it's kinda described as something that doesn't quite fit in with christianity - i beg to differ. all of the metal artists that lean on bible verses as their inspiration are actually the people that unwittingly hit the mark - in terms of the reason those scriptures being there is so that you can be honest and in some cases, brutal, to God, about the near unbearable things about life. celtic frost for example, as they lament "my god my god, why have you forsaken me?"
it is fitting that for most people metal is unbearable to listen to, since the subject matter that it often chooses to face is equally as unbearable, yet for the cross we must face these things, for he faced ugliness. we can't accept god's love and forgivesness without believing that he died a gruesome and torturous death for our sakes, and that through suffering he chose to epitomise his ministry of reconciliation to us.
i haven't listened to metal for a long time - but i think thats mainly because being in a band that plays it tends to make you rebel against the genre that you try to stand for - made me hate it so to speak. itll be different to the reason why most people decide to turn their face away from metal. but the negative side of life exists. and the emotions that are manifest in it are sometimes dormant in us - and it doesnt necessarily mean sinful hate. who turned he tables? who, in non passive terms, told the storm to shut the hell up? what man gave a lament to the unfaithfulness of the generation that he was surrounded by? who called his own disciple by the name of the devil, in abhorrence of what he was saying? who cast seven woes upon the pharisees? a god of love did all this. hate itself is not evil. the command is made to "hate What is evil" - so that our love is pure, that there may be no fear in love.
i hate the t-shirts that talk of marriage as 'game over'. am i sinning? absolutely not. there are personalities that we have, that aren't meant to suddenly disappear just because we are christians. it is a lie to think that as christians we are to be consistently and unswervingly happy about everything all of the time, and if not then we're 'being naughty'. tosh! any anger i have, i can channel towards what is evil and unjust. if i have to be clingy, then i can cling to 'what is good'. if we are of the boasting kind, then we are given jesus christ to boast in. if, as peter was, we are violent, then we can be violent in the way we choose to cut off sin in our lives. if we are pedantic, then the letter of the law allows us to be conscious of sin - which is no bad thing to be conscious of, since it is the beginning of the end of slavery. the emotions that we are inbuilt with are not incompatible with God and his plans, no matter how wayward they seem. i believe the ultimate intention of all the personality that we possess is that through our uniqueness we each can demonstrate a facet of God. jesus is able to demonstrate all of these facets, but i am glad to be given the gift of grace to display any at all.
Tuesday 22 June 2010
Saturday 12 June 2010
world cup
as it is now firmly upon us, i decided to do to some swotting up of who's who in the national teams, but i got mucho distracted by funny names. here are some;
funny teams-
JEF United Ichihara (JPN)
Atletico Colon (ARG)
people names-
Mario EGGIMANN
Rafael VAN DER VAART (what makes this even better is that the dutch pronounce their v's as f's!!)
Martin SKRTEL (i hope he's not in a squad with another SKRTEL... but if so, he might need to change his name to WARTRTL.)
funny teams-
JEF United Ichihara (JPN)
Atletico Colon (ARG)
people names-
Mario EGGIMANN
Rafael VAN DER VAART (what makes this even better is that the dutch pronounce their v's as f's!!)
Martin SKRTEL (i hope he's not in a squad with another SKRTEL... but if so, he might need to change his name to WARTRTL.)
Sunday 6 June 2010
compassion
as far as i can tell, i think compassion is a gut reaction to do something out of love.
something caught my eye as i was reading matthew 23 in regards to this.
so, this is what Jesus has to say about the Pharisees;
"They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them"
gotta love a bit of expository bible =)
as i saw this, i thought to myself 'wow', thats a bit harsh on the pharisees. without fail Jesus is able to outanswer or outquestion whenever he gets questioned by a Pharisee, but here, without looking first for a question from them (in fact, it looks like the Ph's themselves aren't even present!), he goes straight for the jugular and gives them a piece of his mind, of God's mind. Jesus has sympathy for their utter bondage to their ways, knowing once that these were from a generation of people that looked to follow His Father, but are lost in what they have created for themselves. but, no sympathy is spared for the ways themselves, that lead others astray along with them.
so, to start with, think about what kind of teachers the Pharisees would have made. follow them, and you follow rules, rules you that can't possibly keep all of - a destiny doomed to failure. to carry on trying is drudgery, for every blemish is a mark of how much you cannot win. and would you receive help from these teachers? in short, no. confessing to particular breaches of the law will even find yourself at risk of your own life. truth be told, even if the Pharisees were desirous in lifting us of our burdens, they would find themselves vastly unequipped to do so.
unfortunately, there are many within Christian circles who will live out their faith in God feeling like this, under the oppression of a faith that seemingly gives no hope, only reproach, and set automatically to pick on all their faults. its a an easy lie to believe, ill admit to being duped by it more than a couple of times in my lifetime.
however, the good news is that we do not follow Pharisees, who are "not willing to lift a finger" to relieve burdens.
no, we follow Jesus, the champion of compassion - love that springs into action. Jesus, one of holiness, and so equipped to be a sacrifice for us. so lets view the matthew 23 verse differently, by replacing the pharisees with Jesus, as our Teacher and see what He does for us;
"He ties up heavy loads and puts them on His own shoulders, that we may fly on the wings of eagles."
Jesus had every right to expose the shallow behaviour of the Pharisees, knowing that soon he would give up his own life for us, and in doing so, give everyone a bit of a wake up call as to what real love looks like.
It hit home to me once again that what was done on the cross is a fixed event in time and so cannot be undone, that it was "the will of the Lord to bruise him". if, as Christians we feel burdened, then we are harbouring something that Jesus has already died for - these burdens are not for us to hold and lug around anymore. as with our lives, they belong to Him.
it is folly to think that any sadness is worth keeping, just for the sake of that it remains ours to bear. letting go of our own burdens and giving them to him is putting what we cannot bear, onto the back of one who can not only bear but conquer, therefore allowing life in its fullness to dwell in us.
He has given his back over to be broken by the shame and guilt of the multitudes - that our brokenness will one day be made new, just as Christ was made alive again in resurrection -- a cause for celebration if ever i saw one!
something caught my eye as i was reading matthew 23 in regards to this.
so, this is what Jesus has to say about the Pharisees;
"They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them"
gotta love a bit of expository bible =)
as i saw this, i thought to myself 'wow', thats a bit harsh on the pharisees. without fail Jesus is able to outanswer or outquestion whenever he gets questioned by a Pharisee, but here, without looking first for a question from them (in fact, it looks like the Ph's themselves aren't even present!), he goes straight for the jugular and gives them a piece of his mind, of God's mind. Jesus has sympathy for their utter bondage to their ways, knowing once that these were from a generation of people that looked to follow His Father, but are lost in what they have created for themselves. but, no sympathy is spared for the ways themselves, that lead others astray along with them.
so, to start with, think about what kind of teachers the Pharisees would have made. follow them, and you follow rules, rules you that can't possibly keep all of - a destiny doomed to failure. to carry on trying is drudgery, for every blemish is a mark of how much you cannot win. and would you receive help from these teachers? in short, no. confessing to particular breaches of the law will even find yourself at risk of your own life. truth be told, even if the Pharisees were desirous in lifting us of our burdens, they would find themselves vastly unequipped to do so.
unfortunately, there are many within Christian circles who will live out their faith in God feeling like this, under the oppression of a faith that seemingly gives no hope, only reproach, and set automatically to pick on all their faults. its a an easy lie to believe, ill admit to being duped by it more than a couple of times in my lifetime.
however, the good news is that we do not follow Pharisees, who are "not willing to lift a finger" to relieve burdens.
no, we follow Jesus, the champion of compassion - love that springs into action. Jesus, one of holiness, and so equipped to be a sacrifice for us. so lets view the matthew 23 verse differently, by replacing the pharisees with Jesus, as our Teacher and see what He does for us;
"He ties up heavy loads and puts them on His own shoulders, that we may fly on the wings of eagles."
Jesus had every right to expose the shallow behaviour of the Pharisees, knowing that soon he would give up his own life for us, and in doing so, give everyone a bit of a wake up call as to what real love looks like.
It hit home to me once again that what was done on the cross is a fixed event in time and so cannot be undone, that it was "the will of the Lord to bruise him". if, as Christians we feel burdened, then we are harbouring something that Jesus has already died for - these burdens are not for us to hold and lug around anymore. as with our lives, they belong to Him.
it is folly to think that any sadness is worth keeping, just for the sake of that it remains ours to bear. letting go of our own burdens and giving them to him is putting what we cannot bear, onto the back of one who can not only bear but conquer, therefore allowing life in its fullness to dwell in us.
He has given his back over to be broken by the shame and guilt of the multitudes - that our brokenness will one day be made new, just as Christ was made alive again in resurrection -- a cause for celebration if ever i saw one!
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