  And finding out one day that I was wrong about that doesn't change the hope it gives now.  Again, getting off topic.  We're coming to a point in America where everyone is screaming "I'm going to have my rights, and I don't care whose rights I have to take to get them".  Except Christians.  They may be saying it, but they're losing the battles anyway.  Because right now, Christians don't have the right to practice religious freedom.  If you hate Christians, but still don't think that's a scary place to be, you're not paying attention, America.  We're going to force a cake maker to make a cake for a wedding they are opposed to based on their interpretation of a book that has been around for thousands of years, a book they have believed in for as long as they can remember.  But on the other side of the coin this http://libertyunyielding.com/2014/03/03/gay-nm-hairdresser-refuses-service-nm-governor-defending-traditional-marriage/ is ok.  A personal business person refusing service to someone based on ARBITRARY REASONING.  As a "society", our emotional reactions and take all you can give nothing back attitude is going to bring us down.  I want the hairdresser and the Christian to have the equal right to say "You don't think like me, I'm not comfortable serving you".  Or not, whatever.  Let's try to get to a place where we extend to others the rights that we ourselves would like.  Live and let live, or something.  In every free society, there comes a point where each persons "perceived individual right" comes into conflict with another persons "perceived individual right".  How we as a nation learn to deal with that conflict will directly determine our future success.  At the moment, it seems that the plane is heading for the water, and instead of trying to figure out how to pull up, the passengers are arguing about the temperature of the coffee. 


Final Thought.   Doesn't it take a LOT more faith to believe this came from the impact of chaos on primordial matter??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tehJg8dvUnE

I applaud those who reject God.  I could never imagine the amount of faith it would take to not only invest in the belief that our circulatory system was the result of mere chaos AND that the best this life has to offer is as good as it gets.